.png)
4 hours ago
2
Tom RichardsonBBC Newsbeat
Pearl Abyss
Crimson players have been waiting for Crimson Desert since its first trailer in 2020
Video game fans and big, blockbuster releases have had an uneasy relationship in recent years.
As so-called triple-A games get more expensive to make, the publishers behind them are accused of taking fewer risks and failing to try new things.
But highly anticipated new release Crimson Desert asks a different question - what if a big-budget, graphically advanced game tried to do absolutely everything?
The ambitious action-adventure's been compared to a buffet, presenting players with a smorgasbord of ideas, gameplay styles and quests to gorge on.
While some have praised it as a feast, others have found it overstuffed, with some undercooked morsels behind the impressive presentation.
Crimson Desert was initially meant to be a prequel to Black Desert Online, South Korean developer Pearl Abyss's 2015 massively multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG).
But the developer eventually pivoted to creating a single-player adventure set in the fantasy world of Pywel.
Main character Kliff is a member of the Greymanes, a warrior clan whose members are dispersed around the continent by the rival Black Bears.
After acquiring mystical powers, he sets on a quest to reunite his comrades
Reviewers were quick to draw comparisons between Crimson Desert's narrative and Game of Thrones, but that's far from the only influence on the game.
Pearl Abyss
There was praise for Crimson Desert's varied environments and attention to detail
According to reviewers, Crimson Desert's MMORPG roots aren't hard to detect.
Its world is vast, and Pearl Abyss's marketing director has claimed the game's map is twice the size of 2011 RPG classic Skyrim.
Kliff is also able to explore floating islands reminiscent of those seen in 2023's Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Each of those areas is packed with side quests and activities, ranging from fishing and arm wrestling to taming animals.
It's an approach we've seen before in popular open-world titles such as the Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2, where players can ignore the main quest to focus on more mundane pursuits.
The game's combat systems have been compared to classic hack-and-slash action game series such as Devil May Cry, while the ability to switch between playable characters was a key feature of Grand Theft Auto 5.
Reviewers estimate that the game's various components could keep players going for dozens of hours.
But they didn't agree on whether all that variety was the game's greatest strength or its big weakness.
Pearl Abyss
Kliff acquires powers early in the game that unlock some of its fantastical elements
There was almost unanimous praise for the game's graphics, its variety of environments and the scope of its ambition.
But critics were less united on whether Crimson Desert brought its various influences and ideas together into an enjoyable whole.
Forbes' Paul Tassi, in his 9.5 out of 10 review, was impressed by the game's "unprecedented scale", and said he'd "never been bored" after playing it for 100 hours.
Despite his praise, like most reviewers he was less impressed by the game's story, calling it the "weakest element", but said it was not expected to be a strong selling point.
In a four-star review, GamesRadar's Joel Franey said Crimson Desert was "messy", but "elements of genius and wonder make the experience worthwhile".
One of the game's harsher critics, Shacknews' Will Borger, said the game's "maximalist" approach worked against it, and felt it only succeeded "half the time".
"The rest of it made me wish I was doing literally anything else," he wrote.
"I cannot deny its ambition; I did not enjoy my time with it. It is a game that wastes your time."
"It feels like a game that, for the right player, could be played for thousands of hours without getting bored," he wrote.
"For others, it'll be one playthrough and then never picked up again."
Reviewers played the PC version of the game, but it is also due for release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles.
Korean media reported that the "disappointing" critical reception for Crimson Desert had caused Pearl Abyss' stock price to drop by 30%.
But the game, which is currently at number one on PC store Steam's top seller chart, still looks set to sell well.
As a blockbuster release from an Asian developer, it has also been compared to 2024's Black Myth: Wukong from Chinese studio Game Science.
That game landed on an average score of 81 out of 100, according to Metacritic, but became one of the fastest-selling games of all time, shifting 20 million copies in one month.
Players who've downloaded Crimson Desert in advance will be able to play it from 22:00 GMT.
