Has Red Desert's positive rating risen to 76%! Has it finally held steady this time?

Over the years, whenever I look at new action RPGs and open-world releases, I always feel a bit of that old-school gamer stubbornness. It’s like back in the day, waiting for a truly decent domestic wuxia title—knowing full well how hard the road would be, yet still hoping someone would keep that spirit alive. Although Crimson Desert isn’t a domestic game, its heavy emphasis on atmosphere and immersion in a medieval fantasy setting does, to some extent, bring back that same feeling we had when we chased xianxia stories and jianghu tales—the urge to “step into another world and live a different life.”

Let’s start with the latest numbers. As of March 25, 2026, Crimson Desert’s overall positive review rate on Steam worldwide has risen to 76%, with total reviews surpassing 71,000. The significance of that figure isn’t just that it looks good on paper—it shows the game has genuinely climbed out of its early controversies. More importantly, since March 21, positive reviews have held a clear advantage among new submissions, which suggests this recovery in reputation isn’t just a short-lived spike, but the result of player experience steadily improving.

Back to the game itself, what concerns me most actually isn’t the Western market, but the attitude of East Asian players. That region is the most demanding and the least forgiving. Now that the positive review rates in Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Japanese have all exceeded 60%, that goes beyond merely “passing”—it shows the game has managed to crack the toughest market. In particular, the Chinese region has 9,998 Simplified Chinese reviews, of which 6,042 are positive, accounting for 14% of all global reviews, making it the second-largest review region. That carries real weight.

If you look at overseas languages as well, Spanish is at 92% and German at 83%, which also shows that the global market has genuinely embraced its “medieval fantasy simulator” style. That point is actually quite important. A lot of 3A titles look impressive in terms of momentum, but in the end, they’re just flashy art direction used to bluff people; the fact that Crimson Desert has pulled its overall rating up to 76% shows it’s at least more than an empty shell. Even more interestingly, this score has already caught up with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows at 76%. For a new release that has gone through fluctuations in public reception, that means it has managed to regain its footing.

But looking at it calmly, 76% is still far from “legendary” status. It’s a recovery, not invincibility; a halt to the decline, not a rise to the top. For players still on the fence, my advice is simple: if medieval fantasy and action-adventure are already your thing, you can now put it back on your wishlist; if you’re especially sensitive to smooth performance and a polished overall experience, it’s worth waiting for the next major update. Current information also suggests that as updates arrive, there’s still room for the overall experience to become even smoother.

Beyond nostalgia, I’m actually quite willing to see a game like this win back its reputation little by little. Players aren’t incapable of forgiving—but the premise is that you have to show sincerity, patching up shortcomings move by move like practicing swordsmanship, rather than putting on an empty show and selling a dream. This time, Crimson Desert raising its score to 76% means it has cleared its most dangerous hurdle. Whether it can truly stand firm from here on out will depend on whether, after future updates, it can hold on to this upward momentum.