Is *Crimson Desert* Still a 6 in the Final Review? This Time, It Really Isn’t Unfair

Give it a 6. Because the score sounds harsh, but after reading IGN’s final review, it’s basically not surprising.

Crimson Desert officially launched on March 20. Before release, IGN had already given it a provisional 6. A lot of people were waiting for the final version to turn things around, but when the final review arrived, it was still a 6. No change. To put it plainly, this isn’t the media deliberately nitpicking—the game itself is just stuck in that awkward middle ground.

IGN’s take on this game is actually pretty typical: it’s ambitious, full of ideas, and the world really does look good. As you wander around this open world, you’ll come across some memorable things—like weird little mini-games, or the process of clearing out bandits along the way—all of which show that it’s not just one of those lazy, cookie-cutter open-world map fillers. It really is trying to do quite a lot.

But that said, ambition has never been a get-out-of-jail-free card. Back in the PS3 era, how many games had trailers that looked like Dragon’s Dogma plus Shadow of the Colossus, only for the actual experience to feel like a mishmash of half-finished systems stitched together? Crimson Desert gives off a bit of that same old problem making a comeback: you can see the designers aiming for high scores, but when players actually pick up the controller, what they run into first usually isn’t surprise—it’s frustration.

The issues IGN pointed out are also very straightforward: dull combat encounters, puzzles that leave players completely confused, a weak story, and a large number of bugs. Seeing those points, my first reaction was: doesn’t this basically hit every area where an open-world action-adventure game absolutely cannot afford to go wrong? If the combat is boring, traveling across the map starts to feel like an extended commute; if the puzzles are baffling, the pacing falls apart immediately; and if the story can’t hold things together either, then the whole experience is reduced to “why haven’t I quit this game yet?”

What’s even more fatal is that this kind of game is most dangerous when it’s “occasionally great, but most of the time torture.” Because it keeps making you feel like maybe the next hour will be amazing, so you grit your teeth and keep going. It’s like grinding through some second-tier action games in the PS2 era—you knew the controls felt off and the camera was awkward, but you kept hoping it would suddenly click later on. In the end, the thing that clicked wasn’t the game, but the player learning how to give up.

IGN’s final point is also very clear: buried inside it is a fairly solid action-adventure core, along with some unique mechanics and interesting areas worth praising, but it’s wrapped in too much junk, and players may not find it worth investing that much energy. That line is actually pretty brutal. It’s not a death sentence—it’s telling you that yes, there are bright spots, but not enough to save it.

So is it worth buying? My advice is simple. If you especially enjoy open-world exploration and can tolerate bugs and rough systems, wait for a discount and then take a look. But if you’re already allergic to games that are “ambitious but only moderately well-executed,” then just wait and see for now. Don’t be fooled by a few pretty scenes—haven’t console players seen enough trailer bait-and-switches over the years already?

The biggest pity about Crimson Desert is not that it lacks ideas, but that it clearly got close to what could have been a great game, yet still stopped at the stage of “looks huge, feels awkward to play.” A 6 doesn’t sound good. But this time, it probably really isn’t unfair.