Crimson Desert basically i came out of nowhere to become one of the hottest games of spring. Impressive visuals and a sprawling open world have propelled the non-RPG to the top of Steam wishlists. Now, just a day before the game becomes available for download in digital stores, the reviews are flying in, and collectively they feel like a big bubble that’s just burst. While some people love it, others are unimpressed by the lack of a strong story and all the bland, bloated systems.
Released March 19 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, Crimson Desert is a grand fantasy sandbox adventure from Pearl Abyss, the studio behind the popular MMORPG Black Desert. The action takes place on the vast fantasy continent of Pywel, filled with rival clans and mythical creatures. It’s a deserved buzz with a shine Digital Foundry glimpses and viral clips of horses running adrift, but also raised a few eyebrows for hold base console images close to vest until a few days before launch. The only codes that were released for prior reviews were for the PC version.
So what are the early reviews saying? PolygonThe current review did not hesitate. “After 10 o’clock, Crimson DesertThe huge open world didn’t show me anything interesting. read the title. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier only played for a few hours but wasn’t impressed either. “It feels like a game designed for people who just want to consume content,” he said. wrote on Bluesky. Others praised the world details and particularly the satisfying third-person combat, even if the control scheme seemed like a mess.
He is currently sitting at a 78 on Metacritic and a 79 on open criticism. Not bad! But also a bit below the radioactive levels of hype Crimson Desert hit social media during the second coming of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Yet while some critics have called the game flawed, flavorless, and generally a bit mediocre, others sing its praises. Forbes” Paul Tassi believes that the promise is kept. “If the question was whether Crimson Desert could Really to be so big and Really play well and Really entertain you all the time, the answer, for me, is unequivocally yes, ” he wrotegiving it a score of 9.5/10.
Here’s what other reviews say Crimson Desert:
IGN I have played over 110 hours of Crimson Desert and I already feel like I’ve seen just about everything there is to see, but until I’ve finished the main story and explored the secrets the game’s ending holds, I’m not yet ready to put a final score on this ambitious but flawed RPG. So far the highs have been very high and the lows very low, making this a fun adventure that’s also hard to recommend outright. I can’t wait to see how the story ends (although I’m not expecting much at this point) and what the post-game experience will be like. I should be ready with a final exam in the next few days. – Travis Northup
GameSpot It’s disappointing that you’re frequently pulled away from combat and exploration to manage your inventory. You only have access to a few slots in your backpack, and while you can expand it by completing side quests and purchasing additional pouches, absolutely everything takes up inventory space. This means all additional weapons and armor, aside from those already equipped; all the different crafting materials you need to upgrade your equipment; the tools you need to acquire these materials; quest items that remain in your inventory even after completing the relevant quest; furniture that you can use to decorate your home; ingredients needed for cooking; the meals cooked themselves; books, research posters, notes and recipes; the items you need to unlock new abilities in the skill tree; all the bugs you catch; the flowers you pick; All. – Richard Wakeling
GamesRadar After a while, you realize that you can leave everything behind, head out to the horizon and see what awaits you there. Along the way, I encountered a living spacesuit, a walking tree, a castle full of baby dragons, and a network of celestial teleporters, all more intriguing than anything in the main campaign. I’m constantly a little poor, but never so cash-strapped as to be frustrating, which I like. The puzzles can be really mentally stimulating, so I can feel satisfied solving them. And God condemn, is this world pretty. Just traveling makes me want to switch to photo mode every ten minutes. – Joel Franey
PC gamer Crimson Desert is a game that tries to do everything. A jack of all trades. Perhaps the master of some. If you think about it, this video game probably has it. While this creates a lack of focus in some parts, I also can’t help but feel strangely attached to it all. It’s not as superficial as an open-world collecting marathon, but it doesn’t quite have the mechanical niceties of, say, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Or Red Dead Redemption 2. If these games are Forza, Crimson Desert East Forza Horizon. – Mollie Taylor
Eurogamer Make no mistake, Crimson Desert is a technically competent game with deadly combat (annoying lock-on aside). Yet its characters and story are fatally undercooked. And for all of Pywel’s spectacular visual construction, which impresses with its gigantic scale and sparkling prettiness, it lacks a certain distinctive character. Think about Witcher games: You can practically taste the fetid water, churned mud, and bits of charred meat the nobles dine on. These are works of courage, texture and a truly idiosyncratic sense of place. How Crimson Desert taste? Well, it’s not as tasty – instead imagine a banquet where almost every dish tastes faintly like cardboard and you have to eat it for what seems like forever. – Lewis Gordon
Game Informer More than anything, there is a foundation with Crimson Desert which I hope to build on, and given that this is Pearl Abyss’s first single-player game, I wonder how much of this can be attributed to growing pains. The studio clearly took inspiration from other games, but I hope there can be something more forward-looking. Crimson Desert has something special buried beneath its surface, if all those unnecessary layers can be cut away. – Hayes Madsen
PCGamesN With a world that limits exploration except for uncovering environmental puzzles, a narrative that became less compelling and more convoluted as it went on, and huge spikes in difficulty, I didn’t have the best time with Crimson Desert. I wanted to love it, I wanted to have that power fantasy that the trailers advertised, and most of all, I wanted to immerse myself. Instead, I got down to business with occasional beatings. These panoramas, however, are truly spectacular. – Paul Kelly
Insider games At its best, it offers a breathtaking world filled with meaningful exploration, impressive scale, and truly thrilling combat moments. Pywel is one of the most believable open worlds in recent memory, and just existing there can be a joy.
But that brilliance is weighed down by an overabundance of unclear systems, a weak narrative, and combat that struggles to maintain coherence. Too often, gaming prioritizes scale over cohesion, resulting in an experience that feels cluttered rather than polished. – Charlie Champion
The player It’s jarring and often immersion-breaking, and while you can eventually emerge victorious — I went through 30 of the game’s 76 bosses in my 150 hours — it doesn’t feel particularly rewarding. However, not all bosses are built the same and there are some truly fantastic boss fights here. Although some, notably in the last chapter (oh my God), almost hit my head.
Rather than mastering the patterns and defeating your opponent with skill, your best bet is to hunt deer for an hour, turn them all into hearty grilled meat, and hope you can heal from the damage through pure attrition. When the advice is “just get well,” you know something is wrong. – Harry Alston