Crimson Desert Reviews
Summary Crimson Desert is one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in years, each moment of frustration giving way to excitement the next. It'll give you as much as you put in, even if that won't be for everyone.
The biggest complaint I have for Crimson Desert is definitely the control scheme. It just feels awkward. Holding R1 to perform a full combo, instead of individual prompts really throws me off. And not being able to lock onto enemies besides when holding block doesn’t help. It ruins the whole flow of combat. Tie that with blocking not working as intended most of the time, then get ready to be mauled a lot. Overall the world is rich with life and vast, but the janky controls do ruin it. I did slowly get use to them but only enough to get by, but it still feels off to me. Crimson Desert has a lot of fun ideas, but they come across as unfinished. Take the multiple characters for example. They don’t offer anything for the actual game-play besides a preference for the player. But even then you are forced to stick with Kilff mainly due to what seems the world being made for him. Such as puzzles and armour. Another big issue comes from the storage in Crimson Desert. And what I mean by that, is there really isn’t any for the player. Yes we can sell goods, or donate to the camp. But I feel as if we should be able to store produce for cooking, and ore for levelling gear. This should have been a bare minimum feature. I know I haven’t mentioned the story, this is because I honestly don’t have a clue beyond the fact the Graymanes, were slaughtered and that there is an imbalance of good and evil. Crimson Desert has so much I couldn’t fit it all in this review even if I wanted too. There is just that much depth to the game. Update dropped, so Final Thoughts part 2. While playing Crimson Desert, an update did drop fixing some issues, like the storage problem. And man does it help a lot. The combat hasn’t changed much, but I have got somewhat use to it more over time. I hope they allow us to switch it from holding down R1, to simple singular prompt. And that they fix the camera style while fighting bosses. I will give credit, where it’s due, I have enjoyed the world of Pywel. But there is just so much that should have been checked before release. So if you can deal with the awkward jankyness, then you should love it. But personally, I flick between loving and hating it. But in the end, I am giving Crimson Desert the Thumb Culture Gold Award. However, I can see why some people might suggest a lower rating.
Its hybrid identity between MMO and single-player is felt in every single progression mechanic. However, despite the frustration, despite the aesthetic trash, and despite some unbalanced bosses, Pywel is a world worth visiting. It's not the game many were hoping for, but it's a journey that, for better or worse, leaves its mark.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Crimson Desert is a good game that could have been great, with an absolutely incredible open-world adventure undercut by poor pacing, a boring story, annoying boss fights, frustrating puzzles, and awkward controls.
Crimson Desert is an ambitious, expansive RPG that rewards curiosity, exploration, and patience. It doesn’t always hold your hand. It doesn’t lay out every objective in neon signs. Instead, it invites you to think, to explore, and to become truly immersed in a world that feels alive and unpredictable. Whether you’re uncovering a hidden quest in an abandoned outpost, negotiating with wary factions, or watching the sun set over a candlelit desert city, there’s a constant sense of discovery that keeps you invested. For players who love deep worlds, layered storytelling, and the freedom to carve their own path, Crimson Desert offers a rewarding experience — rough edges and all. Crimson Desert is an ambitious journey worth taking — a living world with endless stories to uncover, even if it doesn’t always hold your hand.
Combat is flashy, but unresponsive. The open world is vast, but soulless. The NPCs are legion, but uninspired. The puzzles are complex, but frustrating. Systems are convoluted, but not deep. And the patches keep making the game more and more generic. The bottom line is that Crimson Desert demands at least 100 hours of your life, and it cannot justify that ask with a rewarding experience.
What’s most troubling about Crimson Desert is that Pearl Abyss has something truly good at its core, but has gone out of its way to “overload” it with as many features as possible.
Review in Greek | Read full review
Often feeling like a game chasing greatness, Crimson Desert is in every sense of the word ambitious. Sure, Kliff’s story of revenge is one that been told a thousand times, but it’s seemingly endless open world begs you to chase the adventures beyond the horizon. When you tie this beautifully crafted playground together with a combat system that encourages the player to experiment and think outside the box, you get a game that feels impossibly complex while feeling eerily familiar in the same breath. Crimson Desert is many things – dangerously ambitious, clunky, beautiful, messy, and most importantly: mind-numbingly addictive.
Crimson Desert is the next-gen game we were promised a decade ago by AAA publishers. The scale here is beyond massive, with hundreds of hours offered here if you can get past the game’s criminal control setup and sluggish opening few hours. With some bizarre design choices, Crimson Desert is a game that I can see both sides of the argument on, given the current state of the game. Still, Pearl Abyss has created what is effectively the next Skyrim, a game that offers an unparalleled amount of freedom, that rewards you the more you put into it.
Crimson Desert is a massive and ambitious project defined by its extremes: it presents itself as a vast open-world game that incorporates the greatest modern gaming achievements, yet it suffers from a fragmented identity, shoddy storytelling, and an overwhelming abundance of content that stifles its original spirit. Nevertheless, it’s an adventure that’s well worth your attention, poised to improve steadily through dedicated post-launch support.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Crimson Desert is a massive game that pushes the boundaries of open world RPGs a little further, giving players a completely different level of freedom than competing titles. If you find yourself liking its unique style that won't suit everyone, its heavy focus on action and unrestricted adventuring will give you a great place to find hundreds of hours of entertainment.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
Crimson Desert lives up to its promise, delivering a rich open world with plenty of activities and fun combat. However, the title doesn't reach its peak because it lacks a particularly compelling protagonist and wastes the potential of other playable characters. Furthermore, the project still needs some polishing.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Crimson Desert is one of the most ambitious games in the genre in many years. Its open world is immense, but not empty, with the continent of Pywel rich in detail, inhabitants, secrets, and memorable landscapes. Exploring it is therefore a rewarding experience.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Although Crimson Desert falls short in terms of its story and narrative, its vast world, gameplay mechanics and brilliant execution have introduced the term ‘single-player MMORPG’ into our vocabulary, and we’re likely to be hearing it more often.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Crimson Desert is a colossal, rough-edged, and at times chaotic game, yet one that is also incredibly captivating. Its controls demand patience, its narrative falls short of the potential of its world, and some of its design choices remain overly cumbersome. But it also boasts exceptional exploration, deep combat, an impressive array of mechanics, and a sense of adventure that few open-world games today can still convey with such power. Pearl Abyss has created a work that doesn’t aim for formal perfection, but for grandeur. And, despite stumbling several times along the way, it still manages to leave its mark. If you can get past the initial hurdle of the controls and accept a few inevitable rough edges, and overcome that ‘déjà vu’ feeling you’ll often experience when encountering a mechanic from that particular game, you’ll find yourself with a title capable of absorbing you for hundreds of hours, full of surprising moments and, above all, incredibly fun to play. It isn’t the most polished game in its category, but it is certainly one of the most vibrant, generous and ambitious of recent times.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Crimson Desert backseats the quality of its story and writing, yet it succeeds on its engaging exploration, outstanding technical prowess and an overabundance of content and activities.
Crimson Desert comes highly recommended because it’s a game that combines ambition, scale, and detail in an exceptional way. At first, it can be frustrating due to its dense systems, cryptic puzzles, and some questionable design choices, but when everything clicks, it offers a unique experience. It’s a game designed for those who enjoy in-depth exploration paired with a complex combat system, rewarding patience and curiosity.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Crimson Desert is a game of contradictions. It captivates and frustrates, offering a vast world that invites exploration even as its ideas feel held back. It’s “a giant playground,” yes, but one where every attraction seems restrained, never fully realized. Yet something keeps calling you back — above all, its world, “the beautiful frame of a painting,” urging you toward one more path, one more horizon. It has that peculiar charm of imperfect but sincere games: not entirely successful, yet strangely unforgettable. Crimson Desert doesn’t deliver on all its promises, but it leaves a mark. It could have been much more, yet it still manages to hold onto something — not everything, but enough to stay with you. In a landscape full of flawless but forgettable titles, that’s no small thing.
Review in Italian | Read full review
"Game of the Year" Crimson Desert offers an immersive and ambitious experience for open-world game enthusiasts, combining a complex combat system, free exploration, and interconnected life systems that provide depth and interactivity. Realistic graphics and advanced lighting enhance immersion, while the technical performance is relatively stable. However, the game requires patience and investment to grasp its complexity and overcome its technical and design challenges, making it an excellent experience for dedicated gamers but potentially overwhelming for beginners.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
No quote
Review in Dutch | Read full review