I Skipped the Tutorial and Then Regretted It - Crimson Desert Hands-on

I didn't expect anything from Crimson Desert - I'm not a fan of Korean-style gamedev. Not that I have anything against it, it's just that, in my case, the cultural differences are too great for me to comfortably immerse myself in the world that the creators have created for us. However, I went to play Crimson Desert, because it's from the creators of Black Desert Online - a popular MMO with beautiful (for an MMO) graphics. And I was absolutely surprised because Crimson Desert is a single player game set in a serious European fantasy setting. And damn, the gameplay is excellent.

Pearl Abyss, creators of Crimson Desert, had one of the biggest booths at gamescom. It's hard to actually call it a booth - it was a large "building", looking impressive from the outside thanks to the trailers displayed on huge screens. So I entered this place as if it were a temple, where someone would soon sacrifice me. Before starting the game, a PR representative asked me how much time I had and whether I wanted to watch a several-minute tutorial, pointing to the center of the room where a group of people was gathered around the TV. However, we came to the conclusion that I will manage. I CAN'T DO IT?!

Look how beautifully I'm bleeding out

In the "prologue", we played as Kliff - a mercenary who fights against a faction that really dislikes him. Why and for what reason, it doesn't make sense to try to answer now. It's important that the story presented in well-directed cut-scenes has a lot of drama; there is a lot of aggression, rage, evil, but also some sense of duty and service, as well as some lingering guilt and regret. So it seems that Crimson Desert will try to tell us an extremely bloody, serious and brutal story (seriously, they don't hold back in the cut-scenes) - there will be no Korean craziness and giggling warriors. There will be sword and blood, throat slitting and trampling on the hope of the innocent. So everything that we know well from the history.

Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss

The world named "Pywel" was invented by the developers, but we can easily see inspirations from, for example, Celtic and Viking folklore. The graphics, as befits the creators of Black Desert Online, are really good – it's by no means on the level of Horizon or Black Myth Wukong, but Crimson Desert really has nothing to be ashamed of. Some boss battles - even on a meadow - make a spectacular impression. Particle effects - fire, magical attacks, dust or blades of grass swept up by the wind - create a "wow" effect. The developers use their own engine called BlackSpace Engine.

However, I could've watched that damn tutorial.

So I sat down on a puffe, glanced at the game instructions stuck to the stand and... was destroyed after 5 minutes. Crimson Desert isn't just another action game with a few skills; it's a game with a combat system that you have to learn. Basically, you can't play this game without knowing the combos. Parrying alone has 2 buttons, 1 for riposte, so you will be deflecting attacks with as many as three buttons. Well, four, because there is still a dodge.

The game does not have a lock-on - you cannot lock the camera on opponents, which forces us to be much more vigilant. You can't, like in 90% of other games, always use the defensive tactic of "running in circles around the opponent and waiting for an opportunity". Opponents don't stand like idiots and stare at you - they just run in a group, from the left, from the right, from behind, because they want to kill you, chop you up, slaughter you, not get to know you and exchange views. The block doesn't work against side or rear attacks like in the old Assassin's Creed games. Escaping doesn't work either - they will catch up with you and cut your back. That's why, after just 5 minutes, I understood why I was initially suggested to watch the tutorial.

Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss

But there is method in this madness - I read the instructions once again, then a third and fourth time, and started learning the combos. I noticed the difference right away. It's interesting that Kliff, in addition to typical attacks, including magical ones (he can, for example, fly on a "paraglider"), also has wrestling-style moves. All of this makes the combat very diverse and demanding, and this is perhaps the greatest advantage of this game. But it can also be its flaw.

Firstly, as I already mentioned, the system is simply difficult and some people may be put off by it, considering it "too complicated". Secondly, the inability to lock on the target causes the camera to go crazy - it happened to me that the opponent pushed me "out of the arena" because I couldn't fully see what was happening. If the developers manage to tame these problems, we are in for a really cool combat system.

Give this game a chance

I believe that this game really deserves our attention. In the hour-long demo prepared for gamescom, I was able to fight on large map-arenas with bosses, who were sometimes accompanied by regular (but still dangerous) opponents. It always looked like this: I enter the map, a very spectacular cut-scene starts, in which Kliff shows off either with a sword or a sharp tongue, and then the fight begins.

Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss

And it's a bit confusing, because Crimson Desert is supposed to be an open-world game - you will be using mounts, climbing, and even flying a balloon (?!), exploring dungeons and caves, visiting villages, collecting equipment and ticking off lots of activities on a large map without loading screens. The game will feature crafting, cooking, collecting herbs, mining ores, or fishing. None of these elements were available in the demo, so it's impossible to determine yet how Crimson Desert will turn out as a whole. However, the combat system, the dramaturgy and the spectacle of battles with bosses - whether it's a white deer or a giant crab studded with precious stones, makes me want to keep an eye on this title. You have my sword, Pearl Abyss. Although it is still unknown when I will swing it around, because there is still no release date - even an approximate one.