Crimson Desert preview — Elegance that goes beyond visuals

I’ll be honest, I’ve been burned by pretty games before. I would watch trailers, get wooed by pretty visuals, and completely ignore when the trailer cut away just before the moment a sword makes contact with an enemy. Now, I’m more discerning, and I’m rarely swayed by pretty aesthetics before I see the gameplay. However, when I saw footage of Crimson Desert, I was intrigued. Not enough to trust the game yet, mind you, but the visual fidelity and far render distance were impressive in and of themselves. Recently, I was able to attend PAX East, where I got to play Crimson Desert, and I have to say, the sheer fluidity and dynamism of combat blew me away. I played for maybe half an hour, and in that short time, I was making my own combos using fighting moves that flowed together with spectacular form. Let's get into what I played.

Starting with the bits of lore we know for the game right now, players take the role of Kliff, the leader of a band of mercenaries for hire known as the Greymanes. During the portion of the game I played, the group seemed to be recovering from some sort of horrific defeat or betrayal, with their ranks scattering to the wind to survive.

The bulk of what I got to play was pure combat, and I’ve got to say, I’m impressed by both the presentation and mechanical depth, and yet it remains intuitive and accessible. I’m primarily a PC gamer, but after a few minutes on the Xbox controller, I was dishing out my own combos made up of individual moves that are powerful in their own right.

Let's start with the basics. Players have light and heavy attacks, which can be used independently or triggered together for a massive arcing strike. You also have a roll, a kick, and a dodge, each of which is bound to its own button. Then you have more complex actions, like hitting multiple buttons for various slashes, judo throws, and stabs. You can fire a blast of force from your palm, pelt enemies with your bow, and parry incoming blows with your sword. All of these ingredients play into the absolute chef's kiss that is combat. I stunned an enemy, then proceeded to kick him around like a soccer ball. All of the combat has a kinetic feeling to it.

Both the individual moves and complex attacks flow together dynamically. Let's say you stab an enemy and they’re stuck on your sword. Well, you can push them off, sending them flying, or you could dash behind them to reposition. Precede the attack by vaulting over the enemy, or follow it up by judo throwing them. Experimenting with the various possible combos will allow players to refine their own fighting styles, but be warned, not every move works the same way in all situations. For example, impaling a larger enemy on your sword might yield a different result than impaling a human-sized one.

Moving on, I fought two bosses during my play time, the first one was the Reed Devil, and the second was the Staglord. These bosses are pretty much polar opposites, with the former being an agile trickster who overwhelms you with speedy strikes, and the latter being a hulking brute who can and will ragdoll you with powerful strikes. I’ll be covering the Reed Devil first. You find him in a large field, giving the battle plenty of room to breathe. He’s fast and annoying, but you can catch him out with a blast of force from your palm. Honestly, the frustration caused by his speed just makes pinning him down all the more satisfying, and leads to a great moment where you feed him his teeth in a quick time event. This boss has a few phases, and the cutscene transition between the phase change and combat was absolutely seamless, giving the combat a cinematic feel to it. The destructible environment also helps, as the fight takes place in tall grass, so you could literally track what happened in the fight. You can see which moves were used by looking at where the field was sheared by blades.

Then there’s the Staglord. You face off against him in the snowy ruins of a fort, giving the fight a bit of a claustrophobic feeling. It’s like being trapped in the ring with a bull. He’s larger than you, so trying grappling moves on him won’t work out well for you. During the fight, I was thrown around like a ragdoll as the old stone walls of the fort crumbled in the Staglord’s wake. He’s a relentless foe, so letting him set the rules for the fight will just result in pain. Eventually, I tried whipping out my bow for a few quick shots with explosive arrows, to great success. Because he’s a boss who’s used to the biting cold, hot explosives dealt massive damage to him. Unfortunately, I ran out of time before I could get through his second phase, but the sheer weight and clean flow of combat left an impression on me.

One piece of advice I was given for boss fights was, “This is not a Souls-like. The sooner you stop playing it like a Souls-like, the sooner you start having fun.” The bosses in this game feel powerful, but it feels more free-flow than Souls games. You have to set the tempo for combat, and while reacting to what the boss is doing is important, you can’t solely rely on it. Get out there and use the arsenal of moves at your disposal to take control of the battle.

The visuals of the game are stunning. Standing in a field, halfway up a mountain, I looked out over the landscape before me. I was told that I could go anywhere I saw, from the islands that dotted the ocean to the bustling towns that bring the land to life. There are trade routes and people who travel on them. The strong visuals extend to fights as well, with effects like the splattering of blood and the fiery plumes from explosions looking top-notch. The camera does a lot of the legwork, giving the combat its kinetic feeling, as it strikes the perfect balance between reactive cinematography and smooth tracking.

I only had around 35 minutes to play Crimson Desert, but in that time, it blew me away with the quality of its combat and jaw-dropping visuals. The controls are so intuitive that, despite my short playtime, I was performing creative combos. I truly do look forward to playing this game more when it’s released, which is slated for late 2025.