Crimson Desert: The Final Preview
Every from time to time, a very bold recreation comes alongside and instantly hooks the viewers. In Crimson Desert’s case, displaying a grand-scale world that recollects parts of Breath of the Wild and The Witcher 3 shortly garnered a mystique for its ridiculously over-the-top ambitions for a brand new open-world motion recreation. However, since its reveal again in 2019, it is taken a very long time to get a clearer image of how the ambitions driving Crimson Desert have taken form. And now, in 2026, it is garnered some wholesome skepticism, main many to really feel it is likely to be a type of video games that is simply too good to be true.
Fortunately, with the now-firm March 19 launch date quick approaching, I obtained some prolonged hands-on time with developer Pearl Abyss’ large-scale single-player motion recreation. After diving into the opening hours of this grand-scale, sword-and-sorcery journey, I obtained to see simply how detailed and huge the world of Crimson Desert is in real-time, and what kinds of oddball quests and brutal fight encounters are to return in protagonist Kliff’s adventures throughout Pywel.
Crimson Desert focuses on the story of wandering warrior Kliff, a member of the Greymane faction that seeks to maintain the continent of Pywell secure throughout harsh instances. But after a ruthless warlord decimates a lot of his crew, Kliff himself is seemingly killed in battle, however he is quickly resurrected by mysterious new allies that come from the sky realm generally known as the Abyss. Now tasked with rebuilding the Greymanes, he’ll recruit new and returning members to his trigger, push the bounds of his newfound powers, and immediately confront a civil conflict and a malevolent drive that is threatening the stability of the world.
Originally deliberate as a direct prequel to the MMORPG Black Desert Online, Crimson Desert is now a stand-alone journey set in the identical universe. Even with out understanding the lore of Black Desert Online, Crimson Desert retains connections gentle aside from the same high-fantasy setting and occasional references. It completely throws itself into the type of a western high-fantasy epic, however with the added power of an eastern-style motion recreation within the vein of Final Fantasy. The opening chapters of Crimson Desert do effectively to introduce Kliff as a rugged and stoic hero who can simply reduce down enemies in his path, however can be prepared to lend a serving to hand to the residents throughout the land.
Although a lot of the footage we have seen showcased the grand spectacle and ludicrous motion in Crimson Desert, my hands-on time largely centered on the extra laid-back tutorial set within the Hernand area of Pywel. I had performed Crimson Desert thrice earlier than this prolonged hands-on, all of which centered on remoted boss battles and spectacular fight. But with this tutorial setting the tone for the pacing and storytelling, I’ve now obtained a significantly better concept of the bigger construction of this open-world journey.
While Crimson Desert has gotten a ton of comparisons to The Legend of Zelda, The Witcher, and even Dragon’s Dogma – one recreation that actually got here to thoughts throughout my hands-on was Red Dead Redemption 2. Despite what we have seen earlier than about how briskly you navigate the large world, at floor degree, there is a stunning concentrate on navigating its densely populated areas with care and a spotlight. I spent a variety of time simply wandering the again alleys, interacting with individuals going about their day, discovering new retailers and cooking recipes, and even uncovering elective actions that do an excellent job of creating the world really feel bustling and lived in.
Some of my favourite moments from the opening hours got here from seeing what kinds of sidequests the townsfolk would pull me into. In one occasion, I encountered a person who fell from his roof and wanted assist with cleansing his chimney – and that is precisely what I ended up doing for this sidequest. I really climbed as much as the roof, positioned myself on prime of the chimney, and used my newly acquired broom to filter the gunk to assist the husband save the home.
Despite the tone and motion being critical, I used to be happy to see how a lot humor and quirkiness had been packed into Crimson Desert’s opening hours. There are loads of enemy bases to topple, however I additionally spent a while enjoying some back-alley video games of rock, paper, scissors with the native ruffians. There’s even a quest that had me rescue an kidnapped sheep to cheer up an upset youngster – and seeing a really critical Kliff have interaction in such actions was extra amusing than I anticipated.
Kliff begins his journey with a reasonably modest talent set and information of the world, and, as in conventional open-world motion video games, the bigger pull of Crimson Desert might be to increase his skills and perception. When you decide up quest info, recipes, and even bounty notices for roaming targets, Kliff will increase his information and fill out his information of all of the wildlife, characters, and necessary occasions of the world. I used to be impressed to see how a lot was packed into this comparatively modest part of the large recreation world – critically, simply wanting on the map had me taken again by simply how giant Pywel was.
It was fascinating to absorb Crimson Desert’s pacing, and its fastidiously detailed method to navigating and interacting with the world initially took a while to get used to. Even as a tutorial, I used to be shocked to see how a lot time is spent on getting gamers to essentially take within the many options and alternatives to seek out. Granted, it is vitally a lot within the vein of Red Dead Redemption 2’s motion and interplay, however I admittedly felt overwhelmed by simply how a lot you’ll be able to work together with. You can really go as much as almost all residents to greet them, and even rob them – supplied you’ve gotten a masks to disguise your self.
Despite the vary of actions, Crimson Desert can be a combat-heavy recreation – and even with Kliff’s restricted abilities, the battles you may get into are fairly brutal to see unfold. Initially, I began brawling with bandits and goblins across the metropolis. Still, finally issues took a flip when rival knights and different faction leaders began trying to get a chunk of Kliff. The mini-boss battle towards Matthias was a very thrilling struggle, and at the same time as one of many early encounters, it did an excellent job of displaying how visceral the battles can get.
Eventually, Kliff will make journeys to the legendary Abyss realm, the place I navigated a collection of floating ruins far within the sky. Stepping into these visually gorgeous environments was one in all my favourite moments from my hands-on time, and it additionally gave me a jaw-dropping view of the world’s huge panorama. These are additionally segments that introduce the brand new Abyss powers in some puzzle-platforming challenges. These magic powers elevate Kliff’s fight and traversal abilities to make use of his force-style powers to control objects, and use a drive leap potential to propel him off the bottom. Eventually, I used to be granted the flexibility to glide, and I took it out for a spin by skydiving again in direction of the bottom. It’s a enjoyable potential to make use of, nevertheless it undoubtedly takes a ton of stamina to get probably the most out of it.
Throughout the sport, Kliff will purchase Abyss catalysts, which can function talent factors to improve stats and unlock new skills. These upgrades embrace improved leaping and extra fight abilities, similar to a suplex and extra superior sword strikes. In addition to exploring cities and the encircling wilderness, I additionally obtained to see the early goings of the Greymane faction system, which focuses on increase crew, sending them on missions, and gaining new assets. Although I wasn’t in a position to see it evolve a lot, it was spectacular to see that it is really a full-fledged administration system that can proceed to develop as you discover the world.
I actually loved the stream and motion in Crimson Desert, and finishing the tutorial was a stable onboarding to the bigger journey forward. Based on my earlier hands-on time, Crimson Desert presently feels way more intuitive and easier with its controls. Still, it had the same old difficulty of being too difficult for its personal good, with its methods attempting to cram actions and options into a reasonably restricted set of sub-menus and mixtures. For occasion, you will typically must manually equip key objects and equipment to activate some prompts, which might really feel cumbersome. This all ties again into the makes an attempt to make gamers really feel like they’re having a extra tangible connection to the world, however it could typically really feel too overcomplicated for its personal good.
Along with the opening chapters, I additionally obtained an opportunity to get one other take a look at the midgame of Crimson Desert, which noticed a powered-up Kliff tackle new enemies and a extra highly effective boss that matches as much as his souped up abilities. Furthermore, Crimson Desert additionally contains new social gathering members that may be swapped in if you wish to strive a unique fight type. While Kliff remains to be the central protagonist, enjoying because the tanky berserker Oongka or the nimble and fierce Damaine provides up some enjoyable options to Kliff’s playstyle. It does effectively to showcase the variability inside Crimson Desert and the way the sport will ramp up with extra zany encounters that blur the strains between a high-fantasy journey and steampunk fantasy.
Even with this prolonged hands-on time, I used to be nonetheless solely scratching the floor of the bigger adventures available in Crimson Desert. There have been many video games previously that attempt to go for big open-world settings, however do not typically actually justify the necessity to go massive and daring. But I used to be truthfully fairly impressed to see that Crimson Desert just isn’t solely presenting a case for its tackle an open-world action-adventure recreation, however can be having enjoyable with the idea by pushing its consideration to element and simply how a lot there’s to unpack throughout the sprawling world.
So far, Crimson Desert is displaying a variety of promise. It’s actually been on the minds of many for a number of years now, which has invited a bunch of comparisons with different large-scale video games. But my prolonged hands-on time has made me really feel optimistic and intrigued by the sport’s maximalist motion type. And that is gotten me loads curious about seeing if the total recreation can ship on reaching the identical highs as different style greats.
