Crimson Desert - First Impressions

Crimson Desert has been a much hyped title for the last few years, aiming to be the next big step for open world adventures. Leading up to release, that hype was only growing bigger and bigger, with so many gameplay videos showing off all the various and ridiculous things you would be able to do. However, I was always cautiously optimistic about what was shown, whether the developers at Pearl Abyss could really pull off?

After roughly 10 hours so far, I wanted to share my early thoughts and whether Crimson Desert is shaping up to be a masterpiece, or just a solid experience.

One of the things I wanted to first talk about is the story and world building. So far, there really isn't much to it. You take control of Kliff, who, after a battle goes wrong alongside his fellow Greymanes, dies. After some divine intervention, you are sent back to the world of the living and you try to find your companions and create a place to call your own - at least that is what has happened so far. I want to talk about particularly interesting characters, but there are none, not even the main character himself. It's clear that from what I've played so far, and what the developers said close to release, that narrative was not a focus. Unfortunately, not even the world and lore make up for the lack of story.

Much has been said of the controls - and I hate to say it, but they are frequently frustrating and unintuitive. I think everyone who has played it can agree that trying to pick up or interact with a specific object when there are multiple around is the epitome of bad design. I have spent far too much time trying to aim perfectly at the item I want to pick up, only for it to keep focusing on anything but. Then jumping around like an idiot as the interact button is the same as the jump button. It's terrible. Aside from this, movement is quite sluggish, while combat can feel unresponsive, despite how much I can praise the flow of different attacks (which is excellent).

Exploration is Crimson Desert's strongest aspect. The best moments of my first 10 hours of gameplay came about from when I simply ignored the main missions and went off exploring the map around Hernand. Riding on horseback, finding a large chasm, jumping down to find a puzzle chamber (which isn't marked on the map) is just one of the handful of fun moments come about from it's natural exploration. It helps that the world is absolutely stunning to look at. While NPCs don't look particularly great, the environments are the clear star of the show. Richly detailed, the lush landscapes are a real treat for the eyes.

Again, these are just my impressions from the first 10 hours (in a game where you can easily spend upwards of 100 from the sheer scale of map). While those impressions don't make me think this will end up being anything special or revolutionise the genre, there's enough there that has me wanting to keep playing and seeing what else Crimson Desert will throw at me.

To the next 100 hours...