Have you ever seen a game, for however long – minutes, hours, days, months – and just knew that it would be amazing? I’ve felt that way any number of times over the years, and there’s really no restriction on genre. From the deep dive into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to the decision-making of Citizen Sleeper, that first successful extraction in ARC Raiders or lounging around with a bunch of Jans in The Alters – even if it wasn’t always instant, they felt like games made specifically for me, and I would imagine several others.
You can probably guess where this is going, but here’s the twist: I don’t quite feel that way about Crimson Desert yet. Key emphasis on that last part because obviously, I haven’t played it yet. However, based on everything seen so far, it looks like exactly what I would want from an open-world fantasy action RPG. Not the kind that offers me a mech in the late game (which I will happily take regardless), or the kind with a mecha dragon boss. Or even the kind with a myriad of combat options between fisticuffs, grapples, swords, sorcery and much more in between that leaves me hopelessly spoiled for choice.
I’m talking about the kind where I can pick a direction and just explore, confident in uncovering incredible new sights and stories. What is that giant moving tree creature in the new overview trailer? What about the treetop platforms that could potentially hold a settlement? What does that Soul Spear even do? Just how massive is the Abyss?
That’s just all the questions that I know to ask right off the bat – the real magic is in venturing into the unknown, and finding something completely unheard of.
Despite this, Crimson Desert has attracted more than its share of cautious optimism. You can check some of the comments under the latest overview video – there’s plenty of anticipation, but there’s also more than enough cynicism, positive and otherwise. “This is the living embodiment of ‘it looks too good to be true,’” said one comment, though he ended it with a “smiley face” emoji, which could mean…any number of things, really. Another states, “I wonder if they can really pull it off”, followed by a “sweating smiley face” emoji. Some are hyped, don’t get me wrong – so much so that they argue it’s hard not to be, but even they have to preface that, “This just feels too good to be true.”
And you know the classic adage – if yada yada is too good to be true, it probably is. It happens a lot in the games industry. Of course, I would argue the opposite also applies. How many thought that Clair Obscur would end up as good as it did, surpassing their wildest expectations? Both cases are true, to the point where you can’t always tell at first glance. When Crimson Desert was revealed less than six years ago, I probably wouldn’t have believed such fidelity was achievable, especially with the sheer scale and range of activities it’s going for. Those doubts were cleared up in 2024 itself, when the developer offered an extensive 52-minute gameplay showcase with traversal, exploration, combat, sky-diving, and so on.
Again, that was in September 2024, and even more gameplay has been revealed since, with plenty of new details. It still looks like a world that I want to experience for dozens of hours (shocking, I know).
Of course, the developer isn’t a charity, and you don’t need to take up for them at all. They’re asking $69.99 for this enterprise, and anyone has a right to be wary beforehand. But if the development team has successfully achieved anything with its marketing, it’s bread-crumbing players with a bunch of cool stuff without completely tipping its hand.
Take the story, for example. This new overview finally offered more context on Kliff’s mission to reassemble the Greymane mercenaries, but to my surprise, they don’t look like just a few shallow NPCs that will simply hang around camp. Furthermore, there is a bigger story hook that goes beyond their reunion, and sees Kliff muster them to battle to protect Pywel – even when they should be focusing on their home region – has got me feeling a little heroic.
That’s not even getting into the two new characters and their unique playstyles, but again, it’s saying something when the developer doesn’t outright tell you their names or everything they’re capable of. Rather, it shows you brief glimpses of their combat abilities while promising that once unlocked, you can roam around freely with them. Nothing else, and I’m guessing that’s to avoid spoilers of any kind.
If that wasn’t enough, marketing and strategic planning expert Will Powers spoke to Destin Legarie about “barely” scratching the “surface of certain factions and their entire quest lines.” And with how much the developer has touted the sheer amount of content in the game, with the story only making up a “small percentage,” there’s likely going to be more to look forward to than just castle sieges or liberating towns.
Could the story still end up less than great? Sure, but would that take away from the rest of the game when it’s a small part? Would that dilute all the other potentially great side stories that you would discover? Again, different folks, different strokes – something that Powers acknowledged when asked about how long it would take the average person to finish the story because “players devour games in different ways.”
I can’t guarantee that Crimson Desert will meet everyone’s expectations. When something like this attracts so much attention – over two million wishlists and counting – it’s bound to attract a wider range of players who each want something different. Perhaps the sheer range of mechanics, activities, systems, characters, and whatnot won’t immediately click, but then again, maybe they will. Even as we see more overviews in the coming weeks, we won’t truly know for sure.
And while skepticism is perfectly fine – though it’s kind of crazy how Crimson Desert somehow manages to attract the same kinds of responses, year in and year out – there’s something to getting wrapped up in the excitement. To see all these different gameplay features and not immediately doubt them, either because they look surface-level at first or because they won’t all loop together perfectly when it’s all said and done. Newsflash – completing that quest to capture escaped sheep probably won’t directly tie into pushing back the evil forces who want to control Abyss. Kind of like how you don’t need to complete every single side quest in Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, or any number of other games.
But they’re still there for the sake of roping you into the world and its people. Just like those titles, Crimson Desert offers an enormous amount of freedom to figure things out for yourself. To decide where you’ll go and what you’ll do next.
In a world as massive as this – one that surpasses Red Dead Redemption 2’s map, and in which you can spend, as Powers did, 50 hours just upgrading your weapons, mining, and trying out different things – there is some onus on the player to decide how they ultimately want to spend their time. Some people may end up paralyzed by that choice; others may seek to complete the story, engage in some side content and then uninstall. Others will keep coming back, poring over every bit of Pywel’s skies and sands, seeking ways to min-max their characters and tackle the toughest challenges, and then playing for who knows how long, all because they’re having fun. In this economy!
Whichever one you may end up as, Crimson Desert could be an experience that matches some of the all-time greats. And even if everything doesn’t tie together in a neat little bow, it may end up being a heck of a lot of fun regardless.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
