The gaming & tech site for Ticino and Italian-speaking Switzerland
The gaming & tech site for Ticino and Italian-speaking Switzerland
Crimson Desert
5.25
✓ What we like
- 🟢 Combat is pure adrenaline.
- 🟢 A social and natural ecosystem rich in details
- 🟢 Camp management and all the secondary activities make the gaming experience alive
- 🟢 Excellent graphics section
What we don't like
- 🔴 Steep mechanics learning curve
- 🔴 Main quest lacking a solid narrative
Born from the forges of Pearl Abyss, the studio that conquered the global MMORPG market with Black Desert Online, Crimson Desert, launched on March 19th of this year, is presented to the general single-player public. This title has experienced a fascinating genesis.
What was initially conceived as a multiplayer prequel has evolved, during a lengthy development period that began in 2019, into a purely single-player open-world action-RPG adventure. At the heart of the project beats the BlackSpace Engine, a proprietary next-generation engine that brings the continent of Pywel to life. Crimson Desert aims to compete with the heavyweights of Western design, striving to blend the attention to detail of Red Dead Redemption 2 with the structural freedom of the most recent Zelda games, offering the player a setting reminiscent of Geralt's adventures in The Witcher 3.
REBORN FROM THE ASHES
The narrative thrusts us into the heart of a conflict that sees Kliff, the leader of the Greymanes, trying to reunite his band after a devastating defeat. Kliff is the classic chosen one, a man scarred by defeat who rises from the ashes of his past. The story unfolds through a web of betrayed loyalties, survival, intrigue, hidden truths, and the supernatural, where the protagonist must confront corrupt rulers, avenge his clan from the threat of the ferocious "Black Bears," and restore balance between two coexisting yet colliding worlds.
The writing takes a low-fantasy approach, preferring to focus on the harshness of mercenary life, where magic and science blend together in a single context, recounting medieval life and making every encounter with the arcane an almost inexplicable and disturbing event. Kliff won't be alone on his adventure; he'll be able to count on two co-protagonists, Damiane and Oongka, each with their own skills and equipment, almost like distinct classes available to the player. However, they aren't always available; their use depends on the progress of the main quest.
Although the story has a solid foundation and immerses us in epic battles, including attacks on strongholds, challenging boss fights, and situations that bring us face to face with the supernatural, it fails to have a memorable impact. Many of the characters are sometimes introduced to the player in a banal manner, with dialogue that doesn't help us fully grasp the meaning of what we're experiencing, and everything is told in a rushed manner. Although the communication style, via letters delivered by NPCs, is appreciable. The side quests, on the other hand, are more thoughtful and varied, entertaining, and encourage the player to delve deeper for greater rewards than the main quest.
WELCOME TO PYWEL
If you thought this continent was the ideal destination for a relaxing vacation, you'd better reconsider your plans. Setting foot on these lands means accepting the fact that the world around you has an iron memory and a very short patience. Pywel is a ruthless and paradoxical social ecosystem... you may find yourself ensnared in political intrigues that decide the fate of nations, participate in bloody brawls in the mud, challenge local brutes to arm wrestling in taverns, ride dragons, face death machines, be attacked by a bear, find yourself immersed in arcane rituals, and even face armies of bandits and raiders, but the real threat remains the greengrocer on the corner.
You can be the hero and save the citizens from a warlord oppressing the region by leading a siege during a large-scale battle, but if you dare steal an apple or evade taxes, you'll instantly become public danger number one, hunted by the guards as if you were the source of all evil.
Pywel is a vast territory to roam, climb, and swim across, characterized by biomes ranging from verdant expanses and stormy peaks to scorched deserts and ancient ruins, where the diverse climate will force you to change outfits frequently to avoid falling ill. To navigate this immense space, you'll have access to various mounts and companions, including pets such as dogs and cats, useful for exploring and gathering materials.
The game encourages you to be “good” throughout the adventure, through NPC requests and the teaching of the Greymane ethics: ’Never Steal and be available to the community”…..the developers of Pearl Abyss, however, provide you with a single item to change your ”Alignment“, just wear a simple bandage on your face to send ethics to the attic and plunder everything anonymously.
Between theft and heroic deeds, you'll have to manage the management of the Greymane camp: here, gathering resources and expanding facilities become essential to unlocking new perks and sending gang members on specific missions. The density of activity on the continent of Pywel is so intense that you'll forget about the main mission; you'll find yourself deciphering environmental puzzles, completing skill challenges, liberating castles and reactivating arcane devices, relaxing by cultivating your garden and fulfilling the townspeople's requests... at a certain point, you'll be left wondering: "I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I don't know what.".
TIME TO FIGHT
Crimson Desert is a sophisticated hybrid. Beneath its Action Adventure guise lies a Hack & Slash that blends medieval swordplay with the brutal physicality of wrestling and martial arts. Kliff doesn't just wield a sword; he can grab an enemy and slam them to the ground with a suplex, or use taekwondo-inspired kicks. He also has a variety of weapons at his disposal, including a grappling hook. .
Attack combos vary between light and heavy attacks, elemental spirit strikes and grabs, aiming to destroy the enemy's stability to perform final attacks, switch between the types of equipped weapons and use the grappling hook (via the force of the axiom) to grab enemies, furthermore it is possible to interact with elements of the game world such as lifting stone columns to throw them into the crowd.
In all this, parrying and dodging play their part, we can parry while keeping the weapon or shield in a defensive position or with the right timing perform perfect parries and dodges, paying close attention to stamina consumption.
Every strike delivers weighty, visceral feedback, while tactical depth shines through in the weapon handling and coordination required in boss fights to unleash devastating combo attacks. It's a system that's unforgiving of sloppiness, requiring mastery of a wide range of inputs to transform a chaotic brawl into a masterful display of strength.
Kliff and his companions progress through a skill learning system; completing missions, quests, or eliminating enemies provides experience that unlocks Abyss Artifacts (skill points), which can be spent to upgrade health, stamina, and spirit. New moves are learned during boss battles. .
Unlike a classic RPG there are no stats to improve but the damage values depend on the equipment, weapons, armor and accessories, which have damage and defense values, in which it is possible to socket devices of the abyss, recoverable through missions, crafting or from bosses. .
The devices allow you to insert special effects and unique abilities into your equipment with particular moves, increasing your chances of success against more difficult enemies, enhancing both defense and attack values but also movement speed and resistance to status effects. There are also elemental forces, which modify the effect of Kliff's special attacks allowing him to infuse weapons. It is a system that gives free customization to the player. In fact, it is possible to disassemble the various devices from any piece of equipment and mount them on others thanks to the specific function entrusted to the witches, creating your own build and experimenting.
THE EYE ALSO WANTS ITS SHARES
Pearl Abyss's proprietary BlackSpace Engine pushes the hardware to its limits, offering superb detail density with a dynamic weather system that transforms lighting in real time. While this complexity requires considerable resources, leading to some occasional frame rate hiccups, the final visual result remains stunning, thanks also to the audio department and the team's attention to detail. Large open-world games usually present us with obvious issues in terms of graphical rendering, especially when trying to create a living world that revolves around the player, Crimson Desert manages to sustain its grandeur; it's not empty photographic realism, but a living ecosystem to interact with, beautiful to look at and beautiful to experience.
We played the PC version of Crimson Desert on a system powered by a Ryzen 7 5700G coupled with a 9070XT. Although the loading times were quite long, our experience was one of the best in recent years in terms of optimization. Taking into account the updates the game has received (most recently the addition of the difficulty selector and other improvements), we can fully praise the graphics department. .
Crimson Desert is a mammoth achievement that marks Pearl Abyss's triumphant entry into the ranks of top developers. It's a bold game that blends stunning graphics with a well-functioning combat system and a deep management structure. While the rigors of learning the mechanics may be daunting, the title rewards every effort, providing a living, breathing world to roam freely. The main quest isn't particularly exciting, and unfortunately, it displays the superficial style found in most MMORPGs. The team isn't yet experienced in crafting a compelling story. On the other hand, the sheer number of side activities Pearl Abyss offers make up for this with an effective gameplay loop.
The longevity mirrors the ambition of the project, the main mission requires forty hours, but the secondary activities, the management of the camp and the secrets of Pywel can easily take you over a hundred hours, making Crimson Desert a game that devours time while entertaining the player.
Crimson Desert succeeds in its intent, taking everything that works in an MMORPG and offering it to the large single-player audience with a richly living open world, excellent optimization and impeccable community support.
Too bad about the plot otherwise it would have been goty 😂🦊 nice Review!!!
Come on! Probably not the game for me, but great review!