Hands on with Crimson Desert at Summer Game Fest 2025 — A complex and well-realized adventure lies ahead

If there was a game I was most excited for at Summer Game Fest 2025, it was my very first appointment.  I met up with the Pearl Abyss team to check out Crimson Desert.  The demos we’ve seen thus far have focused on some of the boss combat in the game, as well as a smattering of various mechanics.  This demo was our first look at the storyline and large-scale battle.  It was intense, immersive, and served to make me even more excited for the game’s upcoming release.  Let’s dig in and let me tell you about Crimson Desert and why it’s one of our nominations for Game of the Show.

The demo wasn’t a demo per se.  The team loaded up a chapter of the game, gave me a bit of a tutorial, and granted me an hour to do whatever I wanted.  Immediately, I was impressed by how the team has brought the continent of Pywel to life using their proprietary BlackSpace Engine.  More than a fork off of the engine for Black Desert, this new engine was not only gorgeous, it was running at 4K/60+ on mid-tier gear on PC with no upsampling, no frame generation, and no other advantages beyond pure power. Given that the last few months of development are about optimization, it’s already in an impressive space.  

The character faces are incredibly detailed, but the armor is absolutely staggering.  Zooming in you can see every rivet, the stitch of the cloth and where it tucks underneath the pauldrons, the filagree detail, all of it.  More than a flat texture applied, these are fully modeled 3D objects, and we were just getting started.  

It wasn’t long before the dynamic weather started to roll in.  The lush and green landscape, verdant with trees and rolling hills, was soon being bathed in the dynamic and realistic weather.  The grass swayed, as did the trees, but not in a prescribed way, but entirely physics-based.  As the wind picked up, so did the turbulence.  The time-of-day effects are also dynamic - something I saw in motion as the demo progressed.  

In Crimson Desert we take on the role of Kliff, the leader of the Graymanes.  We’re searching for our comrades who reportedly need our help after falling prey to an ambush.  Making our way to the region of Calphade, we head into the nearby town looking for our friends.  Here, we encounter the local soldiers who are preparing for battle.  They look on us as a sort of folk hero, and we oblige this, helping to straighten their armor and fixing equipment.  I was floored at what I noticed next.

When you look at an absolutely gorgeous game like The Witcher III: Wild Hunt you’ll notice something – Geralt never hands or receives anything that you can see.  Hands are hidden off the bottom of the screen because the interactions are difficult to render.  I mention this as it really sticks out when it’s shown fully.  Kliff reached out, gripped the other soldier’s armor, gave it a good shake, and then helped him with a greave buckle.  When a soldier asked us for help re-attaching a wagon wheel, Kliff grabbed the wheel, lifted it, then flipped his hands forward to push it onto the axle. He then shoulder bashed it into place.  Similarly, water isn’t placed into the environment by hand – the team defined the characteristics of rocks, water, dirt, etc. and just let those things interact.  The water rushes around the rocks, or over them if there’s enough pressure higher up the stream. One of the townsfolk sent me to learn how to fire a cannon.  Hitting a tower at the base saw it splinter, topple, and collapse on itself into pieces.  Hitting it from the top caused it to stovetop and collapse in on itself.  Similarly, hitting it dead center caused it to blow out the back and then splinter.  Later I picked up a massive telephone pole-sized banner and placed it back in its stand.  Kliff lifted it by squatting, lifting with his legs, then using his magic to hoist the massive thing in place once off the ground. You see, every single thing in this game is motion captured, and it’s all physics based.  These interactions and realism add so much to the overall experience. It’s easy to see why the game has taken so long – this is clearly a labor of love.

Back on my horse, I’d been given a lead on where I could find Cassius Morten – a traitor aligned with the Black Bear clan.  He’d know where I’d be able to find my allies.  Riding into battle we got to see the engine at work once again.  Hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers battled each other on the field as fires and explosions lit the night sky around us.  Yes, we could stop and fight the individuals, but given our hero status, our time and efforts are better spent taking out the generals and strategic targets.  

One of the elements previous trailers have shown is Kliff’s magic.  Here we were able to see his mastery of fire, ice, and lightning.  Electrifying the water soldiers are fighting in caused them to be shocked, though we could also shock ourselves – something to be mindful of in the middle of a fight.  Ice would similarly freeze foes, and fire burns them – obvious, really.  Combining these in creative ways and finding new ways to turn the tide linked to one of the only real challenges I faced in the demo – controls.

The problem with doing a demo at an event like this is that you’ve not benefitted from hours of playing the game to get used to the controls.  As such, I couldn't reliably pull off some of the more complex moves.  Kliff can use his magic to propel himself in the air, and then drop like a bomb onto his foes.  It requires a bit of finger gymnastics to pull off, but the hope is that it’s leaning into the “easy to pick up, difficult to master” angle I like.  I prefer a bit of complexity to my games, and Crimson Desert has that.  Time will tell when we get our hands on the game again, but given the team’s work on Black Desert and now Crimson Desert, I have no doubt it’ll be well-polished by launch.  

It turns out, I’d need those skills for the first sub-boss I faced.  Utilizing a frame covered with thick metal shields, this guy prevented any and all damage by effectively building an impenetrable flame tank.  To take him out, I needed to use magic to propel myself into the air and either glide or air-drop onto the top.  I’m certain there are other ways to tackle this boss, but this was the most efficient for the time that I had. 

As we progressed through the area, I finally reached a castle.  Using a grappling hook, I was able to ascend the wall and make my way to the throne room.  It’s here that I’d face my first real test – Cassius Morten himself.  This heavily armored knight carries a shield and massive sword, doing tremendous damage with a charge attack or sword swing.  Baiting the beast into charging into nearby pillars, I saw my opportunity.  Using the same magic I used to raise the banners earlier, I hoisted up the pillar, gripped it tightly, and then swung it into the beast’s head to great effect.  I suspect every boss will have a similar system where you could beat them the old fashioned way, but if you figure out how to exploit their weaknesses you’ll take them down quickly. 

Defeating Morten may have capped off my time with the game at SGF, but one thing was very clear – I am ready to dive into this game head first and discover all it has to offer.  A gorgeous and fully-realized world that offers mysteries around every corner sounds precisely like my kind of game.  Undoubtedly, I’ve only scratched the surface, but thankfully we won’t have to wait too much longer.  Crimson Desert is finally coming our way in fall of 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.  

Stay tuned for more on Crimson Desert and much more right here at GamingTrend.com.