Crimson Desert Hands-On First Impressions - Witcher 3 Meets Games of Thrones with WWE Moves

[@Regneva]

Personally, i think this game looks incredible. Combat looks extremely enjoyable, and the world seems very vast and dynamic. I could care less for character creation. Im all for a central character, especially one that already looks bad ass and rugged imo.

[@JamesNalacar]

Fully agreed, and if they have skilled writers they can give him an interesting and complex personality with an intriguing past story. There are alot of awesome possibilities with a central, pre determined character such as Kliff in this game and Geralt in the witcher 3. Geralt had interesting dialogue, a good personality and an intriguing past which led to the game's success and good reception. The same can definitely be the case with crimson desert

[@PlayerSlotAvailable]

*Clearing up some Misconceptions.* *-Multiplayer:* There is no multiplayer component to the game on launch. They have said they might consider it after the launch. *-Character creation:* There is no character creation. You play as Kliff Macduff. *-Black Desert:* it is not related to Black desert at all anymore. It is not set in the same universe. It was, but not anymore. *-Console exclusivity:* As of 8th of August, there has not been any console exclusivity deals made. *-Microtransactions:* While there may be microtransaction, the game is *not* sold as a live service title. It is a singleplayer game sold at full price. *-Game engine:* It is not using the same engine as Black Desert. It runs on the Black space engine, same as the in development DokeV. *-Release date:* I said (on reddit) that I assume Q1 2025, and people just went with it and now a lot of people are claiming it as a fact. There is also a statement from an investor who assume a Q2 2025 release date. Both of these are assumptions, do not take them as facts. *-Where is the desert?:* They have not show many deserts in this desert game.

[@emti29]

so not a prequel anymore?

[@TheWerelf]

Wait, no waifu creator?

[@Beltorchika12]

Wait, no desert?

[@JamesNalacar]

We can actually see a desert in some trailer shots and wallpapers they released on their site lol

[@PlayerSlotAvailable]

@@JamesNalacar Yes, that is why I said there is a big lack of deserts, not that there are no deserts. Most promotional material both screenshots and video show mediterranian or alpine vistas. Perhaps I could have worded it better.

[@reinhard98]

This game is a action adventure game with some rpg elements, the open world for this game is huge The game should launch next year in q2

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

I guess Rurikhan never realised this but you don’t actually have to pause Skyrim and go through all the menus to use healing items, there’s a favourites system where you can quick use items. I guess it technically does still pause the game, but it’s so quick that it doesn’t feel like the game is pausing. Hopefully this game has a similar system.

[@MrRenanHappy]

You can just hotkey what you want in the favourite menu and chug a potion immediately. Regardless, most of the time you will end up pausing in Skyrim because there 8 hotkeys for you weapons, equipment, spells and potions, so it will be limited.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

@@MrRenanHappy I always kept my favorites to just a few things so it was always quick. Most of the time I’d usually just have a secondary weapon and healing items. If I did use spells I’d usually just focus on a few so it was never a problem.

[@Revonlieke]

@@BasketCase-rr7tx Nah, the favorite system did not work in the OG version of the game, if you ran out of the potions you had to re-favorite everything because the item ID changed. And at times it even changed the order of the favorited items so they didn't always stay in the same place. So it was generally just way easier to pause the game rther than mess with the wonky favorite system. Had there just been 1 healing potion it probably would have worked, but theres so many different variations of healing potions that it just broke everything all the time.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

@@Revonlieke I don’t really remember that, was that issue just specific to one version of the game or somthing? Seemed to always work for me on Xbox 360.

[@Revonlieke]

@@BasketCase-rr7tx Yea console most likely had a way different control scheme.

[@thealgerian3285]

Didn't think much of it when it was announced, but it looks really promising. 0:56 lmao, I thought this was just a placeholder flyer but he's really gonna get a sheep for someone.

[@Marvelous_Jared]

Game looks really cool. I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on it.

[@Rahul_2456]

You can always turn down particles to low in settings

[@LovelessGentleman]

What about for consoles?

[@Rahul_2456]

@@LovelessGentleman tough

[@rasluffi]

@@LovelessGentleman they'll turn it all down for you

[@MySplatterhouse]

Im super happy that rhese games are finally dropping if not close to release!!! Stellar Blade, Black Myth, Ctimson Desert, now if onlybwe can get an update on Resistor. 👍🏿👍🏿

[@Jr_TopG]

If his health bar is the red bar around the minimap, you dont have to pause the game to heal, he healed himself from the item wheel at 15:34

[@frankythomas1032]

@@Jr_TopG Yup, I zoomed in and it’s Meat on Toast that heals his health

[@Jr_TopG]

You dont need to pause to heal 15:34 he healed from the item wheel

[@GreenOfFields]

Elden Dogma: Tears of the Witcher Also your description of the stone crab fight reminded me of the damn speed booster puzzles from Metroid Dread, button dexterity hell.

[@seanc6754]

I've been waiting for this game for years.. I'm glad some people got to play it.. hopefully we will get it by end of next year

[@brantrutland1979]

You had me at Witcher 3 and also in depth combat system

[@RamblePak64]

Regarding healing, from watching the boss combat trailers I was under the impression that the green leaves in the lower-left, beside what I presume is the health bar (which is beside the mini-map), was an Estus-style healing item that recharges during combat. Was this not the case? I also saw the particle-effect icon on bosses on occasion in that leaf-shape, but whatever window it is intended for is very brief. Still, I was under the impression that was your primary emergency healing and the healing in the menu was for perhaps major healing. The crab fight was, admittedly, the one boss fight that seemed the least exciting compared to the other boss fights due to how particular it was. But, it was clear that each boss fight was trying to be unique. Based on the trailers, I imagine the open-world is smaller than it seems at first, as all footage was focused on a singular valley, it seemed. Then again, could have an Elden Ring "all we saw was Limgrave" situation.

[@JamesNalacar]

I think it was rather refreshing to see that crab boss in the footage because like the fact that this particular boss is a heavy, large boss and thus requires maneuvering and acrobatics in order to beat it instead of just sword melee strikes which tend to get tedious when fighting big enemies such as this. I, for one, would actually love it if they took this kind of direction with more large bosses in the game. If I may ask why didn't you like it though?

[@RamblePak64]

@@JamesNalacar I don't disagree with you. As I said, it was "least exciting", but that does not imply a lack of excitement. However, watching the footage, it looked like there were a lot of things in the fight that could become annoying if you didn't do it 100% correctly. That's what I meant by particular. I do think having to find alternate methods of defeating a large boss than hacking at its ankles is a good idea, but I'm just worried the execution for the crab boss will be more irritating than engaging. But, we still don't even know when this game aims to release, so there could be polish to be made, or other creative boss fights could be implemented in ways that feel better. Either way, each video they release gets me more and more excited.

[@Jr_TopG]

15:34 he healed from the weapon wheel not pausing

[@Mecha_Gear]

I loved BD when it was released. Not so much what it had become later. CD carries all the vibes from the good times.

[@frizen9328]

Gameplay looks awesome, seems like they gave the character all the sauce.

[@AscendantStoic]

3:37 That sounded more like Dragon's Dogma than any of the games mentioned 😅

[@emti29]

more like black desert online, it will have inputs to perform certain moves and combos just like in BDO

[@AscendantStoic]

@emti29 I meant the description "It's a combat focused open world RPG with surprisingly great combat and the ability to recruit generic companion NPCs" .. that's Dragon's Dogma to a T

[@Oryyyt]

​@@AscendantStoicSounds better that DD though. Not just climbing monsters but structures as well ala AC. And if there's anything I've learned from playing Black Desert it's that the world is densely packed to the brim. The sheer amount of npcs you can interact with, the lifeskills, housing, trading, horse breeding etc. It's so massive that the whole of DD prolly isn't even a quarter of the stuff you have in BDO. If only it was optimized well and a bit more casual friendly.

[@Brendangotgudgaming]

I think the gameplay looks like dd2 and combat ive been saying that for awhile coukd be wrong but that's what I got from it

[@AKS-666]

Of combat is like BDO it’s bad. A shame.

[@Jambunctious]

Looks great to me, the worst part of the particle effects is the KZbin compression

[@tejasshastha5457]

I always wondered why they chose to make a single player game instead of another live service. I mean I definitely prefer the former, but the latter is bound to be more profitable from their perspective. Also, I was told to praise the sun! ☀️

[@James-rp4gq]

The particles is the main reason I’m considering buying this 😂

[@DeloreanZoco]

seems cool!

[@tygravius5]

The screen shake. That's what gets me. Partical effects can definitely be turned down a bit but the screen shake needs to go. Hopefully you'll be able to turn off.

[@ludicrousswirl4364]

@@tygravius5 it’ll be adjustable

[@barsham7881]

Have yet to meet a game that dosnt let you turn off screen shake as some people get motion sickness from them

[@TheSwoon69]

read this before watching, and was like i bet its like normal where it isnt that bad but i just turn it off any ways. 30 seconds in and i feel like im going to puke from how strong the screen shake is lol.

[@ess99_]

​@@barsham7881 No Mans Sky didn't have that option for 7 years.... Was a massive deal breaker for me

[@bunchacolors1501]

Not just screen shake. The camera seemingly always sways, and gets more intense during action

[@reinhard98]

You can turn off the efects just like in black desert

[@avelinogonzalez7157]

looks cool. any other classes? like rogue or mage?

[@majorlouis956]

Dude this combat wipes the floor to the new elder scrolls 6 and skyrim, seen some play footage on Dark ###

[@LunarValkyria]

hey Ruri have you heard about or plan to talk about Itsuno leaving capcom?

[@blueboykc1]

So I’ve been excited for this for years, years. I’m glad you enjoyed it, makes me feel better about it. That other guy with the roaches didn’t like it very much..

[@sifu.2264]

was there like a skilltree to upgrade your character and we have seen multiple characters so are they playable

[@chunchoe]

will we only be able to use sword and shield or will there be more weapons?

[@Rballerz]

@@chunchoe I’ve heard you can you use different weapons

[@cqng341]

wow.. cool - I was totally discounted this game as another nice looking, boring gameplay game. Now I'm interested :)

[@LJSheffRBLX]

Rurikhan, great video keep up the good content

[@OrangeTrailBlazer]

So I see the cons you’ve brought up about pausing and stuff, but my counter point is Breath of the Wild and the Witcher 3. Both of those games had similar mechanics the only game that didn’t was Elden Ring and that was a souls game.

[@kitano8025]

My only worry is that they're focusing too much on gameplay mechanics instead of the world and sidequests. The Witcher 3 is my favorite game and while the gameplay is pretty simple, those 2 things make up for it and keeps me engaged at all times. This game seems like a mix of GoT and Witcher which has me very interested so I hope they don't fumble those areas.

[@JamesNalacar]

True indeed, if the devs don't create a believable, interesting and complex open world with different characters, in depth storylines even in side quests and good exploration then this good combat will sadly just go to waste. I really hope they nail the open world aspect. Would be really cool if they have political strifes and plots etc same as how the witcher 3 and GOT showed.

[@mohamadabdulla3732]

I really like this game

[@Jakesmith943]

Special Abilities are activated by button mashing. So instead of holding down RB and pressing ABXY , you need to do A-A-B or B-A-A to activate your abilities. Because of this, I know it's going to be a buy on deep sale for me since I just can't handle a high action per minute game like this. Reviewers should make sure players understand this, as it will be 90% of your combat. UPDATE: I was wrong here, it isn't multiple button presses, it is holding two buttons at the same time.

[@AKS-666]

If it’s like this it would be… bad.

[@rurikhan]

That’s not what I experienced, at all. Special attacks were actually hold down two buttons, like circle + triangle

[@Largentina.]

As someone that got to see this game first hand, that is not remotely true at all. I recommend doing some research before speaking, unless of course you prefer to come off as ignorant.

[@Jakesmith943]

@@Largentina. Yes, I was wrong about this. It isn't multi button presses, it is holding two buttons at the same time.

[@zaytowven1]

This might sound crazy but i get Runescape vibes lol

[@lewisphillips7223]

*Where is the greatsword?*

[@nixion28q]

Is there stealth in the game

[@TheWerelf]

I'm glad you mentioned particle effects! They're terrible. Unrealistic and distracting. I felt the same way about forspoken partcile effects, and to a lesser extent lords of the fallen

[@sasukeraikoh]

It looks good, but so much motion blur ! I get that it was to give some kind of style for impact and stuff, but it's a bit too much.

[@lee32uk]

You can disable motion blur in the majority of games. I always turn it off.

[@Saiyamurai]

Game looks awesome, looks like those skyrim 500 mods 4k vids lol But ive noticed anytime you recieve a hit, specially with heavy attacks theres a lot of sliding back.

[@Taurusus]

Yeah irritating amount of movement in the combat, all the dodge rolling and dashing, not loving that.

[@deviantarsenal]

I agree that the particle effects need to be toned down a bit. It's definitely too much in the snowy area. The game looks excellent though.

[@joselocombi6127]

This looks like an Aragon simulator 😆

[@DenDGLegionhardhouse]

Gamers for years: "we want a game thats open world, plays like ac & the witcher 3 got some elements of red dead 2, Minecraft, Doom, little Tina wonderland,..." Pearl Abyss: "hold my beer"

[@Largentina.]

@@DenDGLegionhardhouse What is like Doom in this game?

[@DenDGLegionhardhouse]

​@@Largentina.Just a saying since so many devs try to combine many succesful titles into one. But this one looks amazing doing it all

[@kenshin391]

This is how John Snow should’ve fought the Night King.

[@MrRenanHappy]

This game looks what modded Skyrim wishes it could be. I just wish they could reduce the amount of particle effects, there is too much crap on the screen just like you said.

[@Tommy-sx9kg]

Yeah, those particle effects are all over games now. Especially in Unreal Engine stuff. They end up just muddying the image and tehy always stand out way too much.

[@rAtableable]

Final Fantasy 16 knows a lot about particles. xD

[@JamesNalacar]

Skyrim could've probably been like this if the modders collectively didn't aim for souls like combat in their mods lol and instead took inspiration from games like shadow of mordor

[@selfportrait8363]

Better than wu kong for me

[@Benri05]

damn that combat is basically a 1 to 1 of the warrior class in bdo lol, I'm a striker main so I'm hoping for some fist weapons.

[@SimonHendry-w5x]

Screen shake and particle effects are way to much

[@C.hrisis]

seen 2 times, already 10 👍 Someone really like this video :D I'm a bit skeptical about this game still, need to see more, early comment, so might change after video

[@magsaysay999]

BDO warrior mains will be smiling

[@Isaac-bu8hu]

"visually speaking the game isn't super impressive..." ?Sorry, but what? Man, this gen I feel like some people for some reason can't see just how good new games look and can't appreciate how hard it is to get a game to look like this at playable fps. Like, do we really need to wait for a Digital Foundry explanation?

[@Isaac-bu8hu]

Regardless, I really appreciate your coverage of the game. I haven't seen much elsewhere.

[@JamesNalacar]

I was thinking the same thing, was pretty weird hearing him say that the game doesn't look impressive visually when it's actually one of the best looking open world games I've ever seen so far. The fact that they can even deliver these kind of visuals in an open world game is crazy to say the least. Especially the wallpapers that they've uploaded on their official website they look even more visually stunning than the trailers due to the volumetric clouds and an amazing draw distance

[@dkoykoala1488]

Its so weird, like 10 games in one.

[@maikati3683]

this video insipre me to try the sword and shield

[@Revonlieke]

yea those effects are too much, while it gives the game a very cinematic look, it does distract the layer alot and I would imagine streaming the game at any decent quality would be a nightmare. So hopefully they manage a way to keep the general effects, but make them less noisy. So it isnt just small particles everywhere, but maybe a bit bigger chunks of debris and flame effects.

[@winstonsmith9452]

Only thing with Crimson Desert is that it has no Character Creator which to me is fine but ive seen that a lot of people have been wanting it, especially with the multi-player aspect to it, so im hoping that they take the feedback like the devs over at Saber Interactive making Warhammer Space Marine II, they have been taking a lot of feedback and its been doing them wonders with the community and so i hope that Pearl Abyss do the same and put in a character creator as a part of the first DLC or something, it would be a lot of work though so i doubt it but yea

[@gengiskhal2366]

Yo people want to hear about diversity who cares about game play or graphics...like WTH

[@jasonrussell1739]

I’ve noticed in the footage that there is a radial menu, and it looks like the player can heal from that. Still breaks immersion a bit, but not as bad as having to open a pause menu or similar.

[@Garflog643]

With this game being coop I don't see pausing to heal the only option there will be in the full games release.

[@PlayerSlotAvailable]

Where did you hear it was co-op? All my sources say that it will be entirely singleplayer, and they might consider adding multiplayer elements post-launch.

[@Garflog643]

@PlayerSlotAvailable it's been said since they announced it that they went from it being an mmo successor of BDO to just a single player or coop title. Unless they changed that as well but that was one of the main things that excited me was it was going to be coop but they ha e chanced this game so many times.

[@PlayerSlotAvailable]

@@Garflog643 They changed it as well. It has no co op

[@henrydrago]

There is a lot of particles, make the screen a mess to see, but combat and visuals looks awesome

[@heyimurchin6575]

Too much screen shake for my taste. And I hope we have options to remove that. Edit: i like the dynamic camera zooming in and out based on you action but the tilting feels off for me.

[@robertcespedes1671]

Hopefully we can turn that stuff off.

[@hmg5y39]

Too much snow? Too much particles? Remember The Division 1 showcase before it came out. Lots of trash, clutters, particles everywhere… people were happy. Then came launch day, lots of that was gone. People begin to hate it. Now we get what we always want and it’s a problem. Like WTF? Nothing is ever going to satisfy you people… lmao… keep it real, GTFO.

[@pencilcheck]

Particle effect is eye catching, they need it to sell the game.

[@argumentativelysound2001]

I'm getting the vibes of Witcher 3 + Assassin's Creed Valhalla (or Odyssey). Also, am I the only one bothered by the yellow square meter near the character? Also, he's sliding on his feet during fights, not moving his legs fast enough. It breaks emersion even by looking at it, everything else looks absolutely fantastic.

[@kullenmontgomery1210]

the yellow square is his stamina meter, really weird position choice tbh

[@argumentativelysound2001]

@@kullenmontgomery1210 Indeed and it's flying with him... I've never seen a stranger choice.

[@kullenmontgomery1210]

@@argumentativelysound2001 yes, the health bars are also a weird choice, I hope that this game comes out really polished, it could fill my elder scrolls 6 cravings

[@JamesNalacar]

The sliding during combat actually seems like an intentional combat design choice which, admittedly, i actually really like because it makes movement, while unrealistic, feel really fast paced and acrobati instead of a game like, say, elden ring which I love but has a grounded kind of combat. I think crimson desert devs have taken inspiration from the combat of shadow of mordor which had the same kind of combat with some sliding and acrobatic combat

[@argumentativelysound2001]

@@JamesNalacar No it doesn't, it looks very unnatural and floaty. One thing these guys can do for sure, is fantastic, immersive battle. So I won't believe that this crap is intentional until they say so themselves.

[@nicholasrova3698]

I'd much rather prefer an open world action adventure game over another damn open world RPG. I don't want to kill an enemy and see two blue items and seven green items pop out so I can decide if +3% to strength is better than +2% to intellect or whatever.

[@SilverBld]

This game gonna run at 5fps on consoles lol

[@joshuacarroll4805]

Exactly what I told my friend the other day. 😂

[@Isaac-bu8hu]

Right, idk what they're going to do. Looks like a PC first game.

[@ZEFFYRooo]

Unfortunately that's how it's going for consoles again. They'll never escape 30fps and lower 🤧

[@Gunshow0]

man, he gimps that worry about fps can stfu - it makes little to no difference sometimes.

[@SilverBld]

@Gunshow0 I'll consider that sarcasm I laughed A LOT!

[@amirhossein1817]

I am gonna remain skeptical of this game until they make an official statement regarding microtransactions

[@reinhard98]

Is a single player game, what microtransactions?

[@amirhossein1817]

​@reinhard98 So you haven't heard of MTX in single players games yet?

[@reinhard98]

@@amirhossein1817 those are very rare and useless

[@motox20]

Being able to pause during a fight and heal is crap, there's no difficulty with that. It's why fighting in the new Zelda games was so boring, I knew I could just pause the game and heal up. Actually kinda kills the interest for me. Edit: Difficulty isn't the right word, saying that it removes the threat from enemies is probably a better way of putting it.

[@themaple-man1197]

@@motox20 you could just not do it.

[@Barbarosse19]

You can heal without pausing, so you simply can avoid pausing 🤷

[@ShinRock54]

Much like Black Myth Wukong, it's very flashy but not interesting in the least. Also, the fact that they locked the character creator behind multiplayer is so stupid. I'm not interested in this main character at all. He's very plain and boring so, i was really hoping that they would let us create our own character. Especially since they're very well known for their in-depth character creator in Black Desert.

[@craigsayshello8239]

@@ShinRock54 nah if I know anything about black desert is this game will have wayyyyy more to do then wukong

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

@@craigsayshello8239 Not sure about that. Black Myth is packed full of intricate exploration and crazy secrets. It remains to be seen what they do with the open world here as they seem reluctant to show it.

[@craigsayshello8239]

@@BasketCase-rr7tx pretty sure I saw fishing which is a huge thing in bdo, besides Bmw was pretty linear with secrets and boss fights, I’m pretty sure they will have more in the game too do then just boss fights and secrets, especially if theirs some sort of co-op like side missions hunting ( like bdo hunting missions but better), I’m definitely sure theirs a crafting mechanic ect. Sure sure we don’t know much about the game just from watching trailers but as a long time bdo player and the same people that’s making it I would be stupid not to assume they’ll have lots to do. Matter of fact fuck it I’m calling it now, farming, fishing, hunting, co-op dungeons after u beat story, horse taming (which I saw in the trailer) and some new game mechanic us bdo players haven’t seen yet, if none of these things make to the game I’ll eat the hard part of my shoe laces.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

@@craigsayshello8239 Black Myth is not linear at all once you get past the first chapter. The level design is really open. There were some areas in the game where my mind was melting from all the different paths I could take.

[@craigsayshello8239]

I mean I guess 🤷🏾‍♂️ it’s a good game and I enjoyed it for what it was though but it ain’t crimson desert big