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Crimson Desert | Review Thread

What scores do you think Crimson Desert is getting?

  • Total voters
    400
  • Poll closed .
I think the only that has me not convinced is that this looks like a Jack-of-All, and King of none. But I'm happy to be wrong. Maybe this will scratch that "Bethesda" itch of a shit ton of stuff in one package.
 
Hugare said:
That was my point

I believe the game will be impressive in ways RDR 2 isnt, but some people will focus on it not having dynamic horse testicles

That's usualy how it goes with every open world game released since 2018
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I have an hunch that people are gonna compare this one to elden, botw and w3 more than rdr2.

I know the games have some similarity, but if you think about it, rdr2 is such a massively different type of game, from the ultra realism to the general slowness and animation priority to the combat to the traversal to the lack of puzzles to pretty much almost everything.
 
GymWolf said:
I have an hunch that people are gonna compare this one to elden, botw and w3 more than rdr2.

I know the games have some similarity, but if you think about it, rdr2 is such a massively different type of game, from the ultra realism to the general slowness and animation priority to the combat to the traversal to the lack of puzzles to pretty much almost everything.
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A lot of the Korean impressions of the game compared it to RDR2 but without the big narrative.
 
Knightsoftheround said:
A lot of the Korean impressions of the game compared it to RDR2 but without the big narrative.
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I really don't need a big narrative as long as its evened out with some decent sidequests. This has always looked like a game where you make your own stories anyway.

If it's really as good as it looks I'm gonna roleplay like a motherfucker which I haven't done since probably RDR2.
 
We had previews stating things that go against how RDR2 did these things. Such as how NPCs react to the player character, random events and so on.

If that Korean player is legit he probably just means it's slow paced like RDR2 in the beginning. I don't believe this studio will top things that RDR2 does so immensely well.
 
Chuck Berry said:
This has always looked like a game where you make your own stories anyway
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That's the feel I get as well. Hope the game has enough random events and emergent stuff to keep that interesting.

I'm all in for a game that's more of a sandbox, love fucking around doing my own thing.
 
Traxtech said:
I don't think most are ready for this kind of sandbox game with no dedicated path or heavy story focus, so it may not score as well as some think.

So excited to jump in though and lose myself in the world
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Yeah—unless the only issue is that it's not called Zelda.
It's honestly surprising how much more storytelling there seems to be in Crimson Desert compared to the latest Zelda, and yet some people just don't want to acknowledge it.

Even more surprising is how few concerns reviewers raised about the lack of story in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom during their previews.

Zelda was lacking in :
  • Combat
  • Progression systems
  • Content density and world emptiness
  • Lack of interiors
  • Repetitive dungeon artistic design (shrines all look the same)
  • Loot and reward systems that discourage exploration and lose impact over time, as you know exactly what will be the reward for shrines and exploration almost always ended with a shrine at the end
Crimson Desert also push things on the technical side, but also offers a lot (that we know currently) :
  • Numerous towns and cities that feel alive, with many NPCs
  • World interactivity on par with Breath of the Wild (though perhaps not Tears of the Kingdom)
  • Interaction with objects and NPCs throughout the world
  • A crime and theft system
It also features:
  • A large number of bosses (76) and lots of enemies (By comparison, Breath of the Wild had only a few overworld bosses (Hinox, Talus, Molduga) and reused Ganon forms) and still few enemies even in TotK
  • A map at least twice the size of Breath of the Wild => 150km²
  • Plenty of non-combat activities:
    • Camp management
    • Construction and renovation of points of interest (dispatching units)
    • Lots of Mini-games (Arena / tournament fights, Archery / Target-shooting sequences, Fishing, Tavern games like drinking, dice, arm wrestling, rock paper scissor, card game)
    • Puzzles in both the overworld and in the abyss

The only things I'm not sure about it is the sheer size of the dungeons, they probably will feel like shrines in BotW and not dungeons from OoT or Elden Ring in terms of size, and the fact that there is no underwater exploration, at least as we know of (which is weird considering all the tech with the water and the sailing, and the fact that BDO has it).

Granted, BotW had many perfect scores because of the sheer novelty and interactivity of the world like never seen before in a game of this size, and the exploration without any handholding felt fresh, even with its many faults.

But TotK felt like a rehash / expansion and frankly showed the press / influencers their true colors, it was so overrated by them it's almost comical because it had exactly the same flaws mentionned in BotW. Not to mention that feeling of exploration was almost gone since they rehash the same map with barely changed.

So when I see, "Crimson Desert clunky, UI bad, controls hard" so it will be reviewed worse than it should, I mean have you seen BotW and TotK ?

I have absolutely zero confidence in the press ability to review this game adequately, as most of them have no skill and no brain ("uh why no yellow paint ?" "Please tell me what to do Atreus and Aloy before I even see the puzzle").

This game will be a phenomenon like Elden Ring was, over time. I guarantee it.

TLDR : It will be reviewed worse because no Zelda name, but will be much better.
 
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VeganElduderino said:
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images
 
I feel like this could go either way.

I hope it's amazing but I feel apprehensive.

I have my AMD code for the game so I can try it out no matter what just for the graphics.
 
I think any advocating for the game deserving a certain score just based on it attempting to be ambitious is…lame?

I think attempting to do a bunch of things mechanically and systems wise is extremely exciting - I'm excited by its attempt at being ambitious- but it has to have a minimum base level of success on nailing that; it can't just get a pass because people are tribal and have decided to ride this game's schlong.

EDIT: I pre-ordered, I'm on board. I want this game to hit more than miss. I just see people online, YouTube pontificators et al…who are seemingly ready to make declarations on the game before they've played it. All because they're tied up in the hype.
 
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VeganElduderino said:
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Watching that review, it's not going to review as well as some of you think.

He loved the game, but the negative things he mentioned are: certain systems and abilities not clearly explained and the game just lets you discover on your own. Which might frustrate certain players. Also difficulty curve is very uneven (this is probably due to the ability to free roam). Certain battles are very easy and certain battles are impossibly difficult because you haven't found the move/ability that would make it easier.

There are a lot of reviewers who are going to have issues with those aspects.
 
Knightsoftheround said:
A lot of the Korean impressions of the game compared it to RDR2 but without the big narrative.
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The "its like rdr2" is clearly a part of the press kit sent to people, or the stipulations rather, because even influencers say it, even DarkX of DF fame parrot it in his special "traversing the world" marketing piece he put out

Because its just more than coincidental literally every impression says it when it honestly looks nothing like RDR2.
 
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Negotiator101 said:
The hype on this is enormous, soon find out if it delivers.
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I always wondered where the enormous hype came from. I know they previewed it for awhile, so maybe it's just because of that? I feel like in a month I went from hearing not much about it to hearing a LOT of talk, lol.

I hope it lands for folks, for me, I still can't shake off a number of things about it that just look that appealing to me. It's weird.
 
MiguelItUp said:
I always wondered where the enormous hype came from. I know they previewed it for awhile, so maybe it's just because of that? I feel like in a month I went from hearing not much about it to hearing a LOT of talk, lol.

I hope it lands for folks, for me, I still can't shake off a number of things about it that just look that appealing to me. It's weird.
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If it has generally consistent impressive reviews I'll buy it no question. I'm really interested in a new single player open world to get absorbed in after playing Arc so much, I want a good story as well but apparently that's it's weak point, we shall see.
 
saintjules said:
Wired Italy broke the review embargo going live (use a translator if needed)

www.wired.it

Crimson Desert, com'è l'immenso videogioco fantasy coreano che vuole sfidare GTA

Cavalcare draghi, combattere eserciti o gestire una fattoria: un’esperienza enorme e completamente fuori dagli schemi
www.wired.it www.wired.it
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One thing remains clear, however: Pearl Abyss's title is destined to be one of the most talked-about games of the first half of 2026, and probably also one of the most played, at least until the arrival of another highly anticipated colossus like GTA VI that everyone is waiting for.
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