Developer: Pearl Abyss
Publisher: Pearl Abyss
Platform: PC, PS5 , Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Crimson Desert – Review
Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss’ new single-player game, raised a few eyebrows when learning an internet connection was required to play. Then again, this isn’t the first single-player oriented release that does this in recent years, but we understand this by itself could already be off-putting for a lot of players. If you can look past that, one can clearly see that Crimson Desert sounds like an interesting release. After all, an RPG with lots of freedom does sound intriguing. So, without further ado, let’s see what Pearl Abyss gives us after Black Desert Online.
Story
The story starts with a band of people calling themselves Greymanes. The focus is on a Kliff, who is also part of the Greymanes. The game throws you in the thick of it immediately, as your camp is under attack by the Black Bears. They are a rival faction of the Greymanes. We get our first taste of combat against the Black Bears until their boss comes, and from here on out, it follows a cliché where the boss defeats us, and we get a second lease on life. At first, we were somewhat doubting if we were supposed to lose, as we found ourselves meeting our (brutal) untimely demise. After this, a tutorial follows, and we gear up for the main story of the game. The first couple of main quests are how you build a positive reputation in Hernand to get a place to rebuild the Greymanes. This is done by helping people, first the normal folk, then the nobles. All in all, the story doesn’t necessarily tread new water, but it’s enjoyable ARPG content nonetheless. With the freedom you have in the game, there is also no fixed pace for the narrative content, as you can explore at your leisure or simply focus on the story itself. As is the case with any good ARPG, some parts will not make any sense at the start, but as you progress, the puzzle pieces will all fall into place. The game also allows you to play with other characters, who all have their own story content as well, but this story content is more limited as the game still centers itself around Kliff.
Graphics
As expected, the game looks amazing on PS5, albeit with some minor issues. The environments are truly breathtaking, and we absolutely loved exploring every nook and cranny. We often actually got lost while exploring and noticed we steered off course from the quest we were actively embarking upon. There are minor issues, however, where we noticed a lot of clipping issues, textures loading slowly, and the latter often happens when entering buildings. Some lighting issues also happened when entering buildings. Even so, some of these bugs were immersion-breaking, like one instance where Naria gets kicked through a door, but the door remains closed during this occurrence. Ghost doors must be a thing in the Crimson Desert universe. Bugs like these and some clipping issues aside, we still very much loved what was on offer here.
Sound
Crimson Desert’s background music does match the environment. While exploring, we were mainly treated to calmer, cinematic music, which made scouting our environments very pleasant. When combat was around the corner, the music grew more explosive in nature, already getting the adrenaline flowing. For most of the main characters, the voice acting is superbly handled. We very much enjoyed the dialogues in the game, and it helped a lot with immersion. Only the very minor NPCs felt a bit ‘cheap’ at times, where they repeated the same lines over and over again. Similar characters in different areas would often even share the same lines, which is immersion-breaking at times. The SFX provide great audio feedback for whatever is going on at all times.
Gameplay
Playing Crimson Desert did remind us a little of Black Desert Online, albeit without other players constantly running around us. The game is an ARPG in which you have loads of freedom. You can opt to follow the story and simply do what is expected of you, or you can just wing it, explore whenever you want to, and simply delve into the treasure trove of side content. Perhaps only combat was not that easy to understand at first. After some practice, however, we did manage to get used to the system the game utilizes. You can unlock some more combinations with the so-called Abyss Artifacts.
Abyss Artifacts can be found almost everywhere by fighting enemies, completing quests, or even on the road. These artifacts can be used in a skill tree for extra attack patterns, more life, or stamina. Outside of the skill tree, there is also the Abyss Gear, which allows you to upgrade your gear. Not every piece of equipment has a lot for Abyss Gear. When it comes to gear in general, you can find it by exploring, combat, or buy it from a vendor. We recommend just exploring and getting your gear that way instead of buying it, as you’ll often find better stuff out in the wild.
If this wasn’t clear yet: a big part of the gameplay is to explore. The game motivates exploring. You’ll also encounter stronger and stronger enemies, sometimes forcing you to stick to certain areas from time to time, to at least pace yourself. You can fast travel, but it’s kept to a minimum. This is to make sure that you traverse the world on your own, rather than just run towards fast travel points to eventually not even having to ‘play’ anymore. The game can be a bit overwhelming at first, as there are many different systems to delve into. Luckily, for those who like to take it slow from time to time, there are also more relaxing components like the housing system. We honestly feel that we only scratched the surface of some of the game’s mechanics, and even in our recent play sessions, we keep discovering more and more content.
Conclusion
Crimson Desert was a delight to experience, for the most part. The presentation was clearly handled with care, and while the PS5 version of the game does have some issues, we absolutely loved exploring the world of Crimson Desert. The soundtrack truly got us in the mood to keep pressing onwards, and the story content did hit all the right notes. While combat did take us a bit longer to get used to, we eventually enjoyed seeing our character(s) getting stronger and stronger. If you’re looking for a good ARPG with some original systems in place, then it’s certainly worth checking out Crimson Desert.
No Comments