At Summer Games Fest Play Days, I was able to get a hands-on experience with Crimson Desert. I experienced part of a story chapter from the game, which is something new for previews of this game. Most hands-on previews of the game, before play days, featured boss fights or standard combat. This time, I was able to get immersed in the world that Crimson Desert will be a part of.
The Start
You are in the shoes of Kliff, who has just had a massive loss in an ambush with his soldiers, who are the Greymanes. After this loss, it is up to Kliff to find the scattered remnants of the Greymanes. He gets word of Oongka, a man from his group who is now in the middle of a rebellion. It is now up to you as Kliff to make it to the siege that is ongoing and find Oongka.
I talked to an NPC in a town who asked for my aid in this rebellion, and Kliff agrees. Kliff makes his way to his first destination, a hill with a pedestal and a fallen flag. You use the Thumbstick buttons to aim at the flag, and then you can lift it with stasis powers onto Kliff’s back, and he then sets the flag down into the pedestal. After the flag is down, you are asked to help repair an artillery cannon that you can use to destroy the three scout towers right next to you.
Kliff gets to lead a charge farther down with the men, and you need to race to destroy more scout towers with the newly acquired artillery arrows. If you shoot an artillery arrow, it sends a whistle that indicates to your army to use the cannons in that location. It is helpful for getting rid of the enemy armies and the other scout towers you find in the area.
Once the scout towers are down and your forces have their morale up, you can lead a charge to the castle where you meet Oongka and the army general together, fighting. You join Oongka and then depart to beat the main enemy general who is waiting for you in the throne room.
Combat In Crimson Desert
You have a variety of ways to perform combat in Crimson Desert. You can use your sword and shield paired together to take on enemies, you can also combine magical elements with your body to defeat opponents, or even using the terrain around you. There are spike walls, trees, rocks, and even cliffsides at your disposal. You can grab an enemy and chuck them into terrain, or even at other enemies. You can also use grapple attacks or combine your grapple attacks with your sword to stab them on the ground or even to propel yourself further in the air and unleash a massive Area of Effect attack on the forces below you. Once you get into feeling the combat system out, you have a lot of creativity in how you tackle the opposition. You can even use your magic sense to grapple trees and swing around to other areas or even attack enemies in the air while slinging yourself around. It has a lot of mobility, which is heavily incentivised due to the sheer volume of enemies trying to kill you in this section of the game. You can roll and if you have spirit force left, you can stop time during a roll to aim your arrows at enemies or one of my favorite things, shoot an artillery arrow at the ground and roll away as your enemies try to follow you just to get hit by a giant explosion of artillery cannons.
This is one of the best feeling war-type sections in any game I have ever played. There is chaos all around you and due to the dynamic engine this game is made in, anything is possible. Each tree has physics, and if it gets hit by a sword or a cannon, it will fall, which can crush you or your enemies. Buildings have physics, and when they get hit will explode realistically. Even though there is all this chaos and spectacle, I wasn’t frustrated with the size or scope. This is actually saying a lot when you take a look at the scale of this map and how you get from place to place. I only played the game for an hour, but that hour let you feel like you are in the middle of a warzone and helped end it with the giant rebellion.
The boss fight has you attack the foe normally as you whittle down his Guard bar. Once his guard is down, he will become vulnerable, and you can attack him with any number of weapons. I noticed early on that you can do some damage with your swords and spells, but the best way to dish out serious damage is to pick up the columns of the throne room and slam them on top of him with your spirit focus ability. After a few hits, he was down for the count, though his final 25% of his health made him begin his rage berserker form, and he had enhanced speed and damage. I used lightning to electrocute the water under his feet a few times to stun him and then dish out a few combos to finally finish the last guard. I then just needed to hit him once with my sword to end the encounter.
Verdict
I was told this wasn’t how the entirety of the game would be since this was a war chapter, so not to expect chaos. Though this chaotic chapter highlighted the strengths of the team’s dynamic engine and how it utilizes physics for its benefit.
Crimson Desert will release late 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Mac.
