Overall Rating: 9/10 (Played for 175+ hours)
I absolutely love this game, but the mainline story misses the mark. Here is my honest breakdown after spending a massive amount of time exploring the world:
The Good: The graphics are amazing, and the gameplay offers a great change of pace. Building your character, adventuring, and solving puzzles is highly engaging (even if the puzzles are occasionally a headache!).
The Map & Mechanics: This game easily has one of the best maps I have ever seen, with excellent use of available mechanics. I love the Abyss mechanic for enhancing weapons. The combat controls are so deep that, for the first time, I found myself using keyboard keys outside of my normal layout.
The Wyvern & Mounts: Ground mounts like my wolf and horse were my absolute lifesavers. They truly helped me explore the world on my own terms. If I had purely followed the game's script, I wouldn't have explored even half of the map and probably would have finished the whole game in 30 to 40 hours! While I appreciate the addition of the Wyvern later on, flying made me miss the grounded riding experience of my wolf. Plus, in hindsight, the Wyvern lacks any supportive damage to help you against enemies.
Critical Issue: Boss Fight Immersion & Pacing
The boss fights are a massive, critical part of this game, and it takes serious time to learn and adapt to their mechanics. However, they suffer from a weird pacing issue that breaks immersion. During a fight, it feels like the boss stops to "pick up" its next move from a script—almost like a robotic "Click: Move 1, 2, 3, 4... Stop... Click: Pick next move" sequence. This stops Act 1 of the battle cold. I would love it if the AI seamlessly automated the boss's actions without these unnatural pauses, letting the moves flow into each other natively to make fights feel chaotic, alive, and immersive.
Where it Needs Improvement: The Storyline & Pacing
The main quest—especially the Crimson Desert storyline which the game is literally named after—is just not involving enough. The script needs to be reworked to force players to actually spend time in the zones the game is based around. Out of my 175 hours, I spent over 100 hours in Hernand just learning the game, and another 40 hours in Pailune thinking about rebuilding it. Because the main story doesn't naturally route you through the later zones, I just skimmed through Delysia and the Crimson Desert, and I haven't even touched Varnia yet. Bounties and red blockaded regions aren't enough motivation to travel thousands of meters.
The Inventory Management Nightmare
Because I choose to fully immerse myself and do not use the teleport mechanic, inventory management is a massive chore. Your inventory stays trapped wherever you leave it. It becomes incredibly frustrating to be out adventuring in Delysia, only to realize the items you desperately need are sitting in storage all the way back at Howling Hill. The game needs a better local trade or shared banking feature for players who prefer to travel by foot and mount.
Final Thoughts:
It feels disheartening to reach the end and realize the game didn't naturally take me through its most beautiful landscapes to hunt for treasures. The map is a masterpiece, but the story needs to do a better job of pulling the player through it.
