Update: Our Crimson Desert review is now live: "Vast and obtuse in a way that is going to frustrate some and exhilarate others, Crimson Desert is a fascinating journey, even when the destination isn't all that."
We've got an old-fashioned videogame hype train on our hands. Our recent preview of Crimson Desert, which Harvey called one of the most overstimulating games he's ever played, is PC Gamer's most-read article of March by a mile.
If you've been out of the loop, Crimson Desert began life as a prequel to MMO Black Desert Online, which has been consistently popular since its release over a decade ago. It's only the second big game from Korean developer Pearl Abyss, which had such success with Black Desert that it acquired EVE Online maker CCP Games in 2018.
Article continues belowCrimson Desert is called an "open-world action-adventure" on its Steam page, but "kitchen sink action RPG" might also be appropriate. From Harvey's preview, it sounds like it's doing a bit of everything:
"Breath of the Wild-style cooking is present for you to create consumables. You can cut down trees for lumber, you can get a GTA-style bounty on your head, you can gamble or do wrestling minigames, you can get faction reputation up or go on bounty hunts, you can clear out outposts, you can go fishing, you can, according to someone a couple stations over from me, bribe members of the church. For what purpose? It is unclear."
I noticed a similar pattern when I covered the announcement of Where Winds Meet, a wuxia RPG from Chinese studio Everstone. They told me you could go so far as to roleplay as a professional orator, which of course is what I fixated on over the combat. (Admittedly I have not made time to check if professional orating wound up in the final game, but I hope so.)
It perhaps isn't surprising that people are hungry for a huge open world game right now; there hasn't been a lot happening in that department after Grand Theft Auto 6's delays. Nioh 3 was good, but the soulslike pitch isn't as mainstream. Borderlands 4 came out last year, and still has hardcore fans, but wasn't as big of a hit as the previous games. Obsidian's mid-sized sedan entries into the RPG market also have their supporters—Ted will fight you about Avowed—but don't aim for the feeling of boundless exploration that Crimson Desert appears to be going for.
It's also the kind of game that tends to inspire huge expectations—huge world! do anything!—and there's a feeling out there that a giant new game for everyone to get behind is needed right now. The top comment on a recent Reddit post about Crimson Desert is: "Please be good please be good please be."
It's $70 on Steam, and as always you might be best off waiting for a few patches and a sale before picking it up, if you do. Of course, then you'll miss a ride on the launch week hype train, which can be a good time when the game is good.
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