I’m about to go hands on with Crimson Desert, an upcoming open-world action game from developer Pearl Abyss. Before I begin, I’m shown a five-minute video explaining the ins and outs of its controls. Just to make sure I understand what I’m about to walk into, I ask if it’s more of a character action game or a Soulslike.
I’m told to think of it more like Street Fighter.
That advice seems bizarre considering that it looks like your typical sword and shield fantasy game. It’s only once I pick up a controller that I completely understand the tip. Crimson Desert isn’t about learning the rhythm of a boss’ attack patterns and carefully waiting for an opening. I’m the conductor and I have a symphony of attacks at my disposal.
Pearl Abyss sets a lot of expectations for me during my demo, and it’s easy to see why. If you’re the kind of person who thinks they can identify a game’s genre at a glance, Crimson Desert might throw you for a loop. Though it may look a bit like Dragon’s Dogma 2, the team stresses that it’s not an RPG. It’s more so a traditional open-world action-adventure game with a set hero, a big narrative focus, and ultra-fast real-time combat. As familiar as it may look, Crimson Desert is its own unique beast.
The team doesn’t go into the specifics on how it plays on a big-picture level. Instead, it’s focused on selling the game’s combat with three boss encounters. One of those includes its newly revealed foes, Hexe Marie. Before I can take on a fight, though, I need to get a combat tutorial — and there’s a lot to learn.
The demo build gives me access to a wealth of abilities earlier than I’d have them in the full game. At first it seems simple. There’s a heavy attack, a light one, and guarding. I could roll away from enemies, but I’d need to keep an eye on my stamina. Then things get more complex. I have a bow that I can fire and different elemental ammo, like ice and explosive shots. I can even slow time while firing, just as I can in Horizon Zero Dawn. Oh, I can also spend mana to launch myself sky high to fire at enemies from above. And I can kick enemies. And I can hit them with Randy Orton’s RKO. And I can palm strike them. And I can press all these different buttons together to activate completely different skills that are more effective against different enemy types.
It all sounds overwhelming at first, but I’m surprised by how much all those ideas click together once I fight my first boss, a comparably sized human foe who is especially susceptible to wrestling moves. The battle leaves a lot of room for creativity as I chain together different skills to diversify my attack plan. It’s not quite the ultra-fluid button-mashing of Devil May Cry; everything is more deliberate, like a fighting game. It’s all about executing my button presses at the right moment and pushing the momentum when I can.
There’s a lot of room for creativity in that system. In another fight, I got up against the Staglord, a larger enemy that I can’t manhandle like my previous foe. His specialty is charging into me, knocking my body flat into walls with a slapstick splat. As he runs at me, I get the wild idea to try to leap over a charge. I launch in the air, alternating joystick presses to get more air and totally avoid his rush. That gives me an opening to fire an explosive arrow down at him. Moments like that make Crimson Desert’s combat feel special.
Things got even more hectic when taking on Hexe Marie, a humanoid crow queen capable of summoning a swarm of monsters that leave explosives behind when slain. It’s a visually spectacular fight, as purple particle effects explode across the screen as I cut through minions and try to cut a path to Marie. Occasionally, a quick-time event is thrown in that gives the battle a more fluid, cinematic feeling. It’s a thrill, but overstimulating in moments too. There’s a lot of visual pizzazz happening on screen during a boss battle, and it can be challenging to read everything while trying to juggle complex controls that bring the depth of an MMO to a gamepad. Expect a bit of a learning curve.
Though it’s a completely different kind of action game, Crimson Desert calls Stellar Blade to mind. That game had a similarly maximalist approach to combat, pouring on the systems and flashy visuals thick. That made for an exciting blockbuster that resonated with fans. Crimson Desert almost takes that idea to the next level, giving players even more options to toy with. It’s pure action game improv.
Crimson Desert launches in late 2025 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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