Crimson Desert preview: A stellar combat system marred by a few odd choices

Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert is, on paper, exactly my kind of game. It ticks the boxes of being open-world and single-player, and falls into the action-adventure genre. That’s my personal holy trinity, so I was very much looking forward to going hands-on with it at this year’s Gamescom - and yet what I was expecting to be a surefire enjoyable experience actually ended up being one of the most polarising demos of the trip.

I want to make it abundantly clear that Crimson Desert holds plenty of promise, but so too did I find that the demo was plagued by several, let’s say, interesting choices that dragged the whole experience down.

Set in a medieval fantasy world, Crimson Desert is somewhat what you’d get if The Witcher and God of War franchises had a baby. Set on the continent of Pywel, you’ll play as Kliff - a powerful mercenary who, according to the official website, is caught up in a world “where allegiances are tested and heroes are made”. You’ll face off against powerful enemies, both human and beastly, gather comrades, and explore the far reaches of this vast continent. I can’t say that I experienced much of that at all though.

Take a look at Crimson Desert in action below.

I spent around 30 minutes hands-on with the game and that demo was exclusively limited to fairly contained enemy encounters so while I found the preceding cutscenes intriguing, I certainly can’t at this stage pass any judgement on the story, nor can I offer any comment on the open-world given that my combat encounters were set within small clearings - one a snowy scene, and one in a wooded area at night. Both were well presented, with Crimson Desert boasting impressive graphics. I’d certainly like to have experienced something like traversal though, or caught a glimpse at just how detailed the open-world might be.

It’s perhaps apt that I’ve just touched on Crimson Desert’s impressive graphics because this leads nicely onto what I found to be one of the demo’s most glaring issues. I felt several of the battles I experienced were dragged down by over-the-top effects. Crimson Desert isn’t a soulslike, but it does aim to challenge the player so expect to find yourself in some brutal brawls.

In the hands-on demo, I was rapidly dropped into a battle fighting against what I can only brand as a group of ruffians led by a slightly more powerful leader. I had to fight through a wave of perhaps seven or so enemies at a time before I reached the final clearing where those seven foes were simultaneously joined by their leader. Crimson Desert’s challenge lies in the fact that every enemy in the vicinity will be on you. The enemy AI isn’t written in a way that just one or two will try to land attacks. You’ll be dodging, parrying, and landing blows in every direction if you want to stay alive.

Credit / Pearl Abyss

That’s fine, I enjoyed that challenge. The combat felt somewhat fluid and I had fun experimenting with the different combos which form the basis of Crimson Desert’s combat. What dragged the entire experience down for me was the fact that when either I or an enemy would make a hit, which was constantly, the screen would be filled with red sparks. When you’ve got six, seven, eight characters, per se, landing blows at the same time, the screen quickly becomes so visually muddied with red sparks that I couldn’t actually see what I was doing.

It frustrated me to no end but I did eventually manage to complete the encounter. I am so desperately hoping that before release, this is dialled back because it detracts from what otherwise would be a fun experience. The challenge should lie in the combat itself - not asking me to fight with little to no line of sight at those who seek to take me down.

I eventually moved onto a very different kind of boss battle, this time against a horned creature known as the White Horn. Think of it as an enormous angry goat. This was a very different kettle of fish. Instead of constant bombardment as I’d experienced in the previous encounter, this battle required me to bide my time, avoiding the White Horn’s moves until I was able to land one or two blows. As such, you won’t really be able to take advantage of Crimson Desert’s complex combo and melee system here which isn’t exactly a downside - you need variety - but it feels important to note.

I fared much better against the White Horn than I did the initial ruffian onslaught, although I did let out a groan when the White Horn respawned its health bar not once, but twice. This fight definitely required more patience. I was happy to see though that, for the most part, this particular fight wasn’t marred by over the top effects.

Credit / Pearl Abyss

There was a smattering of that in the boss’ third and final phase. Very little changed between phases other than the health bar fully resetting but the White Horn did acquire one move that caused lightning or ice or rocks to fall, I’m not exactly sure which, from the sky. Perhaps with time, I might’ve figured out a way to avoid this but given that whatever was happening almost totally clouded my vision (again), I felt like I was simply at the mercy of the heavens for a few seconds.

I do remain hopeful about Crimson Desert. The game is yet to pin down its 2025 launch date so there’s certainly time for tweaks to be made. It’s a shame that I wasn't able to sample much of the game’s open-world or story, two aspects that typically draw me in, but I can understand why Pearl Abyss wanted to highlight the combat system. It’s both challenging and rewarding, and I’m quite confident that players will enjoy messing around with its vast array of combos. I simply wish that enemy encounters weren’t so bogged down by muddied effects that take away from the experience.

Crimson Desert is set to launch in 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.