This game is like Zelda x Assassin's Creed
Table of contents
- Crimson Desert's combat feels like a mix of God of War and Dragon's Dogma, but the visuals of the environments are what truly stand out.
- Crimson Desert's demo feels like a cluttered attempt at epic storytelling, but the gameplay and visuals might still make it a solid 7.
- Crimson Desert's combat feels like Dragon's Dogma without the Capcom polish.
- Crimson Desert's boss fights are intense and unique, making you work hard for every victory.
- Crimson Desert's boss battles are a wild mix of creativity and intensity, making each fight feel like a unique, unforgettable experience.
- Crimson Desert looks solid but feels generic and lacks the dynamic world needed to truly stand out.
- This game feels generic, but I'm still going to give it a shot.
Crimson Desert's combat feels like a mix of God of War and Dragon's Dogma, but the visuals of the environments are what truly stand out.
I've really had a lot of mixed opinions about this game. Now that being said, I'm going to play it no matter what. It's a fantasy medieval action combat game, so yeah, I'm going to play it. However, I don't really know how much I'm going to play it because the last demo didn't really look that great. So, let's take a look at it.
The bosses in Crimson Desert are powerful, I mean really powerful. As the formidable Stag Lord grabbed me by the ankle and hurled me into a wall, the bone-crunching impact reminded me of how the Stranger's blows catapulted Kratos through tree trunks and mountains in God of War. This intense deity-like physicality lends Crimson Desert's battles a sense of genuine spectacle. These are the Gladiator battles of myths.
Last month, during an hour-long hands-on session at Gamescom 2024, I was able to go toe-to-toe with three different bosses, each of which showcased a different side to this fantasy action game's approach to battle. More recently, I was able to watch another hour of gameplay, this time a hands-off demonstration. I really like the visual here of being able to see the whole town and everything; this looks great. It does look good, yeah, it does. I like that it focused on exploration and questing. Together, these demos have given me a good indication of what Crimson Desert is—a game with combat that feels like a mix of God of War and Dragon's Dogma, set in a wider world where what you do is more reminiscent of the modern Assassin's Creeds and The Witcher 3.
You play as Cliff, a warrior with a gruff Scottish accent and a no-nonsense attitude. After a prologue establishes a bloody conflict between the Grey Manes and the marauding Black Bears, Cliff's major goal is made clear: explore the continent of Pywell in search of his surviving Grey Mane allies who have been scattered following the battle.
The bulk of the hands-off demonstration is set in Hernand, a medieval town populated by a fun range of fantasy races that wouldn't look out of place in any Tolkien-esque fantasy story. Cliff's interactions around its very beautifully rendered streets and roads are very much what you'd expect of a modern open-world action-adventure game. There's, yeah, I think that the main thing that really makes this game look good to me is the visuals of the environment. If you want my honest opinion, I actually don't think the combat looks that great. I think that if you compare this to something like the Kazan First Berserker game, you'd see that Kazan looks so much better. The combat looks so much better, so much cleaner. Especially if you compare this to something like Wukong or even Vinckus, like the new demo that they had put out, I think this is inferior.
A horse you can whistle for, NPCs to be spoken to, and hostile regions to infiltrate—that last one is where Crimson Desert has a little fun. The demo shows Cliff changing into Hernand banquet attire in order to walk past the castle's guards unnoticed, just like Dragon's Dogma. Wait, seems like a permit, no clue where he got it. Yeah, we don't look like the troublemaking type. Right, he can pass then. I'm going to go. Much like how you can wear disguises in games like Hitman and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, I hope there are plenty of opportunities to do this and various outcomes to your trickery. It would be fun if you could use disguises to open up new conversations as well as gain entry into forbidden areas.
Inside the castle, Cliff pilfers an abyss artifact, which is where Crimson Desert gets a little more unusual. The device opens up a pixelated portal in a wall, and walking through it transports Cliff to the Library of Providence. There, an alchemist called Aliston reveals that the library is at...
Crimson Desert's demo feels like a cluttered attempt at epic storytelling, but the gameplay and visuals might still make it a solid 7.
Right, he can pass. Then I'm going to go much like how you can wear disguises in games like Hitman and Kingdom Come Deliverance. I hope there are plenty of opportunities to do this and various outcomes to your trickery. It would be fun if you could use disguises to open up new conversations as well as gain entry into forbidden areas.
Inside the castle, Cliff pilers an abyss artifact, which is where Crimson Desert gets a little more unusual. The device opens up a pixelated portal in a wall, and walking through it transports Cliff to the library of Providence. There, an alchemist called Aliston reveals that the library is at the center of all worlds and that there are beings who plan to bring everything to nothingness. "What is the reason you've brought me here?" Cliff asks. Aliston responds, "There are beings who brought chaos to Providence. The Rifts they have created will return everything to nothing."
I feel like a lot of games like this, whether it's Black Desert, First Descendant, Crimson Desert, or Lost AR, really do a bad job at storytelling. I think the stories suck. While I can't say I'm impressed by Crimson Desert's writing in this demo, this exchange and several others feel cluttered and wrapped up in themselves. However, it does point to a much grander, more mythical plot beyond Cliff's hunt for his allies. That ambition of something larger is made abundantly clear when Aliston's ally, White Crow, gives Cliff the glider-like e-crow wings ability, which allows him to leap off the library's floating island and reenact the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's title sequence.
Yeah, this is really cool. The visuals of this are amazing. I love this. It's a little bold to use this motif. Can developer Pearl Abyss really craft something that lives up to the wider meaning of that iconic visual? Even if it falls short, the mag probably not. My expectations for this game are that I think this game will be an eight. I think it will be a 7.5 to an 8. Subsequent to Earth is a thrill all the same.
On the ground in Herand, a local Peacekeeper tasks Cliff with finding and eliminating some local bandits who fight using a Red Mist. Heading out in search of such villains, Cliff comes across a burning house and throws nearby vases of water to save the clergyman trapped inside. It's not clear from the demo if such objectives organically occur around the map Red Dead Redemption 2 style, but what is soon clear is that this blaze is the work of those aforementioned bandits. The local church says one of their men, Hubert, fled the scene in an attempt to bait the enemies away and asks Cliff to find him. The payment is another one of those abyss artifacts, once again suggesting that the worlds beyond worlds are of vital importance to Crimson Desert's story. I hope this results in a decent amount of weirdness that helps set the largely typical setting apart from other fantasy games.
Hubert is found at a bandit camp, allowing the demo to show off Cliff's stealth abilities. It's pretty classic stuff and looks very reminiscent of silent takedowns in the Assassin's Creed games. Not particularly challenging, but an alternative option to Crimson Desert's more publicized melee brawls. Hopefully, when we go hands-on again, stealth will prove a worthwhile addition rather than a shallow tacked-on extra.
With Hubert freed, combat looks okay. But like, I played warrior in Black Desert, right? So, I don't really see a lot of innovation here. I'm just not like, yeah, it's like mid. Maybe it's closer, maybe it's not an eight, maybe it's a seven. That looked rough. It's not even that it looked rough. You know what it looked like? It looked like Dragon's Dogma without the Capcom polish. That's kind of the way that it felt.
Crimson Desert's combat feels like Dragon's Dogma without the Capcom polish.
Stealth will prove a worthwhile addition rather than a shallow tactical extra. Herbert freed combat looks okay, but like I played warrior in Black Desert, so I don't really see a lot of innovation here. It feels mid-tier to me. Maybe it's closer to a seven rather than an eight. It looked rough, not in terms of graphics, but it felt like Dragon's Dogma without the Capcom polish.
The game is approached by the goblin Shakatu, a merchant of the Gold Leaves Guild. He explains that the Gold Leaves are currently under the command of the evil Sporn. In return for killing this toxic entity, both Monster Hunter World and Dragon's Dogma, especially Dragon's Dogma 2, have a certain type of methodical, good-feeling clunkiness that feels polished and deterministic. It's hard for me to describe, but it has a unique charm.
Leader Shakatu offers money and his services, things Cliff believes will be helpful in finding the missing Grey Mains. Shakatu wishes to turn over a new leaf and return to their former glory. Arriving at the Gold Leaf Camp, it quickly becomes clear how all these quests are linked. The goblin guards use Red Mist as part of their battle tactics, revealing themselves as the same miscreants causing trouble for the people of Hernand.
I've got to say, they're doing a good job with the enemy AI. Look at how the enemies interact with the players and move; this enemy AI looks really good. The death of Split Horn not only allows Shakatu to take over and help Cliff but also fulfills the task set by the Peacekeeper back in town. I hope Crimson Desert features plenty more of these overlapping storylines and forms a wider narrative that feels enjoyably interlaced.
Another big weakness is the game's writing. It reminds me a lot of The Witcher 3, but I doubt Pearl Abyss can write a story as good as CD Projekt Red and Andrzej Sapkowski. The uneven quality of the writing shown in the demo is a concern.
Split Horn acts as the culminating boss fight of the hands-off demo, bringing us to the more exciting side of Crimson Desert. He's agile and aggressive, wielding a sword that emits blasts of wind in vertical and horizontal patterns, forcing Cliff to dodge and block as he attempts to close the distance. However, he is a pipsqueak compared to the brutes I faced in the hands-on demo at Gamescom.
The first of the three bosses I clashed with was the Stag Lord. It seemed like a decent encounter, and I liked the idea of people making a circle around the players fighting as a boss arena. The Stag Lord is a relentless attacker, charging across the battlefield like a bullet train that can suplex you at its final destination. Despite his endless strength and capacity to throw you like a baseball, he's only human. I forced distance between us quickly, firing explosive arrows to knock him out. That was pretty clean.
Crimson Desert's boss fights are intense and unique, making you work hard for every victory.
At Gamescom, I had a hands-on demo where I clashed with three bosses. The first of these was the Stagl Lord, which seemed like a decent encounter. I found the idea of people making a circle around the players fighting as a Boss Arena quite interesting. The Stagl Lord charged across the battlefield like a bullet train and could suplex you at its final destination. Despite his endless strength and capacity to throw you like a baseball, he's only human. I managed to force distance between us, quickly firing explosive arrows to knock him out of his attack pattern and open up a window. This was pretty clean.
During the fight, I noticed there were a lot of particles and spell effects, which is something to pay attention to. Pearl Abyss does the best combat, and I think people glaze over Black Desert too much. When it came out in the West in 2016 or 2017, it might not have stood up to modern-day quality, but now it does. The Stagl Lord proved to be a real challenge. Crimson Desert is not even remotely a soulslike, but it makes you work really hard for victory. I spent much of the lengthy fight learning the complexities of its combat system. Similar to this year's Dragon's Dogma 2, there's no lock-on, so I had to be mindful of where I positioned Cliff and where his sword would land. Rolling forward allowed me to instantly follow up with a sweet kick that surprised my opponent, and hitting both the light and heavy attack buttons together unleashed a wide particle effect spraying strike that cleaved a chunk out of the Stagl Lord's health bar.
The animations of the NPCs were done quite well and were very clean and well-telegraphed. The game seemed to play relatively well without sacrificing weight. It felt fantastic, but it was also easy to let things run away from you. I soon realized I needed to be chowing down on health-restoring food with addiction-like frequency. With the Stagl Lord defeated, I took his mighty sword and shield, and the demo skipped me ahead in the story, throwing me into snow-coated lands. Cliff was looking for children who had seemingly been sacrificed to some kind of mountain spirit. This spirit turned out to be the White Horn, a sort of abominable snow deer that showcased just how different each of Crimson Desert's bosses can be.
This colossal creature moved like a bucking bronco, and its galloping charges caused the mountains around us to break out in miniature avalanches that left me temporarily frozen in place. After striking it so much that its white fur was stained almost completely red, I was able to clamber onto its back in the fight's second phase and stab away at its flesh. This moment recalled my battles with towering monsters in Dragon's Dogma 2 earlier this year. Unlike the little split horn back at the goblin camp, these much larger bosses had three health bars, with each one eliminated increasing the intensity of the fight.
The final battle against the Queen Stoneback Crab demonstrated Crimson Desert's ambition to create memorable moments through very different mechanics.
Crimson Desert's boss battles are a wild mix of creativity and intensity, making each fight feel like a unique, unforgettable experience.
One of the standout features of Dragon's Dogma 1 and 2 is the pawn system, which significantly enhances the game's interest. It's puzzling why more games don't adopt this system. Unlike the smaller bosses like the split horn back at the goblin camp, the larger bosses in Crimson Desert have three health bars. Each health bar eliminated increases the fight's intensity. While battles with the stag lord and white horn escalate in a typical action game fashion, the final battle against the queen stoneback crab showcases Crimson Desert's ambition to create memorable moments through unique mechanics.
The queen stoneback crab is colossally big, filling the screen. You can't defeat it by merely hacking at its shins; instead, the battle is a puzzle set piece inspired by Shadow of the Colossus. Players must clamber onto the crab's stony shell, grab onto the grass, and hold on for dear life while pulling themselves up towards a trio of rock formations. Using a special punch skill, each rock is shattered to expose a weak point, into which the blade is plunged. Each open wound causes a geyser of water to blast out, providing a visual spectacle and throwing the player high into the air. From above, players can float down using the crow's ability and plan the next stage of the attack. The next task involves destroying the pottery-like crown at the peak of the crab's shell by swinging Spider-Man style from a web and colliding with the pottery at full speed. It's all delightfully bonkers.
My hour-long session wasn't quite long enough to try all four of the bosses the demo had to offer. However, a video presentation provided insight into the one I missed: the reeded devil, a peculiar enemy that creates copies of itself, which can only be defeated by destroying totems built during the battle. Along with the three bosses I fought, all four promise that Crimson Desert features an array of creative, unique centerpiece battles. If all bosses are like this, Pearl Abyss could have something special on its hands.
I'm similarly impressed by the combat system's fundamentals. It's all quite fantasy 101 with bows, swords, shields, and parries, but it's delightfully aggressive and impactful. There's a seemingly deep combo system, and I wish the demo had a more relaxed section to sample and perfect these combos. The heat of a relentless boss battle isn't the best space to learn button sequences, but based on the combos I did learn, I have a good feeling you can pull off some cool stuff. Given that this game is made by the creators of BDO, which has combos, it's guaranteed that Crimson Desert will have them too.
As for its adventuring aspects, things look a bit more conventional. Pearl Abyss seems to be making a solid transition from the MMORPG design of Black Desert Online into single-player territory. However, nothing shown in the hands-off demo particularly breaks new ground. Much of it feels familiar if you've played games like Assassin's Creed or The Witcher 3. Nonetheless, it does look largely well put together.
Crimson Desert looks solid but feels generic and lacks the dynamic world needed to truly stand out.
The people that made BDO, yeah, 100%. That's what's going to happen. Space Marine 2 has combos, like a lot of games now have combos. I mean, even Bloodborne has combos. There's a green light for Crimson Desert's combat. As for its adventuring, things are looking a little more conventional. Pear Abyss certainly seems to be making a solid enough transition from the MMORPG design of Black Desert Online into single-player territory, but I don't think anything shown in the hands-off demo particularly breaks new ground. Much of it is very familiar if you've played the likes of Assassin's Creed or The Witcher 3. Nonetheless, it does look largely well put together.
While I do hope that the Abyss Artifact storyline goes suitably off the wall, I'd like to see the more typical fantasy storylines find suitable hooks to ensure regular gameplay feels more varied and creative than what we've seen so far. One of the big problems that a lot of games have is that they really struggle to create a dynamic world. For example, Dragon's Dogma has this issue. I think also The Witcher 3 might have it, but I haven't played it enough to have a good idea of it. A lot of these open-world games don't have a lot of random events that are interesting and engaging. New World doesn't do a very good job of this as an MMO.
In Dragon's Dogma, for example, there are like three different random events that can occur: a griffin can land on you, a person can be attacked, or you have to escort somebody around. It's very uniform. The combat system shifts from classic sword action to slingshotting Spider-Man style around a walking mountain. The questing and exploration side of Crimson Desert ideally also needs to aspire to that kind of diversity. This made my enthusiasm for the game go up substantially because it's a dynamic and interesting enough combat situation for me to think that maybe they are actually putting some good ideas in here.
This latest slice of gameplay certainly suggests that the bridges between epic boss battles will be solid, if not the most memorable aspect of the experience. For more on Crimson Desert, check out the entire 52-minute gameplay demo. For everything else, stick with IGN. This looks pretty decent. I'm totally going to play this when it comes out. It's not even a question. Maybe it's a seven out of ten game. I think it probably is a seven out of ten game the more that I look at it. But as a fan of this style of game, I will probably play it, enjoy it, and get into it.
In IGN, I don't trust them. I'm not really listening to what IGN's saying; I'm just looking at the screen and thinking, "Is what I'm looking at good or bad?" That's all I care about. What they're saying can help, maybe, but you always have to take that with a grain of salt. Extrapolating from screen animations, it looks kind of soulless. I think you're totally right. This game doesn't seem like it has the same type of vibe. It looks generic, like BDO. There's not a lot of art. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I just feel that.
This game feels generic, but I'm still going to give it a shot.
You're always going to take that with a grain of salt. I think that's smart, extrapolating from screen animations. It looks kind of soulless. I think you're totally right. This game doesn't seem like it has the same type of vibe. How does it feel soulless? It looks generic, like BDO. There's not a lot of art. I can't put my finger on it, but I just feel that way about it. It's not from software. That's basically what I'm trying to say. There's no grittiness. I don't think it's soulless; it has its moments. It's just fairly generic, basic standard fantasy. I guess we just have to wait and see what happens. Raw footage might change your mind.
I'll look at the short video, but I don't want to go too far into it. This is just the combat with the boss. Is this the place Dedri mentioned? Look how the heavens smile upon us, Captain. This is what you were talking about, a veritable crown of jewels fit for a queen. Look how they sparkle with splendor—brilliant ruby flame shades of Sur. It seems like this NPC is from a quest. Streaks of sunlight striking stone, dappling the earth with vivid hues. How could anyone tire of such a sight? Don't ask me, you've got the pickaxe.
Oh, it's trembling. My excitement made manifest has moved me most literally. That's decent. So it's going to take out one of the bars. They have a protective aura around that pot, so that'll probably destroy the aura, and then you can go up there. The visuals are amazing. This is decent. You have items that you can use in combat. Ice, and I wonder how easy it is to pull that move off. Spider web, not bad. That's actually pretty good. This isn't really a great example, though. I think this looks good for a side quest boss. It's decent. Even for a main game boss, I think that's an interesting, cool combat experience. It's like the Golem from Dragon's Dogma, but actually not as annoying. Remember the Golems from Dragon's Dogma and they have the little crystal on the bottom of their feet? There's only one animation that makes that crystal vulnerable. How annoying. I remember that very well.
It doesn't look like a waste of money yet. Anyway, I'm going to play this game for sure. I'll try it out, see what it's like. I don't really know whether it's going to be good or not or whether it's going to be that much fun, but I think it'll be okay to at least try it out, see how it goes. And hey, if it's fun to play, great.