We played a lot of games at this year’s Summer Game Fest Play Days, but none of them blew us away as much asCrimson Desert, the new single-player medieval-fantasy RPG from Pearl Abyss. With excruciating attention to detail, gorgeous graphics and a jaw-droppingly versatile combat system, this was our favorite game we saw at SGF, and has become one of our most-anticipated games of the year.
Captain of the Greymane
We began as our hero Kliff, a fur-clad knight gifted with great strength and magic abilities, arrived at the barracks of a medieval army on the losing end of a gigantic battle. Immediately, we noticed that dialogue interactions were extremely fluid, with minimal HUD interruptions or cinematics, as he discussed the situation with a general of the army. While we didn’t see anything in the form of dialogue options, it seemed as though we could go talk to anybody we came across.
After arriving at the frontlines, I noticed a pair of soldiers struggling to repair a cannon disconnected from its wheel. I approached, and once I was close enough for them to notice me, they asked me to help repair it (I obliged, adding a third cannon to the bombardment strikes I would use during the battle later that evening). While we were playing on a schedule, the game clearly rewards players for taking their time, whether it be taking out enemy archer towers before proceeding to a boss fight or helping raise new rally points as our army progressed through the gigantic battle.
Speaking of the battle, it wasn’t long before we dove into combat, as the sun set and a full-scale war broke out, lit by the red glow of torches and burning encampments. Our hero, clearly much stronger and higher-ranking than the other soldiers on his side, behaved almost like the Master Chief (for lack of a better example), taking out multiple enemies at a time with efficiency as smaller soldiers struggled in the front lines. Sometimes, we had to leave the battle behind to move on to a more important objective, such as rescuing an allied supply station overrun by enemies, adding an even larger sense of size to the already-massive scale of the battle.
A Staggering Level of Freedom in Combat
Combat is, without a doubt, some of the best in an action RPG we’ve ever seen, with a level of creative possibilities and options that rivals 2015’sMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.A wide variety of weapons (which we barely got a chance to touch) are possible to use in addition to your standard sword and shield, with a range of special moves available that deal out attacks while simultaneously swapping to your secondary weapon. Blocking, dodging and parrying were all options, but each had different ways of responding with an attack of your own, which we could see working against different armor types in later levels, which could then be strung into its own series of unique combos.
But it wasn’t until the attendant running the demo asked us “would you like to try out the wrestling moves?” that we really understood how massive the scale of the combat really was. Completely separate from the brutal and vicious swordplay, the player can use a separate button to attack with grapples and wrestling moves straight out of the WWE, suplexing enemies from behind or clothes-lining them as you sprint past. This combat almost played like an arcade fighting game, with directional inputs changing the moves you perform on the enemy. Needless to say, we had a ton of fun throwing enemies to the ground in spectacular fashion, then hitting them with a well-earned stab through the chest from above.
Combat in the game is, without a doubt, some of the best in an action RPG we have ever seen.
Hitting yet another button would blast your enemy with a Force Palm, shooting out bright green sparks and staggering the enemy (and some of his allies standing too close). This semi-magical attack could also be used in a diverse array of fashions, including palming downwards while jumping to boost yourself even higher into the air, damaging enemies below you and giving you enough height to glide away. These magical powers are also used in traversal, with grappling hook and glider mechanics both available at the press of a button, shortening time spent moving between areas. The game never seems to stop throwing awesome new mechanics and ideas at you, eventually leaving you with an arsenal so wide you may forget how much of it is there.
The Hero Saving the Day
There was somehow still more to find in gameplay, with our hero able to pull out his bow and arrows by aiming with the trigger and swapping between different arrow types via a dial menu. Our favorite of these was the Artillery Support arrows, which called in a bombardment of explosive munitions wherever the arrow landed, capable of taking out enemy towers and encampments with ease. Aiming the bow while in midair initiated a slow-motion effect, making it easier to aim and fire off shots without hitting the ground.
It wasn’t until the attendant running the demo asked us “would you like to try out the wrestling moves?” that we really understood how massive the scale of this game’s combat really was.
Once we finally reached the boss battle at the end of a full night of non-stop sword fights, horse-riding and side objectives, the game through us what must have been our tenth left-curve, with aDark Souls-esque boss battle against a massive knight. This enemy is virtually immune to your attacks, and we realized that to actual defeat him, he needed to be stunned by smashing the stone pillars in the castle onto him using a magic telekinesis ability learned earlier. We tricked the boss into rushing at us, hitting a pillar as we dodged out of the way, then picked it up and dropped it on him, giving us a chance to get some real hits in.
Our fifty-minute-long demo felt like it was only scratching the surface of what was possible inCrimson Desert, with the narrative, mission and open-world systems going largely unacknowledged during our session. As the session ended, our attendant showed off yet another series of combos and special moves that we weren’t even aware of as time ran out, performing acrobatic attacks with special input combinations. Launching late 2025 for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5, we can’t wait to get our hands back on the jaw-dropping sandbox of Crimson Desert to see everything that it has to offer.
Crimson Desert
Review: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
An almighty step-up in presentation, execution and systems-heavy design, Warhorse’s follow-up to their cult medieval-era RPG is a sandbox of splendor.
