Crimson Desert Sekiro and Shadow of the Colossus rolled into one ARPG

Summary

• Crimson Desert features eclectic and varied boss designs that are fun with their unpredictability.
• The game has a number of inspirations, each of which stands out for its solid execution.
• The upcoming action RPG from Pearl Abyss has the potential to be a huge hit, but its non-boss aspects need more exploration.

my Red desert the experience begins at Gamescom 2023, not this year's iteration. There, I was one of the few to attend a closed-door presentation of the current build of an upcoming RPG, watching a developer navigate a bustling city. The protagonist, Cliff, a warrior in a battle-hardened suit, explores the city and unlocks a complicated chain of quests simply by donating a coin to a beggar and listening to his story. There was no significant challenge – it happened naturally after the player decided to engage.

At the time, I was obsessed with the game, wanting to see how it played after a quick look at its RPG trappings and the Reed Devil boss battle. Now at Gamescom 2024 I finally got to play for an hour Red desert in a Gamescom-specific boss rush setup that showcases four different battles. I used to be optimistic about Pearl Abyss's game – now I'm a complete believer and think it can happen the game to watch until release.

Crimson Desert's Boss Design Is On The Best Track Anywhere

Eclectic, Diverse and Incredibly Fun

During my experiments, I had to fight four bosses in an hour. Contestants were able to battle the Queen Stone Crab, White Horn, Staglord, and Reed Devil bosses to appear in the gallery above. Before that I was given a short ten minute video tutorial on the general basics Red desert combat, including magical powers, Cliff offers a variety of uses for this offering, from stunners to temporary flight, basically a web sling like Spider-Man. This is a game that doesn't shy away from anything it thinks can be beautiful.

Even the training battle I played before I was thrown into the deep end with a horde of monsters trying to kill me was reminiscent of another game – this time Dark Soulsbut still in the middle of the early level where there are many opportunities to die. There was a group of lunatics who were happy to try and take Cliff's head, and it took everything I knew from the previous demo video to survive in an exciting but desperate battle situation. The stage was set for what could be a great Soulslike, and Staglord delivers on that potential.

My fight with Staglord was in an arena of fallen warriors killed by the boss and I died within a minute. He hit like a truck and slammed me into the wall with bone-crushing force before I could even reach my stools, and even after I learned the flow of his attack patterns and landed him, he shook it, growing another health bar and taking a slightly different swing at me. It was fun and never unfair, and one of the most memorable moments was realizing that I could pick up any of the weapons scattered across the bloody battlefield and use it to defeat Staglord.

This is where my next fight really happened
Red desert
something really special – the Reed Devil.

This is where my next fight really happened Red desert something really special – the Reed Devil. Not only did this boss have the most interesting story presence, taking on the role of an unwanted bastard child who eventually became disgustingly immoral, but the impression was more than that. Sekiro from Spirits. Of course, there is a gap between these games – but this combat felt more like running and running in tandem, and the speed of combat increased significantly. This is where I also have to use ranged combat with explosive arrows to destroy immortality totems, and I'm sure it all sounds like a lot, but in practice it comes together perfectly.

The Reed Devil didn't get off easy, but neither did his successor in my game, the White Horn. I got a bit more story input here, fighting some thugs in a wintry mountain setting as they asked me not to disrupt their visceral ritual of seemingly sacrificing children. The last thug standing ran through the cinema showing the monstrous White Horn standing behind me, furious at my intervention and ready to take Cliff's head.

And claimed Cliff's head. Many times. It was a slightly more tangible battle Monster Hunter His inspiration or battle of action Final Fantasy XVI with speed he slowly chipped away at his weak points, it was easy enough to intuit while focusing – punishing lung grabs with fire (duh) and runs that put Cliff on his back. The White Horn descended slowly, steadily, not to mention summoning a swirling blizzard to hide inside Cliff or trap him in the ice, and then launch at him in a daze, not to mention a scream that would knock Cliff off balance. enough to stagger him and punish players who aren't ready to block.

Finally feeling good and about to take down all four bosses in an hour – something Pearl Abyss warned us about early on might not be possible – I went into the Queen Stone Crab boss fight and was humbled. It wasn't like that at all that the intensity of the combat part, though not the danger. Still, it was a nice tribute Shadow of the Colossus inspired boss design and captivating even in its methodical pace.

Crimson Desert features a hot-swap system that allows Cliff to change which abilities are attached to his commands and which weapons or arrows he uses mid-battle, allowing for different combinations for the stages of boss battles.

What really made this fight difficult was how much it tested your skill Red desert's myriad of combat systems wasn't something I had, given the brief.. To defeat the dagger, Cliff had to jump, then launch himself further forward with his magic, then land on it by swinging around the magic vase above his head with a spider web. It was a combination of triggers and timing that even with ten minutes left on the clock, I couldn't land in time to finish the fight. Better luck next year I guess, but hopefully it won't be too long before I try some Red desert again.

Crimson Desert Could Be The Next Massive Action-RPG

We've yet to see what's out there beyond the bosses, though

To say I'm excited Red desert is an understatement. I think it's a great thing that Pearl Abyss has put together so far, it's a chameleon of a game that doesn't sacrifice quality for too many options. However, I've only gotten hands-on with the boss battles so far and haven't had a chance to do the exploration side of the game, which looked so compelling during last year's launch. Without it, my thoughts on the game are understandably incomplete, and I can't stand to believe that it's as great a game as I thought it was. can to be

However, what is shown and played is incredible. Even retaining much of that quality in his other systems and designs would be more than enough to solidify Red desert as a game that needs to be checked out at releaseand if the level of polish it now exhibits is present in the rest of its features? Pearl Abyss could really rock the genre in spectacular fashion.