Crimson Desert PS5/PS5 Pro Review – An Ode To The Unknown

My time in Crimson Desert has largely been spent wandering around Pywel’s vast expanses, and trying to wrap my head around a myriad of systems that the game barely explains outside of a few tutorials that were patched in post-release. However, it’s that learning curve that lends Pywel a charm so unique I’m probably going to be spending a lot of time with it over the next month or so.

"On the base PS5, I didn’t encounter any of the bugs or glitches that the developer had already flagged during my time with it, and there were no game-breaking bugs to pull me out of the experience."

I say a month because this one’s massive. I’ve been amazed by just how much there is to do in Crimson Desert, and how well most of it is integrated into the gameplay and your character’s progression loop. Its systems come together to present an open world that’s able to respond to your presence well enough to make you feel like your actions are having a positive impact on the regions you’re working to assist.

Before getting into the gameplay details, I want to quickly touch on how the game performs on PS5 and PS5 Pro. Both versions offer three graphical modes: Performance, Quality, and Balanced. On the base PS5, frame rate is generally solid, though there are reports of the game struggling to maintain a stable 60 FPS in Performance mode. By comparison, Balanced mode, which targets 40 FPS, and Quality mode, which targets 30 FPS, appear to be far more consistent.

Furthermore, there is a lot of pop-in as you explore the world. On the base PS5, I didn’t encounter any of the bugs or glitches that the developer had already flagged during my time with it, and there were no game-breaking bugs to pull me out of the experience. The PS5 Pro version, however, crashed once.

On the PS5 Pro, however, the game performs strongly across all three modes. Quality mode delivers 4K visuals at a stable 30 FPS, Balanced mode runs at around 40 FPS, and Performance mode is noticeably more reliable than it is on the base PS5. Overall, the base PS5 version could still use a few performance patches, while the PS5 Pro version already feels rock solid.

"The story’s opening act requires you to just suspend your disbelief and roll with it, which is a recurring theme during my time with Crimson Desert."

Back to the game itself, Kliff initially feels like an interesting protagonist, but as the story progresses, his characterization starts to come across as a bit bland. I’m a little iffy about how the game introduces you to him, though, and that’s a detail that I’m going to elaborate on in a bit. The game starts with the Greymanes unable to fend off an ambush from the Black Bears and their leader, and Kliff ends up thrown into a river with an injury that should have been fatal.

Instead, we’re treated to a tutorial sequence in The Abyss before he’s unceremoniously thrust back into the world, seemingly hale and healthy when you think about the circumstances that put him there. He’s then free to explore Pywel, going wherever we wish to right off the bat. The story’s opening act requires you to just suspend your disbelief and roll with it, which is a recurring theme during my time with Crimson Desert.

It’s largely serviceable, but it’s simply an excuse to put Kliff in dangerous situations, or send him on yet another quest where he may or may not find even more danger along the way. It’s designed to send you off into Pywel’s vast landscapes, and the game is invariably going to have you forgetting your objectives as you go after one of many distractions that pop up along the road.

That’s Crimson Desert’s greatest strength, the world being a major draw that allows you to overlook a rather lackluster story that takes its time to get going. Its pacing isn’t helped by the fact that you’re going to be coming back to it after hours of just exploring the area around your objectives, and it often leads to a few places where its immersion breaks thanks to you discovering something that the story didn’t intend for you to find.

"The sheer amount of things to do is staggering, and you’re going to be hard-pressed to find instances where things get repetitive for the most part."

For instance, rumors of a Greymane in an area had me making a beeline for their last known location. I found the individual in question, even assisting them on a mission. However, the story mission that followed had an NPC mention the same individual, only for Kliff to remain silent about the time he had just spent with them.

I’d have loved a bit of adaptability in that instance, especially since another NPC whom I helped on a separate quest later turned up at a guest house, proudly boasting of his meeting with the Greymane who had helped out its denizens. And yet, he failed to even acknowledge me, even though I positioned myself right in front of him. Details like that matter in an open world, and it did break the immersion for me a little bit.

Those are minor complaints in a gameplay loop that keeps finding new ways to surprise you as you discover new areas. It’s clear that Crimson Desert is a title that’s meant to be played at your own pace and on your own terms once you get the hang of its controls and systems. The sheer amount of things to do is staggering, and you’re going to be hard-pressed to find instances where things get repetitive for the most part.

Another area where the game excels was the combat, which is clunky and annoying in the game’s early hours thanks to a limited skill set and an often overwhelming number of enemies to keep track of. You’re going to want to stock up on food before you take on an enemy stronghold, as this is a game where you take as many hits as you dish out.

"If you’re a player who’s short on time or someone who is looking for a well-written story, you’re probably going to want to sit this one out"

However, things get exponentially better once you start unlocking new abilities and learn to use them effectively. Kliff’s a versatile warrior, and he only gets deadlier the more options you give him to use in the field. The majority of the boss fights are exhilarating, but some of them are a letdown, often devolving into protracted battles where the amount of healing supplies you’re carrying matters more than the effective use of your skills. That’s a shame, considering the bosses I’ve seen are well-designed and unique enough to be interesting.

To conclude, with a world that feels tailor-made for open-world fans, strong visuals, and solid combat, Crimson Desert is easy to recommend, even if it still needs a bit more polish to truly shine. It is absolutely worth the time and effort it asks of you, and I would even place it among my favorite open-world games.

But is it the one for you? That depends on how much of its world you’re willing to engage with. If you’re a player who’s short on time or someone who is looking for a well-written story, you’re probably going to want to sit this one out. But if you’ve got time on your hands, and the patience to learn how to make the most out of the game’s many systems and mechanics, you should dive right in without a second thought.

Either way, Crimson Desert is a solid game whose quirks only make it more endearing to the players most likely to click with it. It’s one that I’m going to be talking about in the future, and is going to be a source of many fond memories for players who stay with it long enough.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.