On the continent of Pywel, the rival factions of Pailune maintained a tense balance. At Kliff's side stood his steadfast Greymane comrades, but a devastating ambush in the deep of night by their sworn enemies the Black Bears leaves members of the Greymanes dead or scattered across the continent.Kliff—having lost his family in all but name—is determined to reunite with the survivors and rebuild the faction.But on a journey where alliances are forged, dangers abound, and mysterious factions ar...
On the continent of Pywel, the rival factions of Pailune maintained a tense balance. At Kliff's side stood his steadfast Greymane comrades, but a devastating ambush in the deep of night by their sworn enemies the Black Bears leaves members of the Greymanes dead or scattered across the continent.
Kliff—having lost his family in all but name—is determined to reunite with the survivors and rebuild the faction.
But on a journey where alliances are forged, dangers abound, and mysterious factions are uncovered, Kliff will meet those who seek to upend the very order of the continent and face a mission unlike any he has ever known.
Welcome to Pywel.
Here you'll find stretches of natural beauty and wilderness—from green plains and woods to arid deserts and rugged mountains—alongside bustling cities and quiet hamlets inhabited by residents from all walks of life. Between destinations, you will come across landmarks, ancient ruins, hidden treasures, and other points of interest that will draw your curisoity to wander. Your journey will also inevitably take you skyward to the mysterious realm known as the Abyss, where a mystical imbalance endangering the world must be restored.
The world is yours to explore as you will and there are many paths for you to uncover.
Experience the continent's stories and tales through quests, encounters, challenges, and battles. Roam the lands on various mounts from horses to even a dragon and mechs, and scale cliffsides and walls which you can leap from to glide.
The story of Crimson Desert centers on Kliff. But as his tale unfolds, 2 new playable characters—Oongka and Damiane—will come to join your journey. As these characters become available, you will be able to freely explore Pywel and undertake many quests outside the main story with them. Each character has their own combat style, as well as unique skills and weapons, allowing you to experience the world and its battles in different ways.
On the unforgiving battlefields of Crimson Desert, there is no single path to victory.
Grow your arsenal of skills, weapons, and equipment—and decide how you want to use them. Powerful weapon skills can be paired with hard-hitting bare-hand hits and kicks, as well as a wide range of grapples to create seamless chains of attacks. Acquire weapons like swords, spears, greatswords, axes, dual wields, various ranged weapons, and more, and unleash powerful abilities and elemental enhancements through lethal combinations. Stay mobile and relentless with slides, dodges, counters, and swings that flow directly into your next attack. With every strike and move, forge your own way in a world where a split second can decide your fate in fast-paced, visceral battles.
From ruthless warriors to fearsome beasts, there are those in Pywel who will seek your downfall. Encounter a diverse array of challenging enemies and bosses in brutal one-on-one duels, large-scale battle clashes, and quick skirmishes, and prevail against the threats that stand in your way.
Pywel isn't just a continent of battles and exploration. It's a world where many of the smaller moments also shape your journey and make up your day-to-day life.
Upgrade the Greymane camp, the starting point in the path to reclaiming the Greymanes' lost homeland of Pailune. Gather resources, cook, fish, hunt, and partake in the other various activities of Pywel for stat replenishment, making your equipment stronger, and more. Along the way, enjoy some leisure time by playing minigames with the locals.
And shaping your daily life also extends to customization. Adjust hairstyles, tattoos, outfits, and more using dyes you brew or pick up along your journey.
Configurations
Windows
MacOS
minimum*
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Ryzen 5 2600X / i5-8500
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: RX 5500 XT / GTX 1060
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 150 GB available space
Sound Card: Windows Compatible Audio Device
Additional Notes: SSD required.
recommended*
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Ryzen 5 5600 / i5-11600K
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: RX 6700 XT / RTX 2080
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 150 GB available space
Sound Card: Windows Compatible Audio Device
Additional Notes: SSD required.
minimum*
Requires an Apple processor
OS: MacOS 15.0 or later
Processor: Apple M2 Pro, M3, M4
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: M2 Pro, M3, M4
Storage: 150 GB available space
Sound Card: macOS compatible audio device
recommended*
Requires an Apple processor
OS: MacOS 15.0 or later
Processor: Apple M3 Pro, M4 Pro, M5
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: M3 Pro, M4 Pro, M5
Storage: 150 GB available space
Sound Card: macOS compatible audio device
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Reviews
9
Game review score
based on 771 reviews, all languages included
Takes a long time to get used to the controls, even after 6h sometimes im kinda lost.
Also minor things like acessing the inventory takes 3 clicks which is insane.
other than that the game is amazing, u can do so many things... creator coletor, farmer, base builder, combat, exploration, u can dye ur weapons ur armor even the gear of ur horse, its insane
Crimson Desert offers world-class visuals but fails the most basic rule of fantasy RPGs: the 80km² map is a walking simulator devoid of thrill and danger.
The Breaking Points:
Zero Roaming Predators: No wolves, bears, or fantasy beasts hunt or ambush you. Hours of travel pass in total, eerie silence.
Static AI: The few monsters and mini-bosses are "tethered" to fixed spots. If you don't go to them, the world remains deserted. No organic life.
Non-Existent Variety: Outside of generic human bandits, the "fantasy" element vanishes during roaming. No random dragon attacks or wandering giants.
Failed Comparison: Compared to Skyrim or Dragon's Dogma, it lacks dungeons, random events, and the density that turns exploration into an adventure.
Verdict: A technical masterpiece that forgets to be an action game. Without a dynamic spawn system, the massive map is just a boring visual desert.
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Crimson Desert offers world-class visuals but fails the most basic rule of fantasy RPGs: the 80km² map is a walking simu
Literally, it's a game that, for those who don't have much time to play, will keep them playing all year long. This game has many areas to explore and discover.
Crimson Desert is one of the worst games I’ve played in a long time, and I do not say that lightly. It feels like a Frankenstein’s monster of borrowed mechanics, stitching together ideas from Breath of the Wild, Red Dead Redemption 2, Souls-likes, Dragon’s Dogma, Assassin’s Creed, Dynasty Warriors, and more, without ever forming a clear identity of its own. Almost every system looks better in trailers than it feels in practice. The game is full of “cool” ideas, but most of them are shallow, underdeveloped, and rarely lead to interesting gameplay or story moments. It is the definition of a game that is an inch deep and a mile wide.
The biggest problem is lack of focus. There are too many mechanics, too many systems, too many half-baked features, and none of them feel refined enough to support a cohesive experience. The open world is huge but largely empty and lifeless. Exploration often leads to places or moments that look promising but offer no meaningful interaction. Combat has flashy animations and some stylish moves, but for most regular encounters you can get by with mindless auto-combos, and bosses often feel less like tests of skill and more like resource drains unless you happen to have the one specific ability that trivializes them. The game gives the illusion of depth while constantly encouraging brute force, trial and error, or just looking things up.
Quest design is another major issue. The game is packed with slow walking, escort quests, filler tasks, repetitive investigation sequences, and drawn-out cutscenes. The pacing is dreadful. Main story missions are constantly interrupted by chores that feel like they exist only to inflate the runtime. Side quests are not much better. Instead of building momentum, the game keeps dragging the player through busywork. The puzzles are also poor: usually very simple in concept, but made frustrating by clunky controls and janky interactions that make even correct solutions feel unreliable.
The story and characters do very little to justify this bloated structure. The narrative is thin, the worldbuilding is vague, and most characters are forgettable. The protagonist feels like a passive errand-runner rather than a compelling lead, and major story developments happen without enough context or emotional weight. Even after many hours, the plot still feels underexplained and unfocused. For a game so obsessed with cinematic presentation, it has surprisingly little substance underneath.
The technical side is rough as well. Performance issues, visual clutter, blurry textures, camera problems, and bugs make the experience even more frustrating. Controls often feel clumsy, turning basic actions like talking to NPCs, looting, platforming, or using certain mechanics into a chore. Many of the game’s frustrations come not from challenge, but from poor execution and lack of polish.
What makes this especially disappointing is that there are flashes of potential here. Some traversal ideas are fun. Some combat moves are undeniably stylish. Some spectacle moments are impressive. But occasional cool moments are not enough to carry a game this bloated, repetitive, shallow, and frustrating. Crimson Desert feels less like a carefully designed RPG and more like an overpriced content pile meant to keep you busy for dozens of hours without giving you much real depth in return. I cannot recommend it.
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