Crimson Desert (2026)

The amount of capital D Discourse that went on around this game upon its release was insane, but that's not to say that the things said about it were untrue. Some of the stuff was overblown, I'll stand by the fact that, yes the controls are complex but it does not take one very long to get used to them (at least on controller). Other criticisms were totally valid, the story is ass and makes zero sense.

But at the end of the day, I was able to sink hundreds of hours into this without getting bored. It has so many systems: fishing, crafting, upgrading, looting, puzzles, autonomous mission deployment, base building, home building, horse taming, farming, grand theft auto.. the list goes on. And it is quite challenging at times, many of the boss fights are not a walk in the park, and some I had to walk away from and come back to later.

I, of course, value a game with a strong story. Even games that have a strong story at the expense of other gameplay elements that might make it more interesting, i.e. walking sims. But I think there's a place for the opposite kind of game here, one that has a weak story but is rich in gameplay in other areas, and I think this is a great example of such a game. But if that's the kind of game you don't think you can enjoy, this will clearly not be for you.

last post on this game, i feel like i played enough hours to judge it myself even though i didnt finish the campaign (nor do i want to)

not much to add to it beyond what i have already said, it feels like a mediocre pretty looking game that offers very little beyond mindless running around. the story is uninteresting, poorly developed and nonsensical at times and the characters are flat as a paper sheet. its really just an amalgamation of "this shit looks cool, add it". one too many mechanics for my liking

entertaining for a bit, specially if youre not looking for a story driven game, not worth the money imo

This game is a true gem. It's an amalgamation of rdr2's exploration and combat, with Zelda's puzzles, and Yoko Taro's imagination.

I've had no trouble with the controls, there are a lot of buttons but the game really isn't asking for super precision. I've faced closed to half the bosses so far and they were amazing. Absolutely awesome fights. They are cinematic, mechanically interesting. And you can go ham with your giant arsenal of skills. They are challenging but I didn't lose to any of the first couple bosses so it's not too hard. Infact some of the bosses are a bit too easy as you get further in. Mechanically they had no issues their hp was just too low for them to be any real threat.

I saw other complaints mentioning the camera controls. I've had zero issues with the camera. It's very similar to playing a monster hunter game.

The inventory is honestly fine as it grows with every single thing that you do. You get inventory space for pretty much every quest or objective. Every single shop also sells a one time inventory upgrade. So your pack is constantly expanding and it has a lot of sorting options. Plus it has built in things that stores all your recipes/books/keys etc in a single tile with a separate list for super easy navigation.

There is also a dedicated key for every menu option. You just hold the menu button for longer than an instant press and it opens up a quick menu to open whatever you need. Swapping equipment is a breeze as there is a quick swap menu for every gear including armor which you can hot swap whenever.

The second and third character are very unique and also a ton of fun to play. I loved seeing each characters variety on their suplex's. All the WWE style moves are immensely satisfying. I saw professional reviews asking why you'd ever use a second character and I was just blown away. Why would you not? Do you not enjoy gameplay variety?

Speaking on the variety the variety of everything in this game is insane. There's a lot of fun ways to spend your time and literally something for everyone. You don't have to like every single type of activity because there's just so much stuff. Much higher quality extra stuff than most games attempts as well.

I ended up playing 10hours straight until 6am. I just couldn't put the game down its absolutely addictive. Plus how many games have you played lately that came out with basically flawless performance.

I typically don't like to write reviews of games I haven't 100% finished. But I'm 120hours deep in this game and I expect it still has enough content to show me another 100 hours at least.

If you value innovation and unique playing experiences in your games over super tight and perfect restrained gameplay than this is going to be one of the best games you've ever played. It's not that every single thing it does is innovative as it's borrowing a lot from tons of different genres and series. It's about how its packaged into one giant product. If you've ever been playing a game and thought man, love this game wish it also had this other mechanic I love form another game. That's this game.