Crimson Desert Is One of the Most Insane Open-World Games I’ve Played

I went into Crimson Desert expecting a huge open-world action game, but I didn't expect it to have this much stuff packed into it. The world of Pywel constantly gave me something new to find, fight, climb, or completely get distracted by. I spent most of my playthrough as Kliff Macduff, and honestly, that is how I preferred playing the game.

Kliff quickly became the character I was most comfortable with. His combat gives you a ridiculous amount of freedom, and once I had spent enough time learning his abilities, switching weapons, using the bow, and mixing everything together, fights started feeling really satisfying. Kliff is also the character at the center of the main story and the rebuilding of the Greymanes, so I felt much more connected to him than the other playable characters.

You do eventually get Damiane and Oongka as playable characters. I tried both of them, and they're cool in their own ways. Damiane is much quicker and has a completely different feel with her rapier and ranged weapons, while Oongka is basically the heavy hitter of the group. But even after unlocking them, I kept going back to Kliff. I had already put so much time into learning how he played that he just felt like my character.

I also liked the characters surrounding Kliff. Oongka, Yann, and Naira being part of the scattered Greymanes gave Kliff's journey an actual purpose beyond just traveling around the map doing quests. The game is massive, but having Kliff trying to reunite the Greymanes helped keep the story grounded.

The combat was probably one of my favorite parts of Crimson Desert, although there were definitely moments where I wanted to throw my controller. Thunder Tank was one of those moments.

I had a lot of trouble with the Thunder Tank boss. That thing was a pain in the ass. It's a heavily armored mechanical boss you encounter in Delesyia, and the fight took me longer than I would like to admit. There were a few bosses where I had to rethink what I was doing, but Thunder Tank is definitely one of the fights I'll remember.

At the same time, that's part of what I liked about Crimson Desert. You can go from fighting soldiers with a sword and shield to battling some ridiculous mechanical monstrosity, and somehow it all works within the same game.

But the moment that really pushed the game to another level for me was finally getting to ride a dragon.

After spending so much time exploring Pywel on the ground, getting Blackstar as Kliff's dragon mount was exactly what I had been waiting for. Blackstar eventually becomes Kliff's flying mount, and being able to take off and fly across this enormous world completely changed how the game felt.

I was seriously so happy when I finally got to ride the dragon. I already thought Crimson Desert was a great game before that point, but giving me a dragon that I could actually fly around on made it even better. There is something about looking down at this gigantic world you've spent hours traveling through and suddenly being able to fly over it on the back of Blackstar that just hits differently.

The game isn't perfect. Some fights can become frustrating, the amount of systems and activities can occasionally feel overwhelming, and there were times when I wasn't completely sure what the game wanted me to do next. But I would rather have an open-world game give me too much to do than give me a giant empty map.

By the end, Kliff, Damiane, Oongka, Yann, Naira, the Greymanes, Blackstar, and even that damn Thunder Tank had given me a lot of memorable moments. Crimson Desert feels like a game that constantly asks, "What else can we put in here?" and then actually does it.

I mostly stuck with Kliff, explored everything I could, struggled through Thunder Tank, reunited with familiar faces, fought some crazy bosses, and eventually got to fly around the world on a dragon.

What more could I really ask for?