GamesAdventureGamescom 2024Crimson Desert feels like Dragon’s Dogma 2 combined with The Witcher 3’s lone hero action swaggerWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesAdventureGamescom 2024Crimson Desert feels like Dragon’s Dogma 2 combined with The Witcher 3’s lone hero action swaggerWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
The blood on the snow isn’t just crimson – it’s a thick, treacly black that becomes a permanent fixture as it’s smeared across my armor.Crimson Desert’s brash hero Kliff carries himself with tortured tenacity, a signature identity for all of gaming’s most memorable lone soldiers, and he has the sword skills to prove it.
A bloody good time
Gamescom 2024(Image credit: Firaxis Games)GamesRadar+ is in Cologne playing the most anticipatednew games of 2024, and speaking to the developers bringing them to life. For more of our hands-on previews and exclusive interviews, visit theGamescom 2024coverage hub.
Gamescom 2024
(Image credit: Firaxis Games)GamesRadar+ is in Cologne playing the most anticipatednew games of 2024, and speaking to the developers bringing them to life. For more of our hands-on previews and exclusive interviews, visit theGamescom 2024coverage hub.
(Image credit: Firaxis Games)
GamesRadar+ is in Cologne playing the most anticipatednew games of 2024, and speaking to the developers bringing them to life. For more of our hands-on previews and exclusive interviews, visit theGamescom 2024coverage hub.
Caught in between two warring factions, my Crimson Desert preview begins with Kliff avenging the deaths of the peaceful Greymanes at the hands of the barbaric Black Bear tribe. Going off context clues alone, his thick Scottish drawl has me picturing them as something akin to the Pict nations of Eastern and northern Scotland. In this instance, there’s a lot more steel involved.
But the hack and slash good times came to an abrupt close when I realized that this was just the introductory combat tutorial segment of my preview. I’d barely memorized the fiddly combos neatly printed on a black piece of card right in front of me before I was sent to a hub area to choose one of three brutish boss battles to attempt for the remainder of the session. I’d always considered myself more than halfway decent at third-person action games, not to toot my own horn, but Crimson Desert had more up its sleeve than justAssassin’s Creed Valhallastarring a raven-haired Geralt of Rivia instead.
This would go on to spell my doom – not once, but at least 11 consecutive times in 30 minutes. At first, I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. I was using the same combo attacks as I’d used to clear tens upon tens of Black Bear marauders just moments ago, but now I found myself in much deeper, darker waters. I dodge about the screen wildly, trying in vain to learn Staglord’s attack pattern much in the way I would a Dark Souls or Elden Ring boss. I could also have blamed it on the lack of an enemy lock-on mechanic, or the fact that the camera enjoys panning out to beautifully frustrating wide angles if you turn the right joystick just so. Excellent for photo mode, but not great when you’re trying to stay focussed on an enemy’s gnarly four-hit attack pattern – and even worse when, like me, you’re trying to work out why you’ve suddenly forgotten how to hold a PS5 controller.
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I noticed my error far too late. Remember that random sword I’d equipped earlier on? Turns out it has an attack power of about 13. The sword I was meant to be using? It has an attack power of 47.
A surge of adrenaline shoots through my veins as I barrel back toward the Staglord, and to my amazement, the small licks I get in here or there suddenly do some actual damage. I parry, riposte, deliver a heart stopping kick to the chest, and right as I’m about to finally demolish that second health bar — my screen goes dark. It’s the end of my preview session, and I’d onlyjustgotten the hang of how Crimson Desert works.
Gnarly and unforgiving as this demo was, I thoroughly enjoyed my brief hands-on with one of the most unexpectedly gory action games I’ve had the pleasure of bearing witness to. The camera controls and combos are a lot to take in sometimes, but neither makes any real dent in Crimson Desert, which is shaping up as a huge one to watch for any high fantasy open world fan. Just…don’t equip a random weapon, ok?
Crimson Desert is what action-RPGs could look like post-Elden Ring and Tears of the Kingdom.
CATEGORIESPS5Xbox Series XPC GamingPlatformsPlayStationXbox
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