Between aggregate review scores that everyone expected to currently be much higher than they actually are (including shareholders), sales are finally in for Crimson Desert. And shock of shocks, it’s done pretty well – two million copies sold less than 48 hours after launch. That’s pretty good for a new IP.
Even the Twitch viewership started strong, with a peak of 496,493 viewers at launch. Steam concurrent numbers may not be the highest, but again, a peak of 239,045 is pretty impressive.
Then again, it’s hard to ignore all the other numbers post-launch. The concurrent player numbers on Steam are slowly but steadily dropping, as is the Twitch viewership.
Even the Steam user rating, which currently sits at “Mixed” with 61 percent of the 19,254 reviewers recommending it. Those who don’t have criticized the controls (which are apparently remappable on mouse and keyboard but not on controller), the UI design, inventory management and the lack of any storage – the list goes on. And if you happen to like Kliff as a protagonist, maybe stay off the subreddit for a couple of days.
It pretty much mirrors what we’ve seen from critical impressions over the past several days. Several people enjoy the game; a strong number don’t. Meanwhile, there are those in between (like me) who find that certain elements can carry it through, but with how much the game is attempting to stuff in, you’ll encounter odd design decisions more than not.
Nevertheless, when you see what’s currently a 78 Metascore from more than 100 reviews and everything else said about Crimson Desert from those who don’t like it, you still have to ask: Why are so many people unable to put it down? What’s drawn so many to it?
First, we must acknowledge the marketing team, which did a pretty good job. All the trailers and visual fidelity are nice and all. You also can’t deny how masterfully crafted the features overview videos were – they explained just enough about the experience without spoiling any of the mystery. They also served to highlight the strongest features of the experience, namely the exploration and combat.
However, there’s also PR and marketing director Will Powers, who conducted several candid interviews about the game and revealed some genuinely big things about it. Sure, there were plenty of points which he couldn’t comment on, but hearing that this world is bigger than Red Dead Redemption 2? Admitting that it’s a massive experience, of which the campaign is only a small percentage (and I can confirm that it’s still dozens upon dozens of hours to complete)?
Outright stating that the team will reveal console specifications before launch, even though we only really saw PS5 Pro and base PS5 gameplay? This is alongside all the hours of gameplay already showcased across multiple previews, and even breaking down how different each person’s experience could be.
So while everything surrounding the game propelled it to two million wishlists over six weeks before launch, the hype certainly moved it even further beyond. Roughly two weeks before launch, it reached three million wishlists and reportedly earned more than $20 million in revenue from Steam alone before launch. For all intents and purposes, the hype did its job, and players were looking to go hands-on, despite the discourse.
Sure, a lot of it is mixed, but the sheer nature of it also helped fuel interest. You could argue, like those shareholders, that it doesn’t paint the most positive picture of the game, but that’s only applicable for those who weren’t interested and thus didn’t pre-order. Those who did were committed to seeing things through for themselves.
Maybe it was to see if it actually deserved a nine from several outlets, or a six from IGN and a seven from GameSpot. Perhaps there was that innate desire to see how good the actual enjoyable parts – like the exploration and combat – could really be. The communal aspect, fueled by the large Twitch viewership and social media in general, and feeling like “everyone is in Pywel”, also helps fuel all that. Even if players weren’t universally glowing with their impressions, being able to share in all that as you uncover this massive new world together is a big deal for many, especially so many already committed to playing.
Of course, there’s also the friction aspect, where certain things only serve to push back against you, and where the game doesn’t hold your hand in many aspects. I’d argue that it also does a poor job of explaining things when it actually gets to the instructions (see: Tenenbrum). Even the whole deal with the Abyss Gears was so cryptic that the developer had to patch the game to explain it better on day one.
However, there are other elements which have served to draw players in. To actually try and solve some of these puzzles, which are genuinely cryptic until you have that “aha!” moment. To plunder the depths – and skies – of Pywel to learn about it. There’s a fine line between friction and mastery, and I’m not even talking about the controls. It could be as simple as venturing out into the world, overcoming its challenges one by one, even if they can initially take a while (like some of the bosses). And once you’ve mastered that, there’s the urge to venture out and seek more. The friction is appealing in many ways because it rubs shoulders (no pun intended) with difficulty and the desire to overcome that.
I can somewhat attest to this, especially when having to wrestle with the underwhelming story. Just going out into the world and uncovering things. I remember finding a cave early on that turned out to be an ancient tomb with three panels that could be rotated individually – slowly and more than a little tedious – and hints that a powerful weapon awaited. I had no clue how to solve it, but there was still that urge to return and solve the mystery within, despite the inherent tedium of the actual mechanics. Why? Because it’s something I found all on my own, and I didn’t want to let it beat me.
The same could apply for that one region where the cold will slowly kill you without the proper resistances, and where you need to stand inches away from lanterns and bonfires to raise your internal temperature. Or that one puzzle with Othello-like, where you have to lift each piece without any clue on the right order. As much as Crimson Desert does a poor job explaining some things, it knows where it outright shouldn’t and simply leaves the player to discover them.
And that prospect of a world that’s filled with so much of these things, on top of everything else, is ultimately what keeps so many people coming back. It’s too early to say whether this will become an even bigger success than the developer expected, and whether responding to feedback and improving things could lead to a Cyberpunk 2077-style revival. Pywel is calling regardless, as I said in my review of the PC version. Even if it isn’t for everyone to answer, it’s certainly enough, warts and all, for those who have.
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.