Each from time to time, a very bold sport comes alongside and instantly hooks the viewers. In Crimson Desert’s case, displaying a grand-scale world that recollects parts of Breath of the Wild and The Witcher 3 rapidly garnered a mystique for its ridiculously over-the-top ambitions for a brand new open-world motion sport. Nevertheless, since its reveal again in 2019, it is taken a very long time to get a clearer image of how the ambitions driving Crimson Desert have taken form. And now, in 2026, it is garnered some wholesome skepticism, main many to really feel it may be a type of video games that is simply too good to be true.
Fortunately, with the now-firm March 19 launch date quick approaching, I received some prolonged hands-on time with developer Pearl Abyss’ large-scale single-player motion sport. After diving into the opening hours of this grand-scale, sword-and-sorcery journey, I received to see simply how detailed and huge the world of Crimson Desert is in real-time, and what types of oddball quests and brutal fight encounters are to return in protagonist Kliff’s adventures throughout Pywel.
Crimson Desert focuses on the story of wandering warrior Kliff, a member of the Greymane faction that seeks to maintain the continent of Pywell secure throughout harsh instances. However after a ruthless warlord decimates a lot of his crew, Kliff himself is seemingly killed in battle, however he is quickly resurrected by mysterious new allies that come from the sky realm generally known as the Abyss. Now tasked with rebuilding the Greymanes, he’ll recruit new and returning members to his trigger, push the boundaries of his newfound powers, and straight confront a civil warfare and a malevolent power that is threatening the stability of the world.
Initially deliberate as a direct prequel to the MMORPG Black Desert On-line, Crimson Desert is now a stand-alone journey set in the identical universe. Even with out figuring out the lore of Black Desert On-line, Crimson Desert retains connections mild apart from the same high-fantasy setting and occasional references. It completely throws itself into the fashion of a western high-fantasy epic, however with the added vitality of an eastern-style motion sport within the vein of Final Fantasy. The opening chapters of Crimson Desert do effectively to introduce Kliff as a rugged and stoic hero who can simply lower down enemies in his path, however can also be prepared to lend a serving to hand to the residents throughout the land.
Although a lot of the footage we have seen showcased the grand spectacle and ludicrous motion in Crimson Desert, my hands-on time largely targeted on the extra laid-back tutorial set within the Hernand area of Pywel. I had performed Crimson Desert 3 times earlier than this prolonged hands-on, all of which targeted on remoted boss battles and spectacle fight. However with this tutorial setting the tone for the pacing and storytelling, I’ve now received a a lot better thought of the bigger construction of this open-world journey.
Whereas Crimson Desert has gotten a ton of comparisons to The Legend of Zelda, The Witcher, and even Dragon’s Dogma – one sport that basically got here to thoughts throughout my hands-on was Pink Useless Redemption 2. Regardless of what we have seen earlier than about how briskly you navigate the huge world, at floor stage, there is a shocking deal with navigating its densely populated areas with care and a focus. I spent a variety of time simply wandering the again alleys, interacting with folks going about their day, discovering new outlets and cooking recipes, and even uncovering optionally available actions that do a superb job of creating the world really feel bustling and lived in.
A few of my favourite moments from the opening hours got here from seeing what types of sidequests the townsfolk would pull me into. In a single occasion, I encountered a person who fell from his roof and wanted assist with cleansing his chimney – and that is precisely what I ended up doing for this sidequest. I really climbed as much as the roof, positioned myself on prime of the chimney, and used my newly acquired broom to filter out the gunk to assist the husband save the home.
Regardless of the tone and motion being severe, I used to be happy to see how a lot humour and quirkiness had been packed into Crimson Desert’s opening hours. There are many enemy bases to topple, however I additionally spent a while enjoying some back-alley video games of rock, paper, scissors with the native ruffians. There’s even a quest that had me rescue an kidnapped sheep to cheer up an upset little one – and seeing a really severe Kliff have interaction in such actions was extra amusing than I anticipated.
Kliff begins his journey with a reasonably modest talent set and information of the world, and, as in conventional open-world motion video games, the bigger pull of Crimson Desert can be to increase his talents and perception. Once you decide up quest info, recipes, and even bounty notices for roaming targets, Kliff will increase his information and fill out his data of all of the wildlife, characters, and essential occasions of the world. I used to be impressed to see how a lot was packed into this comparatively modest part of the huge sport world – significantly, simply wanting on the map had me shocked by simply how giant Pywel was.
It was fascinating to soak up Crimson Desert’s pacing, and its intentionally detailed strategy to navigating and interacting with the world initially took a while to get used to. Whilst a tutorial, I used to be shocked to see how a lot time is spent on getting gamers to actually take within the many options and alternatives to search out. Granted, it is extremely a lot within the vein of Pink Useless Redemption 2’s motion and interplay, however I admittedly felt overwhelmed by simply how a lot you may work together with. You possibly can really go as much as almost all residents to greet them, and even rob them – supplied you might have a masks to disguise your self.
Regardless of the vary of actions, Crimson Desert can also be a combat-heavy sport – and even with Kliff’s restricted expertise, the battles you will get into are fairly brutal to see unfold. Initially, I began brawling with bandits and goblins across the metropolis. Nonetheless, ultimately issues took a flip when rival knights and different faction leaders began seeking to get a chunk of Kliff. The mini-boss battle towards Matthias was a very thrilling battle, and whilst one of many early encounters, it did a superb job of displaying how visceral the battles can get.
Finally, Kliff will make journeys to the legendary Abyss realm, the place I navigated a sequence of floating ruins far within the sky. Moving into these visually beautiful environments was one in all my favourite moments from my hands-on time, and it additionally gave me a jaw-dropping view of the world’s huge panorama. These are additionally segments that introduce the brand new Abyss powers in some puzzle-platforming challenges. These magic powers elevate Kliff’s fight and traversal expertise to make use of his force-style powers to govern objects, and use a power bounce potential to propel him off the bottom. Finally, I used to be granted the power to glide, and I took it out for a spin by skydiving again in direction of the bottom. It is a enjoyable potential to make use of, however it positively takes a ton of stamina to get essentially the most out of it.
All through the sport, Kliff will purchase Abyss catalysts, which is able to function talent factors to improve stats and unlock new talents. These upgrades embrace improved leaping and extra fight expertise, similar to a suplex and extra superior sword strikes. Along with exploring cities and the encircling wilderness, I additionally received to see the early goings of the Greymane faction system, which focuses on build up crew, sending them on missions, and gaining new sources. Although I wasn’t capable of see it evolve a lot, it was spectacular to see that it is really a full-fledged administration system that can proceed to develop as you discover the world.
I actually loved the circulation and motion in Crimson Desert, and finishing the tutorial was a strong onboarding to the bigger journey forward. Based mostly on my earlier hands-on time, Crimson Desert presently feels far more intuitive and easier with its controls. Nonetheless, it had the recurring challenge of being too sophisticated for its personal good, with its techniques attempting to cram actions and options into a reasonably restricted set of sub-menus and combos. As an example, you will typically should manually equip key objects and equipment to activate some prompts, which might really feel cumbersome. This all ties again into the makes an attempt to make gamers really feel like they’re having a extra tangible connection to the world, however it may possibly typically really feel too overcomplicated for its personal good.
Together with the opening chapters, I additionally received an opportunity to get one other have a look at the midgame of Crimson Desert, which noticed a powered-up Kliff tackle new enemies and a extra highly effective boss that matches as much as his souped up expertise. Furthermore, Crimson Desert additionally contains new social gathering members that may be swapped in if you wish to strive a unique fight fashion. Whereas Kliff remains to be the central protagonist, enjoying because the tanky berserker Oongka or the nimble and fierce Damaine provides up some enjoyable alternate options to Kliff’s playstyle. It does effectively to showcase the range inside Crimson Desert and the way the sport will ramp up with extra zany encounters that blur the traces between a high-fantasy journey and steampunk fantasy.
Even with this prolonged hands-on time, I used to be nonetheless solely scratching the floor of the bigger adventures available in Crimson Desert. There have been many video games prior to now that attempt to go for giant open-world settings, however do not typically actually justify the necessity to go huge and daring. However I used to be actually fairly impressed to see that Crimson Desert shouldn’t be solely presenting a case for its tackle an open-world action-adventure sport, however can also be having enjoyable with the idea by pushing its consideration to element and simply how a lot there may be to unpack inside the sprawling world.
Up to now, Crimson Desert is displaying a variety of promise. It is definitely been on the minds of many for a number of years now, which has invited a bunch of comparisons with different large-scale video games. However my prolonged hands-on time has made me really feel optimistic and intrigued by the sport’s maximalist motion fashion. And that is gotten me loads fascinated by seeing if the total sport can ship on reaching the identical highs as different style greats.