Crimson Desert Review – Minority Mindset

I’ve had to restart my review of Crimson Desert at least three times now. Every time I make some progress, the developers, Pearl Abyss, release a big update that changes things, and I have to start over.

I’ve decided enough is enough. Crimson Desert is a game with serious flaws, but it’s also incredibly impressive. It’s frustrating at times, yet surprisingly enjoyable, and it often manages to both annoy and delight me. Despite its issues, it’s steadily improving with each update and becoming more worthwhile.

When I first started reviewing Crimson Desert a few weeks ago, I was a bit overwhelmed and unsure of my overall impressions. But a lot has changed in the game since then! In just under two months, Pearl Abyss has released almost 15 updates, significantly improving performance and making major adjustments to gameplay. Players are already seeing the benefits, and even more improvements are planned for the future.

Additional fast travel points, including one at your camp
New control options
New crafting materials
New difficulty settings
New pets
Increased storage capacity
New summonable mounts
Reworked tutorials and puzzles
General gameplay improvements

The current version of Crimson Desert is a huge improvement over the one I originally played, and I’m a little jealous of new players getting to experience it now.

After giving it some more thought and spending more time with the game, I’ve come to a simple conclusion: Crimson Desert is enjoyable. What I like most is the freedom to do whatever I want – whether it’s gathering resources (even after finding faster methods!), tracking down bandits, or simply wandering around and exploring the world.

I was absolutely blown away by the beautiful world of Crimson Desert, and it reminded me a lot of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth in terms of visual impact. I constantly found myself stopping to take screenshots – whether I was exploring forests on horseback, crossing impressive bridges, or reaching the top of huge mountains. When I wasn’t taking pictures, I was enjoying all the different things the game had to offer.

It took a while for me to fully grasp just how unusual Crimson Desert is – maybe it was playing rock-paper-scissors with strangers, discovering the jetpack, or my first flight on the dragon. It’s a quirky mix of gameplay elements clearly inspired by other games (like the glider from Zelda), but Pearl Abyss has surprisingly managed to combine everything with their own creative touch. While the sheer amount of content is impressive, the game could actually benefit from being streamlined. As fun as it is to soar through the air with a jetpack and then deliver a flying kick to bandits, I was hoping for a more polished experience from the start, including the ability to customize controller settings.

I love exploring the beautiful world of Crimson Desert, but the story missions quickly ruin the fun. Whenever the game makes me chase after someone on horseback, my stress levels skyrocket – even more than when dealing with my toddler’s meltdowns!

Even with the game’s improvements, the story and characters are still the weakest parts of Crimson Desert and make me want to stop playing. It starts strong with a compelling revenge plot sparked by the death of your mercenary group, but it quickly becomes confusing and shifts into a strange, magical adventure centered around something called the “Abyss”.

From the very beginning, the story in Crimson Desert is confusing. The main character, who is similar to Jon Snow but legally different, is seemingly killed, then immediately appears alive and well in a coastal village – all without a clear sense of how much time has passed. Characters act as if a long time has gone by, but the game’s time tracker only shows a few days, creating a jarring experience. This disconnect happened within the first few minutes, and it turned out to be just the first of many confusing moments throughout the game.

I didn’t really connect with the characters Kliff, Damiane, and Oongka – I found even simple things more engaging. While each character feels okay to play – you can throw Damiane’s shield like Captain Carter, or enjoy Kliff’s powerful attacks – the game doesn’t give you much reason to switch from Kliff. The story sometimes even locks the other characters out completely, and they have fewer skills to unlock. Because of this, and the fact that they’re getting more skills in a future update, I always ended up investing all my resources in Kliff, playing as him almost exclusively.

Despite the generally dark story, there were moments of enjoyment – some puzzles were genuinely challenging and required creative thinking, and the boss battles (before recent updates) were really difficult, like those in Souls games. I really hope a future update adds the option to skip cutscenes instead of just speeding through them; that would make the experience much better. Hopefully, that will happen someday.

Okay, so Crimson Desert isn’t perfect, I have my issues with it. But the more I just lost myself exploring the world of Pywell, the more fun I actually had. And this is going to sound crazy, but I genuinely enjoyed it more than playing Red Dead Redemption 2, Breath of the Wild, or even Tears of the Kingdom. Don’t get me wrong, those games are all better overall, but this was just more enjoyable for me. It’s like how Titanic is a better movie, technically, but I’d honestly rather watch Austin Powers any day. It’s just a different kind of fun.

I’m still enjoying my time with Crimson Desert and look forward to relaxing with it after work, exploring the world of Pywell and completing little tasks. However, despite the improvements Pearl Abyss has made, some significant problems still hold the game back from being truly great. Some issues, like the story and uninteresting characters, seem unlikely to be fixed. Others, such as limited control customization, I’m hoping will be addressed. Whatever the final state of the game, I think Crimson Desert will be a fascinating example for both players and developers to learn from in the future.

Crimson Desert is likely to have a similar journey to games like No Man’s Sky and Final Fantasy XIV. Right now, it’s a bit of a mixed bag – there’s plenty to enjoy, but also some disappointments. Still, being able to ride dragons and pilot mechs is enough to keep me playing! I’m excited to see what other surprises the game holds, and I’m sure I’ll be discovering them for months, or even years.

Versions tested: PlayStation 5

2026-05-03 21:27

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