Crimson Desert: The Final Preview

Every once in a while, a particularly ambitious game comes along and immediately hooks the audience. In Crimson Desert’s case, showing a grand-scale world that recalls elements of Breath of the Wild and The Witcher 3 quickly garnered a mystique for its ridiculously over-the-top ambitions for a new open-world action game. However, since its reveal back in 2019, it’s taken a long time to get a clearer picture of how the ambitions driving Crimson Desert have taken shape. And now, in 2026, it’s garnered some healthy skepticism, leading many to feel it might be one of those games that’s just too good to be true.

Thankfully, with the now-firm March 19 release date fast approaching, I got some extended hands-on time with developer Pearl Abyss’ large-scale single-player action game. After diving into the opening hours of this grand-scale, sword-and-sorcery adventure, I got to see just how detailed and vast the world of Crimson Desert is in real-time, and what sorts of oddball quests and brutal combat encounters are to come in protagonist Kliff’s adventures across Pywel.

Crimson Desert focuses on the story of wandering warrior Kliff, a member of the Greymane faction that seeks to keep the continent of Pywell safe during harsh times. But after a ruthless warlord decimates much of his crew, Kliff himself is seemingly killed in battle, but he’s soon resurrected by mysterious new allies that come from the sky realm known as the Abyss. Now tasked with rebuilding the Greymanes, he’ll recruit new and returning members to his cause, push the limits of his newfound powers, and directly confront a civil war and a malevolent force that’s threatening the balance of the world.

Originally planned as a direct prequel to the MMORPG Black Desert Online, Crimson Desert is now a stand-alone adventure set in the same universe. Even without knowing the lore of Black Desert Online, Crimson Desert keeps connections light aside from the similar high-fantasy setting and occasional references. It totally throws itself into the style of a western high-fantasy epic, but with the added energy of an eastern-style action game in the vein of Final Fantasy. The opening chapters of Crimson Desert do well to introduce Kliff as a rugged and stoic hero who can easily cut down enemies in his path, but is also willing to lend a helping hand to the citizens across the land.

Though much of the footage we’ve seen showcased the grand spectacle and ludicrous action in Crimson Desert, my hands-on time largely focused on the more laid-back tutorial set in the Hernand region of Pywel. I had played Crimson Desert three times before this extended hands-on, all of which focused on isolated boss battles and spectacle combat. But with this tutorial setting the tone for the pacing and storytelling, I’ve now got a much better idea of the larger structure of this open-world adventure.

While Crimson Desert has gotten a ton of comparisons to The Legend of Zelda, The Witcher, and even Dragon’s Dogma – one game that really came to mind during my hands-on was Red Dead Redemption 2. Despite what we’ve seen before about how fast you navigate the massive world, at ground level, there’s a surprising focus on navigating its densely populated areas with care and attention. I spent a lot of time just wandering the back alleys, interacting with people going about their day, finding new shops and cooking recipes, and even uncovering optional activities that do a good job of making the world feel bustling and lived in.

Some of my favorite moments from the opening hours came from seeing what sorts of sidequests the townsfolk would pull me into. In one instance, I encountered a man who fell from his roof and needed help with cleaning his chimney – and that’s exactly what I ended up doing for this sidequest. I actually climbed up to the roof, positioned myself on top of the chimney, and used my newly acquired broom to clear out the gunk to help the husband save the house.

Despite the tone and action being serious, I was pleased to see how much humour and quirkiness were packed into Crimson Desert’s opening hours. There are plenty of enemy bases to topple, but I also spent some time playing some back-alley games of rock, paper, scissors with the local ruffians. There’s even a quest that had me rescue an abducted sheep to cheer up an upset child – and seeing a very serious Kliff engage in such activities was more amusing than I expected.

Kliff begins his journey with a fairly modest skill set and knowledge of the world, and, as in traditional open-world action games, the larger pull of Crimson Desert will be to expand his abilities and insight. When you pick up quest information, recipes, and even bounty notices for roaming targets, Kliff will expand his knowledge and fill out his records of all the wildlife, characters, and important events of the world. I was impressed to see how much was packed into this comparatively modest section of the massive game world – seriously, just looking at the map had me taken aback by just how large Pywel was.

It was interesting to take in Crimson Desert’s pacing, and its deliberately detailed approach to navigating and interacting with the world initially took some time to get used to. Even as a tutorial, I was surprised to see how much time is spent on getting players to really take in the many features and opportunities to find. Granted, it is very much in the vein of Red Dead Redemption 2’s movement and interaction, but I admittedly felt overwhelmed by just how much you can interact with. You can actually go up to nearly all citizens to greet them, or even rob them – provided you have a mask to disguise yourself.

Despite the range of activities, Crimson Desert is also a combat-heavy game – and even with Kliff’s limited skills, the battles you can get into are quite brutal to see unfold. Initially, I started brawling with bandits and goblins around the city. Still, eventually things took a turn when rival knights and other faction leaders started looking to get a piece of Kliff. The mini-boss battle against Matthias was a particularly thrilling fight, and even as one of the early encounters, it did a good job of showing how visceral the battles can get.

Eventually, Kliff will make trips to the mythical Abyss realm, where I navigated a series of floating ruins far in the sky. Stepping into these visually stunning environments was one of my favorite moments from my hands-on time, and it also gave me a jaw-dropping view of the world’s vast landscape. These are also segments that introduce the new Abyss powers in some puzzle-platforming challenges. These magic powers elevate Kliff’s combat and traversal skills to use his force-style powers to manipulate objects, and use a force jump ability to propel him off the ground. Eventually, I was granted the ability to glide, and I took it out for a spin by skydiving back towards the ground. It’s a fun ability to use, but it definitely takes a ton of stamina to get the most out of it.

Throughout the game, Kliff will acquire Abyss catalysts, which will serve as skill points to upgrade stats and unlock new abilities. These upgrades include improved jumping and more combat skills, such as a suplex and more advanced sword strikes. In addition to exploring towns and the surrounding wilderness, I also got to see the early goings of the Greymane faction system, which focuses on building up crew, sending them on missions, and gaining new resources. Though I wasn’t able to see it evolve much, it was impressive to see that it’s actually a full-fledged management system that will continue to grow as you explore the world.

I really enjoyed the flow and action in Crimson Desert, and completing the tutorial was a solid onboarding to the larger adventure ahead. Based on my previous hands-on time, Crimson Desert currently feels much more intuitive and less complicated with its controls. Still, it had the recurring issue of being too complicated for its own good, with its systems trying to cram actions and features into a fairly limited set of sub-menus and combinations. For instance, you’ll often have to manually equip key items and gear to activate some prompts, which can feel cumbersome. This all ties back into the attempts to make players feel like they’re having a more tangible connection to the world, but it can often feel too overcomplicated for its own good.

Along with the opening chapters, I also got a chance to get another look at the midgame of Crimson Desert, which saw a powered-up Kliff take on new enemies and a more powerful boss that matches up to his souped up skills. Moreover, Crimson Desert also includes new party members that can be swapped in if you want to try a different combat style. While Kliff is still the central protagonist, playing as the tanky berserker Oongka or the nimble and fierce Damaine offers up some fun alternatives to Kliff’s playstyle. It does well to showcase the variety within Crimson Desert and how the game will ramp up with more zany encounters that blur the lines between a high-fantasy adventure and steampunk fantasy.

Even with this lengthy hands-on time, I was still only scratching the surface of the larger adventures to be had in Crimson Desert. There have been many games in the past that try to go for large open-world settings, but don’t often really justify the need to go big and bold. But I was honestly quite impressed to see that Crimson Desert is not only presenting a case for its take on an open-world action-adventure game, but is also having fun with the concept by pushing its attention to detail and just how much there is to unpack within the sprawling world.

So far, Crimson Desert is showing a lot of promise. It’s certainly been on the minds of many for several years now, which has invited a host of comparisons with other large-scale games. But my extended hands-on time has made me feel optimistic and intrigued by the game’s maximalist action style. And that’s gotten me plenty interested in seeing if the full game can deliver on reaching the same highs as other genre greats.