Crimson Desert is like Legend of Zelda if it had world building by George R.R. Martin

Crimson Desert arrives today on PC and console, and if you have been waiting for this game, I think you are in for a treat. I have been playing the game for a couple of weeks, not for review (Gaming Nexus has decided to review Crimson Desert on PlayStation Pro), but rather to get a feel for the title and to create other content, like the guide that will be going live tonight.

With that goal in mind, I never intended to play as much of Crimson Desert as I have. I figured I would drop in, get a feel for the game, and drop back out. Instead, my save file is pushing 50 hours and I've barely left the opening area. I can see the titular Crimson Desert on my map, but it seems very far away indeed. I don't think I'm going to be getting there this month. Indeed, I might aim towards arriving in the desert sometime this summer. Suffice it to say that Crimson Desert's beautiful and ornate world has pulled me in, big time. I'm in no hurry to leave.

If I were reviewing Crimson Desert right now, I would give it it a 9.5. The only thing keeping the game from a solid 10 in my mind are the janky control system and weird UI choices. You have probably read some reviews by now, and have seen various complaints about the main character being bland, and the story being obtuse and non-propulsive. These are legitimate complaints. I just don't care. 

Yes, the boss fights are way too hard. Yes, the inventory system kinda sucks. Yes, you need to constantly hunt for food and gather ore to upgrade your gear. Don't care. Don't care. Don't care. If players make enough ruckus, a lot of that weirdness can be patched out (if Pearl Abyss even wants to do so). But none of that stuff changes the fact that Crimson Desert is possibly the best single player open world game I've ever played. Or, if you prefer that I not use terms like "the best", we can just call it my favorite open world game. 

For an example of why I love this game so much, let me tell you a quick story about about a goose. A few days ago, I was walking through a little village, just minding my own business. A couple of geese were crossing in front of me. I ignored the geese and kept walking. This led to my character getting his feet tangled up with a goose. My guy actually kinda stumbled, and the goose honked at me angrily. It happened so fast that I was a bit dumbfounded, like "Did that actually just happen?". Because what that means is that whoever created this game actually sat around and thought "What if the player stumbles over a goose?" and then Pearl Abyss accounted for that interaction with a goose-stumbling animation. 

That goose interaction is why this game might be my favorite open world game. The level of detail and interaction with the gorgeous open world is just insane, and it seeps into every corner of the world. You can literally pluck insects out of the air and put them into your inventory. You can grab a nearby racoon and chuck it over a cliff. If you bump into somebody carrying a basket of oranges, the dump the oranges on the ground and then kneel down and start picking them up one by one. And you can steal the dang oranges if you are feeling rude. 

Yes, a lot of the game design is obtuse, but that is purposeful. In a brief chat with Pearl Abyss before the review period, their representative mentioned that the company isn't overly "into tutorials". They are proud of it. It's an ethic. It's a guiding principal. And for whatever reason, that lack of guidance has clicked with me in a way I never expected it to. I hate games that leave you to figure things out on your own, but for whatever reason I want to figure things out in Crimson Desert, much in the way that I wanted to figure things out in the modern Legend of Zelda titles.

Because that's what this game feels like. It feels like an enormous Legend of Zelda game, if all of the Nintendo friendliness was stripped out, and the world builders let George R.R. Martin take a crack at the world building. The depth of the setting is frankly stunning in a way that makes the actual story taking place secondary to the experience of just being there. The world of Crimson Desert feels mature and fleshed out in a way that dwarfs most other games on the market. I have found exploring the cities and wilderness to be endlessly fascinating and enormously entertaining. The visuals are beautiful and detailed in a way that few games are, and the map is full of secrets that feel impenetrable and deeply mysterious. 

In most games, it feels like the world has been set up specifically for the player character to interact and explore. In Crimson Desert, it feels like the world doesn't care if you are there or not. If you don't show up at the market, the market will still be busily going about it's business. Those nerds up in the tower will still be doing their research into the Abyss. Farmers will farm. Blacksmiths will blacksmith. This "living world" dynamic is a feeling that a lot of games try to emulate, but few really achieve. Crimson Desert pulls it off.

After fifty hours with the game, I'm delighted that I'm not actually reviewing the game; I find that I don't much care about advancing the story, and I don't want to rush through it. I'm taking my time and relishing the experience. I just like tromping around in this world. Sometimes the story moves forward if I wander into the appropriate area to trigger the next quest, and sometimes I go for hours dorking around with my pickaxe. And sometimes I just run around all day doing favors for people, or doing quests to increase my standing with a particular faction so I can get some sweet new boots. In many ways this meandering pace I've set for myself feels like playing an MMO, except the world feels far richer and more alive than in any MMO I've ever played. 

Crimson Desert feels "next gen" in a way that very few games do, and it is utterly unique. Those that want the game to be similar to every other game are completely missing the point. This is a game that refuses to play by the rule book. It knows what it wants to do, and it does it with style and intrigue. Pearl Abyss is operating an a peculiar frequency here, but if you are able to tune into that vibe, you will groove with it deeply. If you've wondered if this game is for you, I would encourage you to give it a shot.