The bosses in Crimson Desert are highly effective. I imply actually highly effective. Because the formidable Staglord grabbed me by the ankle and hurled me into a wall, the bone-crunching impression jogged my memory of how The Stranger’s blows catapulted Kratos via tree trunks and mountains in God of War. This intense, deity-like physicality lends Crimson Desert’s battles a sense of real spectacle – these are the gladiator battles of myths.
Throughout an hour-long hands-on session at gamescom 2024, I used to be in a position to go toe-to-toe with three completely different bosses, every of which showcased a completely different facet of this fantasy motion RPG’s strategy to battle. The primary, the aforementioned Staglord, is maybe the most straightforward (though that does the towering, barbarian-like warrior a disservice.) He’s a relentless attacker, charging throughout the battlefield like a bullet prepare that may suplex you at its ultimate vacation spot. However, regardless of his infinite power and capability to throw you like a baseball, he’s solely human. I pressure distance between us, rapidly firing explosive arrows to knock him out of his assault sample and open up a window to bury my blade into his again.
The Staglord proves a actual problem of a struggle. Crimson Desert is not even remotely a soulslike, but it surely’s not afraid to make you’re employed actually exhausting for victory. I spend a lot of the prolonged struggle studying the complexities of the fight system. There’s no lock-on, so I’ve to be aware of the place I place my character and the place his sword will land. Rolling ahead permits me to immediately comply with up with a sweep-kick that surprises my foe, and then hitting each the sunshine and heavy assault buttons collectively unleashes a large, particle-effects spraying strike that cleaves a chunk out of the Staglord’s well being bar. All this is speedy with out sacrificing weight. It feels improbable, but it surely’s additionally simple to let issues run away from you – I quickly realise I must be chowing down on health-restoring meals with addiction-like frequency.
With the Staglord defeated, I take his mighty sword and protect and transfer on to the following struggle. The demo skips forward within the story, which means I sadly don’t get to expertise any non-boss gameplay, and throws me into snow-coated lands. Right here, my gruff protagonist is in search of kids who’ve seemingly been sacrificed to some sort of mountain god. Such a ‘god’ seems to be the White Horn; a type of antlered abominable snowdeer that showcases simply how completely different every of Crimson Desert’s bosses may be. This colossal creature strikes like a bucking bronco and its galloping fees trigger the mountains round us to interrupt out in miniature avalanches that go away me quickly frozen in place. Fortunately, after placing it a lot that its white fur is stained virtually fully purple, I’m in a position to clamber onto its again within the struggle’s second part and stab away at its neck. The second had me recalling my battles with towering monsters in Dragon’s Dogma 2 earlier this yr.
Every boss has three well being bars, with every one eradicated growing the depth of the struggle. However the place the Staglord and White Horn scraps appeared to escalate a lot like many different motion RPG boss battles – the enemy will get angrier and begins utilizing extra devastating assaults – my ultimate battle, in opposition to the Queen Stoneback Crab, demonstrated Crimson Desert’s ambition to create memorable moments via very completely different mechanics.
The Queen Stoneback Crab is colossally massive. It fills the display. And, neatly, you possibly can’t struggle it by simply hacking away at its shins. As an alternative, the battle is a puzzle set piece that’s clearly impressed by Shadow of the Colossus. I clamber onto the Crab’s stony shell and seize onto the grass and flora that types its ‘fur’, holding on for expensive life whereas pulling myself up in direction of a trio of rock formations. Utilizing a particular punch talent I shatter every of the rocks to reveal a weak level that I plunge my blade into. Every opened wound causes a geyser of water to blast out, which not solely gives a visible spectacle but in addition throws me excessive into the air. From above I’m in a position to float down, virtually Zelda paraglider-style, and plan find out how to sort out the following stage. Now I’m tasked with destroying the pottery-like crown on the peak of the Crab’s mountain-like shell – a job a Pearl Abyss worker defined to me is accomplished by swinging Spider-Man-style from a net and colliding with the pottery at full velocity. Critically. I’m undecided how I’d have figured that out by myself, however I’m happy such a mechanic exists. It’s all delightfully bonkers.
My hour-long session isn’t fairly lengthy sufficient to attempt all 4 bosses the demo has to supply, however a video presentation supplied a fast perception into the one one I missed: the Reed Satan, a bizarre little man who creates copies of himself that may solely be defeated by destroying totems which are constructed through the battle. Together with the three I fought, all 4 bosses make a promise that Crimson Desert options an array of inventive, distinctive centrepiece battles. In the event that they’re all like this, then Pearl Abyss actually may have one thing particular on its palms.
I’m equally impressed by the fight system’s fundamentals. Sure, it’s all fairly fantasy RPG 101 – bows, swords, shields, parries – but it surely’s delightfully aggressive and correctly impactful. There’s a seemingly deep combo system, too, and it’s as a result of of that I needed the demo had a part that was a little extra relaxed for me to pattern. The warmth of a relentless boss battle isn’t fairly the house to be taught and excellent button sequences, however I’ve obtained a good feeling you possibly can pull off some cool stuff based mostly on the combos I did be taught.
In fact, I additionally want I’d seen extra so I may say if Crimson Desert’s journey chops are as robust as its boss battles. What little dialogue and story there was to introduce every boss didn’t counsel something remotely near, say, The Witcher 3. However, even when its writing proves missing, a robust strategy to exploration and world design may carry it far. Hopefully Pearl Abyss will showcase that quickly, as a result of thus far Crimson Desert’s combine of God of War’s weighty impression and Dragon’s Dogma’s inventive spectacle has me very excited certainly.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Options Editor.