Crimson Desert
Review
A Vast World of Adventure
by Camrin Santchi
reviewed on PC
Laid Out Before You
What makes for the kind of game that gamers can slip into again and again, for hours on end? Sprawling vistas, engaging combat, side activities with limited actual use besides killing time? It can be different for every player, but one trend nowadays that cannot be overstated is the Open World. A sprawling, vast world that is filled with characters to meet, enemies to fight, sights to see. As technology improves and games were able to get bigger, the genre has grown in popularity, and this is where we see Crimson Desert.
Crimson Desert is a single player open world RPG, created by the people behind Black Desert, an MMORPG that released on Steam in 2017. Gamers take the role of Kliff, a member of a nomadic group called the Greymanes, thrust into situations outside his control after a clash with a powerful foe leaves his allies scattered and himself close to death. Upon recovering, Kliff is thrust into circumstances that could endanger the very fabric of the world he calls home, and is bequeathed with powerful abilities that should help him through the trials he will face.
After some brief tutorial segments, where players are introduced to the controls and some of the abilities, with the promise of more on the way, Crimson Desert really opens up and allows for a good amount of exploration. Players can spend time getting small quests like gathering lumber for a blacksmith, find bounties to hunt, or continuing the progression of the main story, all while exploring and accumulating abilities that allow you to develop Kliff's combat capabilities in different ways. There are three notable skill trees, and some abilities can only be unlocked by witnessing them in the world, usually in an area where unlocking them introduces a way to use it in a puzzle, and then players can experiment later with using them in alternative methods.
MMO Bones
Some portions of Crimson Desert really make it feel like it is a single-player MMORPG - this is not a bad thing by any means, but definitely something to know going in. Some of the camera angles in the game feel quite like ones a player might find within an MMO, the loading times especially on startup can feel incredibly long, and Crimson Desert feels like it needs some time to gather its bearings, with the story explaining very little from the beginning, leaving both Kliff and the player a bit bewildered at the apparent disconnect in certain segments. The bevy of side activities also adds to this feeling, the sort of additions that allow players to spend hours upon hours on side content while waiting for an update to the main content.
None of this is particularly bad, some players may very much enjoy the feeling of a single player MMORPG, but others may feel a disconnect - this could be because of the almost loneliness of playing in a world where you expect to see additional players, or just because they prefer different ways of experiencing the worlds that they play in.
So Much To Do
The world of Crimson Desert is incredibly vast, and filled with so many things to do that players could spend ages in the starting area without even feeling like they needed to get a move on to progress the story. They can roam around looking for fights, greeting NPCS, petting dogs, or finding ingredients to try and combine together for specific cooking recipes. There is so much to do, that it might overwhelm players that don’t want to spend hours upon hours playing videogames, or give choice paralysis once the game opens up.
In all Crimson Desert is a fun experience, with engaging combat, a gigantic world to explore, and a ton of side activities that can keep a player playing for hours and hours on end. There are some issues like long loading times, janky camera angles, and a story that struggles to get its footing. If a gamer enjoys Action RPGs, then Crimson Desert very well might be on the list of games to check out, ready to pour ages into exploring, fighting, and finding things to do.
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8.4
fun score
Pros
Massive World, Fun Combat, Varied Side Activities
Cons
Long Loading Times, Camera Angles, Story can feel Vague and Disconnected
