Crimson Desert soars past 150,000 Steam reviews with Very Positive rating despite story criticism
As I write this, Crimson Desert has a total of 150,814 reviews on Steam with an overall Very Positive rating. In this unstable landscape where even opt-in updates can make otherwise enthusiastic audiences turn on Slay the Spire 2, it's impressive developer Pearl Abyss has charmed its Steam players enough to keep them in good spirits even as they criticize the open-world game's story.
One positive review with 353 "helpful" ratings summarizes what seems to be Crimson Desert players' thoughts and says, "It's Ok to Love a Game and Criticize It Fairly." While Pearl Abyss' ambitious adventure starring every-yeoman Kliff is so huge, most players are barely halfway done exploring even though the game launched in March, people say Crimson Desert's narrative is not nearly as deep. Ostensibly, Kliff is a hawk-eyed adventurer trying to restore the glory of his murdered Greymane faction, but in practice, as one fan on Reddit says in a related thread, "It makes more sense if you imagine Kliff as an omniscient lobotomite that just does things because its on the left side of my screen."
Pearl Abyss might not even disagree with this characterization – the developer admitted to shareholders earlier this spring it regrets not thickening Crimson Desert's story further, but it was in a rush, and polishing gameplay was most important. Anyway, notoriously cranky Steam reviewers – who turn green at the sight of new Helldivers 2 Warbonds, and pan Cities: Skylines after 30,000 apparently excruciating hours of playtime – are fine with it, for some reason.
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One positive review with almost 120 hours on record calls Crimson Desert "generally good," but also disclaims, "each time I have to do another "follow another Wolf member, especially Yann, on horseback" so they can ***** and moan - mission...I am tempted to review bomb this."
Another similarly disgruntled positive review flippantly calls Crimson Desert "The Legend of Just Cause Redemption 2: The Wild Hunt," rates its story a "3/10," yet crowns it with a final evaluation of "Fun 11/10."
"This game has a breathtaking map that rivals skyrim, [...] the bosses are some of the worst i've seen in my 30 years of gaming," says a level-headed top negative review whose language is nearly indistinguishable from a more flattering review.
What's going on? Is Kliff sliding Steam players envelopes of silver coins for these reviews? No, I think Crimson Desert has simply captivated gamers with its clever mix of every fun game mechanic ever in history, and it delivers something for everyone – even the most difficult to please.
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Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.
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