Dis tew much
Crimson Desert. Its here, after many years and so many videos; Pearl Abyss’ genre-mixing game is finally out. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” they say and if that old adage rings true then there should be lots of games out there feeling the love. Listen, Crimson Desert is a beautiful and large world that welcomes players to explore it with open-arms and provides a literal onslaught of abilities and moves but at the same time its hampered by bugs and a lack of narrative depth.
Crimson Desert has a few characters that are playable, but the main one is Kliff; the leader of the group known as Greymanes. This band of brothers (and sisters) are like a peacekeeping force in the land, but at the outset they are ambushed and scattered with Kliff himself being killed. But since this is one of the lands where death doesn’t matter (the other being comic books) Kliff is resurrected by a supernatural being and promptly sent on his way to save the world. Sigh, look; I will say that this story did end up growing on me, but it took quite a while. The plot seems to move from confusing to just nonsensical more often than not. I compare it Tyler Perry movies, desperate to deliver some big emotional moments dripped between ridiculous scenes of Madea pulling a gun on a shopkeeper; except in this case the ridiculousness is some land of childlike creatures who knock you out each time you reach the edge of their village.
MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
There are some cool set pieces throughout the story and some genuinely dope boss battles but it all just feels off as a package. Even Kliff, who is the main character and is fully voiced, feels so devoid of personality at times, it’s like they were going back and forth on if he should be the usual silent protagonist who stars in these types of games. What I struggled with for a good bit of my playtime was I just didn’t really care about the world and narrative like that. The part I really liked was the camp system, early on players will set up a new base for the Greymanes. As they rescue members, they are able to send them out on missions that the NPCs will undertake in real time. In fact, players can ride out into the world and see their people carrying out the mission, everything in this game happens in-world and can be watched by the player. I don’t know of a game that has had this level of interactivity included in it.
I honestly found my enjoyment in the game from exploring the world and kind of making my own adventure. I read something the other day where one of the developers refer to Crimson Desert as a “Open-World, Sandbox game”; and that description fits to a ‘T’. Much like Breath of the Wild and the Witcher 3 the environment itself just welcomes players to explore, beckoning them with beautiful vistas. I found myself always going “Oh, I wonder what’s over there” after arriving at each new area. The sense of exploration and wonder is top-notch, coming across puzzles and other hidden things in the world was always fun.
Crimson Desert is packed to the gills with features and mechanics to the point where it is absolutely overwhelming to keep track of it all. The game is doing quite the job to be everything all at once, in addition to the base-building and troop management players will find some pretty deep melee combat. In addition to that and probably my favorite part is the addition of wrestling moves because why not? I absolutely loved running around and dropping RKO’s on enemies and then finishing them with some flashy sword combos. But in addition to that there is the ability to double jump, and glide at any time. Players will have access to a horse that they can summon with other mounts to be found and unlocked later. There is a farm system where players can grow crops and raise animals. Players will unlock a house that can then be decorated by all the furniture and art that can be stolen or bought in the world. There is a pet system, mechs and even a dragon that can be ridden. This game is doing the got damn most and it knows it.
Seriously, this is only a fraction of the activities that Crimson Desert makes available for players. It is very overwhelming and difficult to remember all of the button combos, and when to use a specific ability. Because in addition to CD wanting to cater to everyone it also is the type of game that doesn’t explain anything. So, players will come across scattered pieces of a building. Ok, well using the axiom force they can pick up and move items in the world. But once all the pieces are in place players will then need to use their downward force palm ability to slam the pieces together. There is 0 hint that this is what needs to be done, the game just expects players to remember that they have this ability after just giving them 45 more after it.
And then there is the odd ass button configuration that this game uses for controller. I am playing the game on Series X and I don’t know what game in the history of the world has ever placed the jump button as the X or square on PS. I died SO MANY TIMES because I was trying to jump and glide and just ran off the cliff and splatted like Wile E. Coyote. It took me a long time to get used to it, since then though there have been a ton of patches that have allowed various buttons to be changed but nothing yet to let you move the jump, my wait continues.
I wish Pearl Abyss had focused in a bit more on Crimson Desert’s quiet moments. I enjoyed scaling mountains and finding ruins to explore or meeting randoms in small towns; these moments felt the most special to me. Sure, it’s nice to have the ability to do… well just about anything you can think of in a game but without a more meaningful narrative I felt like I was all dressed up with nowhere to go most times. Crimson Desert is an odd game for me to place, I enjoyed it for the freedom I had to make my own story and for all the combat and systems but I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrative; even though it did get better. If you are a fan of sandbox games that allow you to live out a fantasy then Crimson Desert is here for you, I just don’t know if I can recommend it for its story. If you are looking for a great narrative, well you will find that in another castle.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
