Crimson Desert (PC) Review

I was thankful that I didn't get to try out the Crimson Desert demo at the PlayStation booth at Tokyo Game Show 2025. At that time, I could only watch from a distance the footage of the game that seemed so dynamic. Even in the trailer, the gameplay felt so deep and vast. Of course, after more than 90 hours of exploring the world of Pywell, I can conclude that this game is one of the most ambitious games. Every aspect of Crimson Desert shines. It seems that the developer, Pearl Abyss, who is the developer of the famous MMO game Black Desert, spent a long time trying to sharpen the aspects that can be done in this game.

Of course, an ambitious game like Crimson Desert does not escape the skeptical views of the public, including well-known media. IGN, for example, gave a review score of 6 out of 10 with the caption “This extremely ambitious open-world adventure swings wildly from incredibly cool to gobsmackingly infuriating“, a review that at the time received a strong reaction from the public. On the other hand, Metacritic summarized the ratings of 7.7 out of 10 in May 2026, a number that is quite an improvement. My opinion? I think I have to agree with both assessments. As someone whose childhood was filled with various MMO games, Crimson Desert provides an experience that feels familiar but summarized in one vast package.

Will Crimson Desert be an unbeatable candidate for Game of the Year in 2026? Perhaps this question is better answered by all gamers who play it, but here are some of my thoughts on this ambitious game.

How big is the game that it's too big?

Let's start with its vast and diverse (not to mention beautiful) world. Players will start as the main character, Kliff, with a prologue scene, transitioning to the first city, Hernand. I'm sure many players are quite “stuck” in this city, given the number of quests both main and side quests.

Since Crimson Desert prioritizes exploration-based progression (with no levels), there is so much to do. By playing through the main story alone for perhaps the first few chapters, players can do an infinite number of things: Forging equipment, buying and selling junk, buying raw materials and cooking them, investing, stealing, arm wrestling, gambling, riding, overheating, freezing, talking, greeting, and much more. On the game's launch day, I experienced the same difficulty: the complex controls.

I think it's because there are so many things that developers want us players to do, that the controls and inventory/map management have become so complex. At least, after various major patches, I can now testify that the controls are much easier and more pleasing to the eye.

But of course when the world is so vast and the gamers have such a slow progression, I find myself asking: Don't people get bored? So many side quests (both major and minor) can be a distraction from the main essence of the game.

The fact that Pearl Abyss gives us three characters playable including Kliff, and without character creation, It's a question mark if the main story isn't important. What's more, when I try at some point to rush through the main quests, it's not uncommon for this progression to be hampered by inadequate equipment. Plus, side quests rarely reward equipment that is so unique and rare. Most (not all) special equipment doesn't have attributes that are unique to the weapon, so it's not that easy to upgrade our equipment.

Crimson Desert is arguably an ambitious step in a game that does a lot, but it seems to have too much and loses its true direction. If everything is done to the max and considered important, then it could be that nothing in the game really matters or stands out.

Very unique and interesting battle types and enemies

But in the midst of so many things to do, one thing that I personally really like is the combat part. Although Crimson Desert only provides a “leveling up” option via exploration, players can still get units to upgrade the skill tree called “Abyss Artifact” through killing minions and quests in general. The skill tree provided is not “make it or break it” for combat, but it must be admitted that there are some skills that provide interesting combat variations.

Why talk about skill trees? Because the enemies, both minions and boss fights in Crimson Desert, are so unique that I had to think several times about how to deal with them. Even in terms of boss fights, the enemies are quite varied from humanoids, to mystical dragon creatures, even to incomprehensible creatures.

Understanding each attack pattern of this boss is quite crucial, making the journey to defeat it a memorable experience. Of course, there's an in-game tooltip that says Kliff can do the following highlights on the enemy's weaknesses, but often executing those attacks is more of a home lesson than just knowing the weaknesses.

Related to the first point of this review, I had thought that if Crimson Desert was made more concise and emphasized more on fighting these unique enemies, it would be better for gamers. Remember, pacing A denser game can make players continue to interact and get impressions.

Boring Characters and a Lost Story

Talk about pacing The game reminds me of the many comments about the main character Kliff being monotonous and boring, which I have to agree with. Throughout the main story, Kliff doesn't make many comments or expressions, although he is helped by the personalities of the clan members. graymanes which contains so many people. The other characters, Oongka and Damiane, don't really shine during their introductions (except for Oongka, who might be a bit dramatic).

On the one hand, the burden of developing a game that covers so many things will certainly have an effect on other aspects, including the character's personality. It seems that even if Kliff is replaced with a character we don't know, I believe nothing would feel so different, other than not playing the character whose face is on the cover of this game.

The presence of three characters who have differences fighting style This is also a question for me personally: Wouldn't it be better to have just one character? Maybe with different weapons resulting in different playstyles? With this, I think Crimson Desert would have more solid characters both in terms of gameplay and personality. Take Where Winds Meet, for example, where a change of weapon means a change of fighting style, so that self-mastery of one style becomes a fairly limiting but interesting thing in the game.

But wait, before we argue again “have you really tried other characters?”, the answer is: I have, but it's not that easy to transition characters. Many aspects and power ups will be tied to the character so manual transfers must be made to get the setting we want. I wish there was a character progression like Assassin's Creed Shadows, where skill points that have been spent on one character's skill tree, can still be spent separately on other characters, so there is no need to be too manual to manage equipment/power ups, or skills. I believe this kind of convenience is not meant to be a simplification, but to let players focus on what's really important.

Conclusion

Crimson Desert can finally be summarized as a game that provides a complete gaming experience, despite some flaws that were fixed by various patches for the better. This game is so ambitious to provide a diverse experience, but it seems to lose the focus and spirit of the game's purpose. Despite these flaws, Crimson Desert has fantastic world-building and a variety of unique enemies, making combat varied and unique.

Pros

• Unique and diverse enemy types for a unique combat experience
• A vast world of exploration and many interactions

Disadvantages

• Controls on day 1 launch that are too complex
• Many aspects of interaction in this game make the game lose its focus.