I have been checking out Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert for the past few days and there’s a part of me that’s gnawing at the thought that this might not be a real game at all. I simply refuse to believe it because it is just TOO good.
Crimson Desert is an upcoming open-world action game from Pearl Abyss, responsible for games like the hit MMO Black Desert Online and the now-forgotten DokeV. It was initially planned to be a sequel for Black Desert as it takes place in the same universe, but they decided to pivot to a single-player adventure. It might be caused by the influx of successful titles like Black Myth Wukong and Stellar Blade in the action-adventure market.
On paper, you’d think Crimson Desert is just an off-shoot of titles like Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma or Monolith’s Shadow of Mordor series. The familiar third-person action combat is partly thanks to that.
Games like Dragon’s Dogma had too much fluff with its gameplay, resulting in a slow-paced adventure. The Shadow of Mordor games was a game that came too soon, and its only redeeming quality now is in its Nemesis System (RIP). Crimson Desert, however, has you RKO’ing enemies or sending them flying with regular drop kicks a la Doctor Doom from Marvel vs. Capcom.
In a way, much of Crimson Desert’s combat feels reminiscent of a regular fighting game. You even get satisfying okizeme’s (or wake up attacks) from enemies that just knocked their head on the floor. The poor souls are mere fodders to Crimson Desert’s overpowered main character, and I’m actually worried how the game’s progression system can keep up with how overpowered Krill Macduff is.
The gameplay and movement is so seamless I don’t think a modern day system could run a game like this. Fortunately enough, it’s actually a real and playable game with some of the best optimizations in an open-world game ever all thanks to Pearl Abyss' proprietary BlackSpace engine.
Pearl Abyss has been honing their craft when it comes to videogame development since their Black Desert days. Crimson Desert is simply part of their growing evolution to their franchise, putting all the best parts of their previous projects and putting it to this ambitious open-world RPG.
While the game's combat is the centerpiece here, I can’t help but wonder how the rest of the game would function, particularly with its story. Crimson Desert, being a game that came from its MMO roots, might have a storytelling that feels disjointed. We might just be going around its open world slaying beasts and generals while the story remains the same.
Worst case scenario, the game is only made better with its gameplay alone, and its campaign might be barebones. However, I’m hopeful we might get something completely fresh with its story, but I won’t be expecting something like CD Projekt Red’s Witcher 3 Wild Hunt here.
Crimson Desert has no character creation so you’re stuck with the same dude for god knows how long. How can you make the game’s main protagonist Macduff more overpowered? Limit his movements? Start with less OP abilities? Given that Pearl Abyss has experience with MMORPGs, we should be expecting armor and weapon levels to make our character beefier.
There’s also some signs of jank when it comes to its third-person combat from the gameplay previews we’ve seen. Lock on isn’t as effective and particle effects become too much of a distraction. Of course, we don’t have access to the game yet, but we can tell it still needs more time in the oven to polish everything.
I really don’t know what to expect from Crimson Desert apart from its impressive combat system. Everything else worries me, as it might be one of those games that crumble because the devs focus too hard on a single foundation (its gameplay) and forgets everything else. We can only hope it’s as good as its trailers and previews.
Crimson Desert releases this March 19, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows and Mac. Pre-orders are available now.
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