Crimson Desert has been in development for a long time, but finally, at Gamescom 2025, we managed to play an extended chunk of the game, finally assessing its potential.
Before this year, we played a much shorter segment centered around a boss battle, although we got to see more in a hands-off session
With the release window getting close, Pearl Abyss is finally ready to let us get hands-on with something that really feels like “the game.”
The similarities with the developer’s own Black Desert aren’t limited to the name. The engine is an improved version of the one powering the popular MMORPG, and you can notice it by the massive vistas with crazy draw distance and the many detailed characters carrying complex armor and weapons.
It even shares some of the issues, like a strange wet shader that often appears on some NPCs’ faces when it isn’t raining, and hopefully will be corrected before release. It’s really quite excessive.
That being said, the visual fidelity is, all things considered, fantastic, which is definitely something that it shares with Black Desert.
That being said, there are also some very relevant differences. Crimson Desert isn’t an MMORPG, and it actually isn’t even something that you could really define an RPG. Progression mechanics are so limited that calling it an action-adventure, as Pearl Abyss does, is indeed appropriate.
Interestingly, all I’ve played and seen so far really has nothing to do with a desert. Crimson Desert is a crowded game, and I mean it in a flattering way.
The playable section that was available at Gamescom was right in the middle of a massive field battle, and I had to wade my way through the massive ranks of an enemy army to reach my objective.
That army wasn’t static, but was itself fighting against my allies in a depiction that felt brutal, realistic, and spectacular. It was actually one of the most massive and realistic representations of a medieval field battle that I’ve ever seen in gaming.
The gameplay segment that I saw a couple of years ago was similarly crowded, albeit it focused on a city that definitely reminded me of Black Desert’s. It was big and realistically laid out, quite different compared to the small hamlets that many fantasy games ambitiously call “cities.”
Of course, it was also full of NPCs, a rather grounded representation of a city’s population going about its business.
Speaking of grounded, another visual element that I have to praise is the realistic representation of armor and weapons. You’ll see designs that would not be out of place in a museum, which I really appreciate.
Of course, a desert exists in the game, but all we saw of it were a couple of screenshots. Yet, the game is certainly capable of delivering scenes that will make you feel at the center of a densely populated medieval world.
With the world being so big, you have some traversal methods to get around faster than on foot, including your faithful horse (which felt a lot like Black Desert’s, and that’s not at all a bad thing.) and a power that lets you glide long distances.
Of course, Kliff’s powers aren’t just for moving around, but you can also use them extensively in combat to perform all sorts of neat tricks, including empowering your weapons with elemental magic, slowing down time, and lifting massive objects that you can then smash on your enemies’ heads.
The combination of magic and brute force creates a rather technical combat system with a ton of weapons in your arsenal. Players who enjoy action hack & slash games will feel right at home, but you don’t really need to explore the entire breadth of your moveset, so novices to the genre should still be able to enjoy the game.
You can even call artillery strikes, and many buildings can be destroyed, which contributes to the realistic feeling of chaos you experience during the battle.
When it comes to boss battles, they’re very dynamic and challenging, but I would stop short of defining them as Souls-like. The challenge factor is there, as the requirement to read the movements and patterns of the enemy to succeed, but what I played felt considerably more forgiving and approachable.
Ultimately, Crimson Desert is an interesting specimen of a game, specifically for its combination of genre and setting.
Most games of this kind tend to be RPGs at heart, while Crimson Desert shifts the axis toward streamlining its action component and shedding the RPG elements.
For good or for ill (I know many would have preferred an action RPG, and I may even be one of them), it’s something that you don’t see often, and it’s intriguing to see how the public will welcome it.
Crimson Desert releases in Q1 2026 for PC. Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. If you’d like to see more, you can check out the latest gameplay of the same demo I played for this preview. You can also watch another boss battle.
