When I was watching the State of Play, I saw Crimson Desert. But I didn’t really look at it.
On first glance, it looked a lot like what Blades of Fire turned out to be for me: a fairly standard action-adventure game with some decent combat. And then I watched the gameplay video and saw the main character take off and start flying across the map. Then he flew above a battle, landed with an absolute thump, and got to work.
And now, I fear I may have judged you too harshly.
I’m Sorry, Pearl Abyss. I wasn’t familiar with your game.
You may be asking yourself, “Is that all it takes to get you to lock in?” And the answer to that question is “yes.” I can be critical of it after I’ve had a chance to review it, if necessary. But right now? I need all of that.
I’m supposed to not want to whip medieval a** because you want to be a sourpuss about everything? No, sir. Not me! I will say, don’t let the camera be the thing that gets me torn up in these fights, though.
But beyond that, yeah, I’m in on Crimson Desert. Please put me on a dragon and let me go crazy. That’s right. According to the PlayStation Blog post about the release date, you can ride dragons.
Pearl Abyss is also promising a pretty significant level of freedom in the world, saying, “The world of Crimson Desert is alive with adventure. Missions, quests, and puzzles wait in every corner. You’ll find countless ways to explore—from gliding high above the land to scaling sheer cliffs.”
I’m not entirely sure how climbing is going to work in this game or what. But I can tell you that in just about every game where you tell me I can go damn near anywhere, I will test that out. I often fire up an open-world game and head in a direction. Whatever I run into, I deal with as it comes. I just like seeing the worlds that people create.
The post Don’t Sleep on Crimson Desert—It Could Be a Sleeper Hit in 2026 appeared first on VICE.
