Crimson Desert has come a long way since its initial reveal in 2019. It’s been over half a decade since then, and in that time, the developers at Pearl Abyss have been cooking up something worth adding to your wish list.
The game was first announced in 2019 as a prequel to the MMORPG Black Desert Online. Since then, it’s transformed into a standalone open-world action-adventure title that blends realism and fantasy with satisfying, engaging combat and jaw-dropping graphics.
Crimson Desert: The story thus far
I got the chance to preview Crimson Desert at Summer Game Fest, where I was thrown midway into an early-game questline. The story follows Kliff, the leader of a mercenary band called the Greymanes. After being caught in a trap by their sworn enemies, another mercenary troop named the Drunken Black Bears, the Greymanes are scattered across the continent of Pywel. It’s up to Kliff to reunite his troops — but since he’s a somewhat legendary figure in the land of Pywel, he’s often sidetracked by requests to help other armies in their own battles.
After hearing news of his Greymane comrade Oongka, Kliff heads to Calphade to find him. Unfortunately for Kliff, Calphade is being attacked by the Drunken Black Bears, along with a former member of the Calphade forces who has turned turncoat in an act of open rebellion.
Cassius Morten, a former officer of Calphade’s Marquis Stefan Lanford, is leading the mutiny. The region is in dire peril as both armies go at each other’s throats — and it’s up to Kliff to stop the fight before Calphade completely collapses.
Crimson Desert went from MMO prequel to must-play power fantasy
This is where my demo started. I was tossed right in the middle of the fight between Calphade and the Drunken Black Bears, first tasked with helping repair Calphade’s cannons and artillery (something that would become extremely useful later in the battle).
To do this, I used magic to levitate the mortars, cannons, and other objects to place them back where they needed to be. The control scheme for this particular task is somewhat unusual, but it’s good practice for the boss fight later on: Players must press one of the trigger buttons to start targeting an object, then hold down two buttons on the D-pad simultaneously (on PS5, X and square) to lift it.
There are a few schemes like this in the game; Pearl Abyss has placed certain actions behind a button hold for console players, which opens up a type of ‘menu’ that they can then work from to perform various tasks like levitating objects, etc. This was a tad difficult to wrap my head around at first, but it gradually became easier as I kept playing.
Once the artillery was repaired, I could fire an arrow to order missile strikes on enemy towers at any point in the encounter. In the midst of all this, the Black Bears’ forces were coming at me in droves, creating overwhelming skirmishes that reflected the chaos of real-world medieval battles. It was a lot to take in, but given that Kliff has superpowered magic abilities, it quickly turned into an almost Musou-like experience where I blasted hordes of enemies apart with a bevy of elemental attacks.
There are almost too many abilities to list here; there’s a charged sword attack, a triple jump, levitation, and many more moves that use your magic abilities. There are a few elemental types that players can choose from to give their moves different attributes. In my demo, I got to see fire, lightning and ice, the latter of which I chose to use during my time with the game.
Using ice, I could knock enemies back and freeze them in place, allowing me to slow the chaos around me and take out baddies at my own pace. Lightning calls down a powerful strike, while fire does exactly what you think it does (sets stuff on fire). Every time you use a magic attack, the camera pulls back and the lighting changes dramatically, adding a heightened and punchy feeling to your moves that makes battles more immersive and exciting.
As for other combat details, players can grab an enemy and swing them around to hit other baddies around them, or even throw them into the opposition to send them reeling backward like bowling ball pins. You can dropkick enemies and create any number of absurd combinations with your seemingly endless moveset, giving the feel of a classic action game like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta without the combo counter.
Horseback-specific combat is also available when mounted, meaning you don’t have to hop off your ride to take down enemies (I’m looking at you, Final Fantasy XVI). Overall, the combat is extremely satisfying and immensely deep. I only got about an hour with the game, and I feel like I just barely scratched the surface.
Crimson Desert combines chaotic battles with spell-slinging spectacle
Crimson Desert is built on Pearl Abyss’ very own BlackSpace Engine, and they made sure to point out what it’s capable of during my session at Summer Game Fest. In Crimson Desert, everything happens in real-time — so if you destroy an enemy tower, for instance, all the bits fall apart exactly where you struck it. When you use a fire attack, the lighting in the environment changes as you summon flames to wreak havoc.
Weather is also a big part of the game; when it rains, the grass, the ground, and everything else changes in response, and days pass as you progress. You can also skip forward in time if you need to complete a questline at night, for instance, or want to wait for bad weather to pass. I was also told that the world is so huge, it would take literal hours to traverse the entire map on horseback.
All in all, Crimson Desert was a shockingly good time. I was genuinely surprised by how beautiful everything looked and how instantly immersive the world was. But more importantly, I had a blast with the combat, which made me want to keep playing even though my hour-block was up. Pear Abyss has upped its game with Crimson Desert, showing that it’s got far more in its arsenal than tactical MMORPGs and mobile games.
Crimson Desert is slated for release in late 2025 on Windows, PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X|S.
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