“Crimson Desert” Launches To Soft Reviews

“Crimson Desert,” a high fantasy open-world action RPG title that parts of the gaming community seemed ready to push for Game of the Year, appears to have come up a bit short.

With 85 reviews counted, the title has landed on a 78/100 on Metacritic – quite good, but not in the low 90s/high 80s most GOTY contenders hover in.

Indeed, reviews are quite divided, some utterly loving the game and some decidedly mixed on the title, and only one of those 85 reviews being outright negative.

The basic issue appears to be the developer, Pearl Abyss, has crafted a gigantic scale and wildly ambitious game full of everything but the kitchen sink and immense player freedom. But it comes at a cost in terms of mechanics, simplistic story, and identity.

As Eurogamer puts in its review: “A vast world and even vaster array of MMO-like activities mix with glittering fidelity in Crimson Desert, but what good is it without much character, texture or charm?”

WellPlayed says the game is “a Jack of all features, master of none with an unenjoyable gameplay loop”. On the flipside, Vice draws comparisons to “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and the developers have “created something special here”.

With the notable exception of “Astro Bot,” high fantasy open-world action RPG titles have dominated the Game of the Year award category for three of the last four years (“Elden Ring,” “Baldur’s Gate III,” “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33”). Whether it can happen again this year – who knows – but “Black Myth: Wukong” had a Metacritic score of 76/100 on PS5 and was still a GOTY nominee so it could still happen.