Crimson Desert is an ambitious RPG that seems to do everything but might still be missing one crucial thing.
The most important piece of recent news worth talking about right now is Crimson Desert, and not just because it exists, but because the more you see of it, the harder it is to believe it is real. When you look at this game, your first reaction is probably the same as mine: this feels way too good to be true. It looks like one of those projects that somehow checks every single box you can think of and then keeps going.
From everything that has been shown so far, it feels like the game is trying to do absolutely everything. Visually, it looks incredible. Graphically, it ranges from really good to A-tier depending on the scene. And unless every single piece of footage shown so far has been aggressively curated, what you are seeing looks confident rather than smoke and mirrors.
Combat is another area where the game looks far deeper than expected. It is not just flashy for the sake of being flashy. It looks complex, with a real sense of weight behind it. On top of that, the world itself is massive and varied. The developers have talked about five major regions, and within those regions you are dealing with different biomes and different territories that all feel distinct from one another.
As you move through the world of Crimson Desert, you are not just fighting the same enemy types over and over again.
There is a wide variety of enemies, a wide selection of weapons, and a long list of systems layered on top. You can craft. You can fish. You can explore. And you are not even locked into a single protagonist. Based on the most recent gameplay footage, you are actually playing as three different characters, which immediately makes the game feel even bigger than it already does.
The traversal alone feels like its own feature list. You are not just running from point A to point B. You can glide. You can fly. You get access to a dragon. You even get a mech. There are more ways to move around in Crimson Desert than most open-world games even attempt.
One of the most impressive aspects, though, might actually be the engine itself. The game is built on Pearl Abyss’s proprietary Blackspace Engine. According to the developers, it is similar to Unreal Engine but designed to avoid some of Unreal’s common issues.
In their words, it does everything Unreal does, just without the drawbacks. If that claim holds up, then the level of visual quality and technical ambition you are seeing suddenly makes a lot more sense. This engine was built specifically for this game.
On top of all that, the developers have mentioned puzzles, mysteries, and deep exploration systems. Everywhere you look, the game seems to offer something else to do. It really does feel like a project that is trying to cover every possible base.
That is where the concern starts to creep in.
When a game looks like it does everything, you naturally start wondering what is being sacrificed. And the most obvious answer here is narrative. If you are going into Crimson Desert expecting something on the level of The Witcher 3, with deeply personal storylines and emotionally rich character relationships, for instance, then you probably need to lower those expectations.
Every game has to cut corners somewhere. Every game has to make sacrifices. If you had to guess where Crimson Desert is making those sacrifices, storytelling feels like the most likely candidate. It is hard to imagine a game doing everything else under the sun while also delivering a deeply written narrative.
That concern becomes more understandable when you look at the studio behind it. Pearl Abyss has a background rooted heavily in MMOs, and MMOs are not exactly known for strong storytelling. They usually offer stories that are functional and serviceable but rarely exceptional.
So if you are walking into Crimson Desert blind, as everyone currently is, it is reasonable to assume that the story might be the weakest part of the package. Whether that matters to you is another question entirely. Plenty of people enjoy games that focus more on gameplay systems than narrative, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Even if you put the story concerns aside, though, the sheer ambition of Crimson Desert is hard to ignore.
You have been told that the world is more than twice the size of Skyrim. You can properly climb terrain rather than awkwardly hopping up mountains like you do in most Bethesda games. It is clearly aiming to push past what open-world RPGs usually attempt.
At some point, you start asking yourself where the catch is. Even if the story is just okay, there still feels like there has to be something that does not quite land. Unless this really is a once-in-a-generation release, something has to give. The developers have shown a huge amount of gameplay footage, and it does not look like they are hiding anything.
Of course, the game will have bugs. Every modern game does. Even older games were full of bugs at launch. That part is almost a given. But beyond that, it is hard to pinpoint what exactly will hold this game back.
The bigger issue, at least on a personal level, is whether you actually want a game like Crimson Desert at this stage in your life.
Crimson Desert feels like it could easily become a “keep yourself busy” game. A game where you are constantly running around the map, killing enemies, collecting loot, crafting gear, fishing, and checking off objectives. It even features semi-destructible environments, which look incredible from a spectacle standpoint.
But spectacle alone does not always keep you invested. What really pushes you forward in a game is the story. A sense of purpose. A reason to keep going beyond just having more things to do. If Crimson Desert ends up being mostly about filling time rather than telling a story, that might be a deal breaker for some players.
Ten or fifteen years ago, this kind of game might have been perfect. Back then, spending hours endlessly engaging would have made sense for the audience the game is catering to. Exploration is still fun, but without direction, it can start to feel aimless. At this point, you might prefer games that offer a clearer sense of direction and narrative momentum.
That does not mean Crimson Desert will not be enjoyable. It just means your enjoyment will likely depend on how well the story and narrative hold up once you actually play it.
Despite all of these concerns, it is hard not to be impressed. Everything shown so far looks stunning. The ability to play as multiple characters, potentially members of the Greymanes mercenary group, is genuinely exciting. The scale of the game is enormous, and it could end up being one of the biggest so-called single-player experiences ever made.
A lot of people are interested. You are probably interested too. The game is simply too big to ignore. If it delivers even most of what it is promising, it is going to be a hit, especially with players who love exploration-heavy games.
For now, Crimson Desert sits in that uncomfortable space where it feels almost impossibly ambitious. It looks too perfect. It looks too complete. And that alone makes you suspicious. Maybe it really will pull it off. Maybe it will fall short in the story department. Either way, it is one of the most fascinating projects on the horizon.
