Forget Dark Souls – Crimson Desert Is The New Measuring Stick – Our Review

At a time when AAA games are constantly dumbed-down and simplified, when every major publisher is chasing the next multiplayer cash cow, and even platform holders are preparing to shield gamers from even the slightest hint of challenge or frustration with AI helper buddies, one developer is bucking every single trend – and then some.

Pearl Abyss, known for Black Desert Online, is launching one of the most challenging, systems-heavy, and complex games the industry has seen in a very long time:

Crimson Desert.

Forget Dark Souls – Crimson Desert Is The New Measuring Stick – Our Review

Crimson Desert is probably the most difficult game I’ve ever had to score…

On one hand, Pearl Abyss has achieved levels of greatness in Crimson Desert few developers dare reach.

On the other hand, something as simple as picking up items or speaking to NPCs can be frustrating enough to fist palm the nearest villager into oblivion – and subsequently get arrested.

This is in-game. No tricks, no editing, just the game.

Crimson Desert encompasses the full spectrum of emotions…

You’ll lose your breath at some of the incredible sights.

You’ll marvel at Crimson Desert’s flawless technical performance.

You’ll become engrossed in Crimson Desert’s addictive and rewarding gameplay loop, wherever your interests may lie.

However, you’ll also wonder how something so utterly ridiculous can make it into a AAA video game.

Crimson Desert is a game that is as divisive as it is expansive – and it’s huge.

I’ve just broken the 200-hour mark, and now feel comfortable that I’m at the point of post-game content.

Crimson Desert is truly unrivaled when it comes to its scope and complexity.

Endless surprises wait for those willing to explore. Oh look, a train

In my 200 hours, there was just one crash. I was sitting at a constant 80 FPS on its ultra setting before a pre-release patch, which thereby increased things to a buttery-smooth 100 FPS.

I can only speak of PC performance, but Crimson Desert is a technical marvel.

Crimson Desert’s draw distance is staggering, and even when I tried to break the game with the flashiest moves and combos in the biggest fights I could find, its frames never suffered.

Pearl Abyss and the BlackSpace engine have created one of the most beautiful game worlds I’ve ever had the pleasure to explore – and I’ve still got countless secrets to discover.

The Howling Hills base camp system is the best of its kind. Engaging, rewarding, and systems heavy every step of the way.

One of Crimson Desert’s most prominent features is Howling Hills, which serves as the Greymanes’ base of operations.

The area I’ve probably invested the most amount of time in, players can recruit new Greymanes to the cause here. Players can also increase the facilities available at this site, along with the number of comrades sent on Dispatch missions.

On its surface, this area is similar to ones found in other RPGs, but it’s connected to the world and exploration like no other.

Every region in Crimson Desert is filled with intriguing locations, many of which have facilities of their own.

Once discovered, quarries, farms, pottery barns, and ranches each offer employment for workers on Dispatch missions.

Optimizing Dispatch mission order with efficient use of skills, resources, and timing is a lot more fun than it should be.

This, in turn, creates an almost player-centric economy in Crimson Desert, allowing players to carve out their economic prowess as they see fit.

Carefully maintaining the cost of each Dispatch mission with the resources obtained from others is a rewarding balancing act, one that is almost deserving of its own game entirely.

How many games are you truly excited to discover a random farm at the end of the road? Or perhaps a beautiful grove filled with wild flowers that offers more than a beautiful sight, but provides rare and valuable resources for your camp?

I’m not even touching on the ridiculous items and technologies that can be discovered.

A random cattle ranch I found just exploring, that completely changed my game moving forward

The Howling Hills camp is the perfect representation of Crimson Desert as a whole.

On its surface, it’s familiar, inviting almost. However, as you dig below, it becomes so much more.

If building up a base camp isn’t for you, how about some puzzle solving?

Crimson Desert’s Abyss – a puzzle-filled world above worlds – not only offers some of the best vistas but also some of the most challenging platforming and puzzle experiences in the game.

Once you’ve got a grip of Crimson Desert’s puzzles – and it can take quite some time – it’s a nice change of pace from the otherwise combat-fueled exploration.

Puzzles are not exclusive to the Abyss, and can be found scattered throughout the game world.

Some are as simple as the traditional light all the braziers in the area style puzzles, while others will set you across the world looking for murals and clues.

Stumbled upon a random cave with an interesting mural on the wall. It’s a clue!

While creative and engaging for much of the game, many offer no clues or insights on whether players have the tools or abilities to complete those puzzles at any given time.

This, in turn, leaves many instances of feeling like a complete idiot for spending 30 minutes to solve a puzzle you don’t have the means to yet.

Crimson Desert’s puzzles are intrinsically tied to its main story, so you’ll have to get comfortable if you’re hoping to finish the main campaign.

While early puzzle solving leaves a lot of frustration, Crimson Desert’s puzzles provide a rewarding end-game once you learn the fundamentals of each style of puzzle.

Big thanks to my puzzle-solving buddy JRodriguez for sharing this one. Beautifully captured with the Photo Mode.

Crimson Desert’s combat is this title’s crowning glory, providing a fast-paced, fluid, and powerful approach that is easily accessible while also promising a high skill ceiling.

Put simply, Crimson Desert’s combat provides a huge payout for those willing to invest the time.

While somewhat held back by a clunky and complicated control scheme – even using a controller – Crimson Desert’s combat becomes natural with enough time and effort.

You won’t find any super addicting or entertaining mini-games, but horse racing, gambling, arm wrestling, all are good fun

Combining various skills and abilities offers incredible maneuverability throughout Crimson Desert’s combat. It keeps things fresh and fast-paced, all without falling into the trap of just mashing buttons.

There are three playable characters in Crimson Desert to choose from, each with their own skill tree and combat style.

Do note that Crimson Desert’s progress system doesn’t encourage dividing resources between multiple characters.

For the best chance at taking down some of Crimson Desert’s more challenging bosses, you’re going to want your main character to be at their very best – something that isn’t possible when dividing materials.

A lack of additional storage makes inventory management a bit of a pain early on, but it gets easier the more you play

Despite executing some of the more challenging aspects of such a huge project to near perfection, this title does admittedly struggle with some of the basics…

Fast travel – an industry standard to avoid frustration and wasted time – is inconvenient and irritating. Players cannot directly fast travel to towns, and oftentimes, points of interest that require return visits have no fast travel locations nearby.

While this encourages and rewards exploration, it does make the mundane tasks even more mundane. Having to make the same short run to town every time, jumping over the same fences again and again.

I get the concept, but as with much of Crimson Desert, it’s dialed in just a bit too much.

Even speaking with NPCs or picking items up from the floor – both basic functions in any game – are sometimes annoying enough to not even bother.

The story in Crimson Desert, while enjoyable, does suffer severely from pacing issues.

Each chapter typically sees a few simple missions followed by a boss battle, one that’s typically far more than the player can handle.

Every part of your early adventures from walking to mining, is improved with new skills and abilities

This requires players to seek out new materials and farm supplies for better gear and more food, but it breaks up the pace of the game in quite jarring ways.

Unless you’re in the top 10%, this is going to be much of the experience working through the story.

Crimson Desert does deliver on arguably the most entertaining mining and woodcutting systems ever conceived.

Early on, you’ll be slugging away with your hatchet and pickaxe. However, before long, you’ll be Bruce Leeing rocks and trees into pieces.

It’s fun, but it’s still grinding resources.

With the benefit of experience, there are definitely ways to mitigate this. However, for players coming into Crimson Desert for the first time, the forced repetition of the nature of upgrading gear may be off-putting.

I both applaud and appreciate the effort Pearl Abyss has taken to create a game that tests and challenges the player. That being said, there are areas where it would greatly benefit from being dialed back a notch or two.

Dark Souls has often been used to measure one’s gaming prowess, but that measuring stick has changed with Crimson Desert. Not only does it boast some of the most challenging boss battles ever seen in the industry, its required levels of patience, determination, and ability have set a new gold standard.

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