Crimson Desert

The goal of an open-world action RPG is to give you a big sense of scale while also giving you the opportunity to be a hero. Games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla achieve this to great effect but often end up feeling samey. Crimson Desert, developed by Pearl Abyss of Black Desert Online fame, aims to go against the grain. It sheds any attempt at being beautiful and elegant in favor of looking gritty and feeling brutal. Couple those aspects with its wide open and diverse world and you get a surefire recipe for success.

Here’s everything you need to know about Crimson Desert:

A Diverse World

When you dive into the open world of an action RPG, you want to be lost in a varied and diverse world. Crimson Desert aims to have this in spades. According to the development team, the aim is to create lands and regions that are diverse both in their landscape and denizens.

By exploring the world of Crimson Desert, you’ll be able to explore mountainous snowy regions, richly green grasslands, desolate badlands, and, of course, the titular Crimson Desert that promises to hide dangers and mysteries aplenty.

Forget Beauty

Pearl Abyss is known primarily for their hit online RPG Black Desert, a game that is defined by the beauty of its characters. Crimson Desert aims to be the opposite of this. The world and its characters are designed to be gritty and dark in both their physical and personal characteristics. Of course, don’t let that make you believe the game won’t look great. So far, the art style is looking just as stunning as Black Desert, albeit with the rough edges that define its brutal world.

Brutal Combat

You can’t have an open-world action RPG without a good combat system. Hacking and slashing with weapons and abilities is the norm for this genre. Crimson Desert wants to take these combat systems to a whole new level. Outside of the main character, you’ll have a party of mercenaries to support you but they won’t just be there to mindlessly attack enemies. With special commands, you’ll be able to coordinate deadly combination attacks with spectacular animations. Each and every one of these team attacks looks absolutely brutal and painful.

The Bottom Line

As the action RPG genre is vast with plenty of titles, it’s ripe for some disruption. Crimson Desert wants to take every element that the genre is known for and dismantle it at the foundations.

Pros

• Brutal team-based combat system
• A truly diverse and open world
• Dark and gritty art style that manages to still look stunning

Cons

• Can’t be evaluated as the game is still in development