Crimson Desert is a Witcher-esque epic that won’t hold your hand – Gamescom preview

I spent an hour with Crimson Desert, the long-awaited open-world action-adventure from Pearl Abyss, and it left a strong impression.

You play as Kliff, a gruff Scottish warrior with near-superhuman strength. His gravelly voice immediately reminded me of Gerard Butler, and in battle I was cutting down waves of enemies by the hundred, thanks to his superhuman abilities.

I was immediately on the battlefield after the tutorial, completing a few menial tasks to boost morale of my allied soldiers, and I could handily deal with the average enemy without any fear of serious injury. The boss fight I encountered was chaotic but fun, even if I ended up button-mashing my way through much of it.

Detailed open-world that demands your attention

The area of Pywel I explored was reminiscent of Velen from The Witcher 3: a bleak, rugged land that feels alive. It’s graphically impressive and pleasant to look at, although I can’t say the visuals blew me away, they simply meet the standard you would expect.

Combat, however, was a lot to take in. With so many weapon options, Spirit abilities, and mechanics to manage, I did feel slightly overwhelmed during the demo. I spent nearly as much time wrestling with tutorials as I did in the boss fight, though with more hours invested, I don’t doubt it would become a deep and rewarding system.

While up-close-and-personal fighting is the focus – and you can do a lot of ability combinations for powerful attacks – I actually found myself using the bow a lot. One arrow type allows you to call in a near-instant air strike on its target, which was great fun for blasting big groups of enemies. I corralled them together in a choke-point like something from CoD Zombies, before firing a few of these artillery-strike arrows on top of them.

As for horse riding, which will presumably be a mode of transport you rely upon a lot, it felt clunky and less satisfying than the combat, at least in the build I played. I hope this can be fine-tuned.

Crimson Desert promises a vast saga centered on Kliff and the Greymanes he leads, and I hope it delivers on spectacle and scale. The challenge for some will be whether its depth in combat is fun or overwhelming, but those who put the time in should be rewarded.