Crimson Desert
Developer: Pearl Abyss
Publisher: Pearl Abyss
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $69.99 USD – Available Here $109.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
Through a few decades of gaming there have been many excellent games that still can stand the test of time today even on their original platform and countless others that have been easily forgettable and lost to collecting dust on a shelf or in a box. Only over the last few console generations have gamers been able to see their games improved over the course of patches and touch-ups thanks to the internet and while some games remained buggy, they were still beloved. Similarly, other titles offered such an expansive open world that players could sink countless hours into it and find a striking narrative whenever they chose to dive into it rather than explore a new cave or dungeon.
Over the better part of the last two weeks Crimson Desert has been a game that has seen some lows and some incredible highs throughout our time with the game. To top that off, Pearl Abyss has been so quickly patching issues and even adding content, that entire notes about previous issues were struck away as the experience continued to smooth out and impress at almost every turn. Bearing all the signs that it started as an MMO, the transition to a single-player game may not have been painless, but Crimson Desert has delivered a world that deserves to be explored and lost in for hours on end in one of the most surprising out-of-nowhere titles in the last few years.
Story
Kliff is one of the strongest and leading members of the Greymanes, a well-renowned fighting force from a distant land, that has been put on the brink of being wiped out thanks to the Black Bears faction hunting them down with deadly precision. One night when trying to mourn the loss of their comrade after a recent ’bout with the enemy the entire Graymane camp falls under attack by a massive force of Black Bears led by their leader Myurdin. Caught by surprise and doing his best to save whoever he can by slaying the random Black Bear soldiers throughout the camp when it comes to facing off against Myurdin Kliff is woefully underpowered. Toyed with by the powerful warrior, Kliff’s throat is slit and dumped into the river like trash as the Black Bears continue to advance into the land of Pywel.
The next thing Kliff knows he is awoken in a mysterious realm called The Abyss and gifted a strange power capable of maneuvering otherworldly objects and deploying powers far beyond any magic user might dream of. Then he awakens at the side of a river, being tended to by a mapmaker that helped fish him out of the river with the deadly wound healing to leave a black scar along Kliff’s neck. With the help of this map maker Kliff makes his way to the major city of Hernand and starts to try and put his life back together, first by trying to track down whatever other Grayemanes have survived the attack and bring their faction back together and stronger than ever all while dealing with other issues that arise throughout the realm, requests from villagefolk, allies, nobles, and far more dire events that go far beyond the scope of a medieval fantasy.
Crimson Desert doesn’t necessarily hit the ground running when it comes to storytelling. In fact, the actual overarching storyline often takes a backseat to the random exploration that players can go on or is just generally vague about things for far too long. This means that players will find themselves struggling in the first few hours to get the hang of just what Crimson Desert is and the massive amount of content and exploration it has to offer. The main storyline alone is spread out across twelve main chapters with a bit of extra mixed into the prequel and epilogue as well and while it isn’t necessarily bad, it isn’t the best written around either.
Kliff as a main protagonist is rough and ready but not the most charismatic lead and while players do obtain extra characters in the form of Damiane and Oongka who all play a part in the story in their own way, though players who find themselves enjoying the way Damiane plays might be disappointed that she is taken away for a good portion of the story after a certain point. These characters all have their own dialogue for side-quests that are available for characters as well as unique styles but character development itself is kept to a bare minimum.
The real meat of Crimson Desert’s story comes from practically everything else outside of the main storyline and that isn’t a bad thing per se. As players progress through the game and discover new locations they’ll find different factions and noble houses that have their own unique quests that are tied to their faction and these range from incredibly interesting, leading to boss encounters and special loot that players would miss otherwise, to entire lore drops about the world and even additional content that’ll improve other gameplay elements. Similarly, players can track down legendary animals, slay them, then potentially gain them as mounts through magical means, including the likes of an enormous silver wolf, elk, and more. There’s nothing like riding into battle on a wolf only to jump right into the fray with sword flashing and shield bashing all while the wolf tears into other enemies at your side and then force-palming half the camp into splinters.
These moments shine as some of the best entirely organic moments throughout the game and the environmental storytelling is also absolutely exceptional. While some of the early locations may feel rather generic, hidden away locations and late game areas are absolutely gorgeous to experience and tell a story all their own. That doesn’t even touch upon The Abyss itself, the floating collection of puzzles and mysteries in the sky that also have a unique feeling all to themselves, creating a sci-fi element to this game that is unlike any other. So yes, while Crimson Desert may take a while to get going and give players a reason to care about the game’s world, and this is such a drag it could easily cause players to bounce off the title, once players start finding themselves hooked this is a game that will keep reeling them in for hours on end, especially with the latest update revealing unexplored caves that players may have overlooked on maps.
Gameplay
If there is another element about Crimson Desert that could still use some refinement is the onboarding process. As mentioned before, the player is basically dropped right into the game with only a vague goal and then can literally hop on their horse and travel anywhere they want, or at least as far as their stamina and climbing ability might take them before they encounter foes that they may be far underprepared to face off against. Instead the onboarding is done incredibly slowly to the point that players will likely have performed most of the tasks themselves, simply by exploring or doing other side-quests, before a main quest introduces a mechanic. That being said, the sheer amount of mechanics and optional activities is staggering.
Once players obtain their base of operations for the Graymanes and start to expand their camp not only will they begin to unlock additional objectives and side-content but also to boost their own reserves as well. This includes things such as sending out your fellow Graymanes on expeditions to complete missions and gather resources or money, growing plants that are useful using a farming system, tending to and raising livestock that can either be purchased from certain befriended livestock tenders or directly captured from the wild and hauled back to camp and put in the pen with the rest of the flock. Of course at the same time players can even organize a wagon loaded down with trade goods to sell for the best profit at various outposts, chop down trees to obtain lumber that can be used for weapon upgrades, crafting, or camp use, mining all kinds of minerals, fishing or even directly diving in and trying to catch fish by hand, taming wild horses like a bucking bronco, and so much more. These little side activities are just one thing after another that players will come across in the game and yes, while some side missions are simple fetch quests, others tend to be so much more involved thanks to the wide array of activities available.
This doesn’t even tap into the combat, and that is an entirely different can of, well, whoop-ass. Kliff will generally be the star of many playthroughs as he has the most versatility, though more abilities are coming to both Damiane and Oongka and both of these characters are also capable of wielding weapons and special attacks that are unique to them with Damiane able to use rapiers and firearms while Oongka can wield two-handed axes, hammers and giant cannons. Kliff is a sword-and-board type of fighter, a two-handed sword wielder, spear, and bow-user and comes with all of the abilities of Spirit abilities that players can unlock throughout playing the game, such as the aforementioned force-palm that can stumble enemies or send them flying with multiple hits, magical attacks, and even wrestling moves.
The ins and outs of combat are a bit on the complicated side but have been refined every patch over the course of the game’s launch. Performing special attacks using various button inputs is still necessary but also they flow together far better than before, allowing things such as a piercing thrust into a german-suplex followed by a quick-swap to a two-handed sword for a powerful downswing to lay down the punishment. Of course, all of these elements require various upgrades being unlocked through Abyssal Fragments or learned through observing an enemy or even NPC/Spirit perform the technique first. But regardless, once players learn these abilities it is all up to them how to take on the foes they’ll face, ranging from ragtag bandits to fully equipped soldiers charging with full-board shields and even packs of wolves to monstrous looking trees and sneaky bushes that have a thirst for blood. Of course, with the ability to grab and throw an enemy into others, force-palm a large group to clear up some space, and even dropkicking a foe before laying into them with your weaponry, there are tons of options available.
Abyssal Fragments are the currency players will use to unlock various skills as well as improve a character’s overall abilities like their Health, Stamina, and Spirit pool. Unfortunately these points are not shared across characters meaning most players will likely find themselves focusing on one over the others. These fragments can be obtained simply through fighting enough enemies, lucky looting, finding “locked” fragments that require a challenge to complete such as assassinating three enemies within a minute or using a skeleton key to break into numerous locked doors, but the primary way they’ll be obtained is either through missions or solving the numerous puzzles scattered throughout the world.
As players explore the land they’ll come across various locations marked with “mysterious energy” which will either be a fast travel point or a puzzle that must be solved and while some of these puzzles are given slight clues thanks to explanations about the region on the map or a silhouette of a spirit, they are almost entirely left up to the player to figure out. In fact, nearly every non-story based puzzle leaves players entirely up to their own devices when it comes to figuring out the solution and while some are a bit on the easier side, there are some real head-scratchers in there. This is especially true since some puzzles can require abilities the player may not have yet, requiring they return later to actually complete. This wide-array of puzzles on the ground are exceptional and provide a nice break from combat and exploration but The Abyss puzzles are a different beast entirely as these are often some of the most challenging yet and solving them feels like a true reward especially thanks to Crimson Desert’s hands-off approach.
One thing that is a bit hit and miss with Crimson Desert besides its storyline are the game’s bosses. Throughout the game players will encounter various bosses that come in different forms, aggressiveness, and even stages. Some will pester players with random appearances as they fight through their minions leading up to the boss arena before fleeing, others will immediately challenge the player in specific locations, and even more must be hunted down or even uncovered through completing secret conditions. The problem is that these bosses also range entirely from being as simple as standard enemy encounters to being the most aggressive and swarming types that will have players spamming food items to stay alive and even then they’ll continue to beat players down against a wall, juggling them until the player dies.
Thankfully, healing is incredibly easy and players can do so at a tap of a button, eating anything from their inventory to restore health and even if players should fall in combat against a boss they’ll have two, or three, options to continue the battle. They can either retry from the beginning of the fight or use a Palmer Pill. A standard Palmer Pill, that players eventually can craft, will resurrect the player with 30% health right there to heal up and continue the fight and Refined Palmer Pills can even resurrect players at full health. This means that some battles can be fights of attrition until players get the hang of the enemy gimmick or potentially uncover a unique weakness, especially since many foes have a specific attack type or even exploration gimmick that can stun them.
Putting everything together players never know what they will be doing from one moment to the next in Crimson Desert. One mission might have players simply taking care of some generic chores accompanied by a drunk comrade while another may see players raiding a bandit camp with lightning raining down around them. Then at the same time players can feed various dogs and cats to make them their little pets to run around at their side, picking up loot and waiting at the camp like a little pet army. This type of randomness and surprise in exploration means that players never really know what they will get up to next. Almost every new turn could unveil a new foe that players haven’t seen in tens of hours, let alone a different type of equipment or mode of transportation that is unlike anything players could have predicted and that is a shining example of what fans should hope for in an open world game.
Audio & Visuals
It must be said that Pearl Abyss has done an excellent job at making Crimson Desert look as gorgeous as possible and as lush as possible on current platforms. Exploring forests thick with foliage is completely believable and watching fields of flowers or reeds flow in the wind is wonderful, especially since the game does feature dynamic weather. This means everything from windy days, to raining ones, to thunderstorms where players need to worry about lightning strikes and all of this changes the appearance of the land. The environments themselves are incredibly varied with some truly outstanding looking locations that will literally make player say wow when they see them for the first time. That being said, some repetitive house designs are used throughout many locations though this is a small issue at best. The character designs are exceptional and there is a wide-array of different equipment types to wield and each has a unique look and can even be dyed in different colors to help players style their outfits however they want.
Despite having a lackluster narrative the entire game is voiced, down to the simplest of peasant up to the most important NPCs in the game. The voice work is handled quite well with many of the characters sounding impressive, with Damiane actually having the best voice work of the playable characters surprisingly, while Kliff is probably the worst due to the writing having most of his discussions with characters being simple and gruff replies. The soundtrack is a bit of a disappointment as the title does not feature any noteworthy sounding background music while exploring or even during combat which is a bit of a letdown given the scale of the world.
Overall
Leading up to Crimson Desert’s release, no one knew what to expect. Despite being announced years ago, the assorted trailers leading up to this grand open world game’s release left many wondering if it would be a disaster or a masterpiece and it turns out that Pearl Abyss has pulled off what few would have expected. They have delivered a massive open world game with so much content that players can sink countless hours into exploration and side-activities and still find more to do and unlock if they have the time. With challenging puzzles and satisfyingly brutal combat Crimson Desert presents a wonderful picture at almost every front if only its story were more interesting and the beginning so rough it may drive off those unwilling to push through to see the breadth of the game beyond it.
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