In my personal coverage finale for SGF 2025, I’d like to dive into the most ambitious title I got hands-on time with. Crimson Desert is an action-focused RPG from Pearl Abyss, makers of Black Desert Online. Crazy combat, gorgeous visuals on an in-house engine, and a variety of movement options had me floored after an hour with the title.
Summer Game Fest 2025 went by in a blur. I can barely recall most of what I did and saw. Crimson Desert is one of the few things that seared its way into my brain and hasn’t left. I got to play a PC build, using a DualSense controller, for a full hour. I chopped up dozens of soldiers, smashed a boss with a giant stone pillar, and grapple-hooked my way into cape flying in one of the most enjoyable experiences of the show.
Our demo started roughly 20 or so hours deep into the game. Our main character was powerful, with a huge swath of combat and traversal options. The fighting in the game feels closer to a superhero-powered action platformer. Everything can be comboed together in a physics sandbox the likes of which few games have achieved. Think of a mature Breath of the Wild with far deeper systems.
Combat was never flat, as I learned the moves and began using different combos of them together, I felt like a God. Whether it was slashing, smashing, throwing, or shooting, I could flow from one move to another seamlessly. My favorite power was a huge green palm thrust that I could aim at the ground three times in a row to propel myself up in the air. I would then dive kick down into the ground before palm thrusting back up 20 feet and slamming down with a massive green fist into the ground.
I only got a minute or so of B-roll from the team, so I’ll keep this short. There are tons of systems in the game, and the parts I got to play felt like the RPG of my dreams. The story, voice acting, and music were solid. As you moved from area to area you had choices like running (chump move), a horse (solid choice), or using a mix of your grappling hook and cape to fly (king shit).
I’m not sure how long it will take to have all of these moves available. As our demoist said, we were roughly 20 to 25 hours deep into the game for our demo session. The two sections I completed were dominating a battlefield with enormous AOE attacks as I helped my friendly kingdom allies. The second section saw us go a bit deeper as we did a counterattack to kill some traitors.
The siege section ended with a boss fight that saw me using my magic powers to pick up a thousand-ton, thirty-foot-tall stone pillar three times and smash it into the boss’s head. The free-flowing combat that was full of parries, blocks, dodges, jumps, and more focuses on letting you use the insanely cool moves that you want, when you want, chained together for devastating results. The boss fight was slower, with more of a focus on avoiding damage and figuring out his weakness.
Crimson Desert is aiming to release later this year, though no date has been confirmed. Keep an eye out for this one as I will 100% be reviewing it when it does launch, because the hour I got to play it was flipping fantastic.
Sounds like your really enjoyed playing it, can’t wait for the release date!