{"id":2241698,"date":"2026-11-06T12:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T09:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2241698"},"modified":"2026-11-06T12:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T09:32:20","slug":"in-charting-the-unknown-crimson-desert-doubles-down-on-its-maximalism-in-audacious-faintly-sinister-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2241698","title":{"rendered":"In Charting the Unknown, Crimson Desert doubles down on its maximalism in audacious, faintly sinister style"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"features\" data-article-group=\"feature\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/features\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Features<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/crimson-desert\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Crimson Desert<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">In Charting the Unknown, Crimson Desert doubles down on its maximalism in audacious, faintly sinister style<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">More like Py-hell.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-header-lightened.jpg?width=690&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Crimson Desert protagonist Kliff staring gloomily at the camera in the rain.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-header-lightened.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"690\" height=\"388\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lewis Gordon avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Lewis-portrait.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"598\" height=\"691\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Lewis Gordon avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"Lewis-portrait.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"598\" height=\"691\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"features\"><br \/>\n                    Feature<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/lewis-gordon\">Lewis Gordon<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-11-06T12:32:20+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Nov. 6, 2026, 12:32 p.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/crimson-desert-charting-the-unknown-now-playing?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          9 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"header_actions\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"10cf2e53-bea5-44e6-bc6c-98d8a341d473\" data-name=\"Crimson Desert\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Crimson Desert\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Crimson Desert\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Crimson Desert\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Crimson Desert\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Crimson Desert\" title=\"Follow Crimson Desert\"><br \/>\n  Follow Crimson Desert<br \/>\n<\/button><br \/>\n  <a class=\"button outline wide preferred_source_button\" data-component=\"preferred-source-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=eurogamer.net\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n    <span class=\"logo\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><br \/>\nPrioritise us on Google  <\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\" data-autopogo>\n<p>And so we are back in Pywel: the super-sized and often super-pretty realm where the deserts are blood-red, the grass is a lurid shade of green, and Kliff and his merry gang of Greymanes seem to be pissed all the time. Yet what&#8217;s this? Peace seems to have broken out across the region, which means our grizzled action hero is in a reflective mood.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"aside right\">\n<h2>Crimson Desert: Charting the Unknown<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Developer:<\/strong> Pearl Abyss<\/li>\n<li><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Pearl Abyss<\/li>\n<li><strong>Platform:<\/strong> Played on PlayStation <\/li>\n<li><strong>Availability:<\/strong> Out now on PC (via <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/5001840\/Crimson_Desert_Enhanced_Charting_the_Unknown\/\">Steam<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/store.epicgames.com\/p\/crimson-desert-crimson-desert-enhanced-charting-the-unknown-2202f5\">Epic<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/store.playstation.com\/en-gb\/product\/UP4162-PPSA25286_00-DLCPREORDERBUNDL\">PlayStation 5<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xbox.com\/en-US\/games\/store\/crimson-desert-enhanced-charting-the-unknown\/9n3q1csz0vhh\">Xbox Series X\/S<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>At the outset of Charting the Unknown, Crimson Desert&#8217;s recently released DLC, I&#8217;m tasked with taking Kliff out for a quiet spot of moonlit fishing. The problem is, I seem to have forgotten how to actually fish &#8211; and if memory serves, perhaps I never learned because the system was so poorly explained in the base game. So I flail around for a full 15 minutes before eventually relenting and consulting Reddit on how to snag a bite.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Crimson Desert - Official Charting the Unknown DLC: Features Overview Trailer\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p6AXPqHnnuw?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/p6AXPqHnnuw\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Crimson Desert &#8211; Official Charting the Unknown DLC: Features Overview Trailer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Here&#8217;s a 6-minute video detailing all the DLC&#8217;s new features.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p6AXPqHnnuw\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You might reasonably assume that these types of basic explanatory wrinkles had been ironed out in the countless updates since Crimson Desert&#8217;s release in March. Certainly, developer Pearl Abyss has gone to great effort elsewhere to streamline what was, at times, a frustratingly clunky experience (those menus at launch, <em>oh god<\/em>) while adding even more <em>stuff<\/em>, such as all-new cutscenes (to improve the story&#8217;s legibility) and the ability to ride wolves and tigers (because why the hell not). But for all the tinkering and wholesale additions, Crimson Desert has retained its essential character: the menus remain a total faff and the narrative, which I started afresh some weeks ago, is still bafflingly incoherent (maybe even more than I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/crimson-desert-review\">initially appreciated<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s into this churn of ongoing development that Pearl Abyss has produced Charting the Unknown, a DLC which adds even more elements to a game already buckling under the weight of mechanical overload. Now you can build ships and sail them around Pywel&#8217;s azure-blue waters. You can dive below the waves and swim with the fishes. You can also fall in love, get married, and &#8211; should things not pan out &#8211; get divorced. The everything game has become, well, even more <em>everything<\/em> in quintessentially audacious style. On that note, just wait until you see some of its supermassive Evangelion-esque maritime bosses.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-3.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-3.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Though don&#8217;t get too excited. Like the base game, the DLC is a mixed bag. First, shipfaring lacks any kind of drama. Islands are so spread out as to make the actual journey painfully boring: impressionistic oceanic voyaging \u00e0 la <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/legend-zelda-wind-waker\">Wind Waker<\/a> this is not. The diving, though, is beautifully executed. Underwater locales are notably serene, free from many of the irritating distractions that plague ground traversal.<\/p>\n<p>As for the new narrative threads involving all three playable characters &#8211; grizzled Kliff, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/bayonetta\">Bayonetta<\/a>-alike Damiane, and gentle giant orc Oongka &#8211; they&#8217;re equally uneven. Kliff&#8217;s is the most interesting, transplanting the player to a desert cloaked in a thick orange sandstorm that, without the aid of a working compass, must be mapped out using beacons resembling luminescent dongs. It&#8217;s pleasingly disorientating, a rare example of Pearl Abyss pushing a kind of intentional design friction, rather than accidentally creating it by inadequately explaining how to interact with the game.<\/p>\n<figure data-count=\"2\" role=\"group\">\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-5.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-5.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-1.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-1.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<\/figure><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Alas, there are also bugs, one of which was game-halting: Damiane&#8217;s steed wouldn&#8217;t spawn when I needed to follow Kliff on horseback. It was a reminder that for all the visual splendour, Crimson Desert can often feel like it&#8217;s being held together by the code equivalent of gaffer tape.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Everything controls about as well as you&#8217;d expect if you&#8217;ve played the base game, i.e. not very well at all. Kliff may be able to run on water and soar through the sky like a cross between Matrix star Neo and Jesus, but he remains a bastard to control for even the most basic tasks. Why can&#8217;t I lock onto the object a foot away? Why is he doing a three-hit combo somersault through the air when all I tried to do is pull out his lantern? These issues are compounded by the new romance and socialising options that appear every time you target an NPC: Crimson Desert becomes even fiddlier as it introduces these additional layers.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-6.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-6.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As the hours pass by &#8211; as I run, gallop, and bound through the arresting landscape in a manner that is comparatively frictionless compared to the rest of the game &#8211; my mind begins to numb. For all the extraneous mechanical gubbins, missions remain brainlessly simple: cavort from one waypoint to another and do a few simple button presses, or crack a few skulls to chug the narrative along. But then perhaps a certain numbing is the point of Crimson Desert? At a time when the real world is markedly inhospitable (diminishing job prospects, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the looming threat of geopolitical meltdown), Pearl Abyss&#8217; epic swaddles the player like a swords-and-sorcery comfort blanket. It is a safe space to disappear into for hours. Leave your worldly woes at the start screen.<\/p>\n<p>The impression this mash-up of a game appears to want to impart is generosity: here, Pearl Abyss seems to say, is a product capable of accommodating your every wish, will, and whim. It appears to have left no gameplay stone unturned in its ultimate quest to provide the player with total satisfaction &#8211; a kind of blissed-out contentment at the thought of never having to leave this almost divine realm.<\/p>\n<figure data-count=\"2\" role=\"group\">\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-8.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-8.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-4.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-4.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<\/figure><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But rather than generous, perhaps there is something nefarious about Crimson Desert&#8217;s maximalist design philosophy. It strikes me again that this is the most uniquely modern title I&#8217;ve ever played, as if the Grand Theft Auto and Assassin&#8217;s Creed franchises, countless MMORPGs (the genre in which Pearl Abyss cut its teeth), and many hyper-compulsive mobile titles were squished together in an attention-devouring final form. One so mightily captivating, so singularly consuming, that the player keeps playing until their lifeforce is depleted and they can play no more.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"3\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>That seems to be the way these &#8220;forever&#8221; games curve: toward the player&#8217;s surrender &#8211; of mind, body, and time. And at least until <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/gta-6-everything-we-know-so-far-9357\">Grand Theft Auto 6<\/a> is released in a few weeks, Crimson Desert and its new DLC seem to be the purest expression yet of this type of thing. Wading through its sheer mass of hit-or-miss distractions (which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/crimson-desert-dev-conducting-extensive-research-on-multiplayer-modes-plots-potential-sequels\">could expand even more<\/a>), the design ethos begins to grate. As if I&#8217;m stuck in an elaborate, endlessly bifurcating maze of hamster wheels, always busy, though never enjoying any discernible pay-off. And so, as its presentational lustre wears off further, and its eye-popping massiveness becomes less of a novelty, Crimson Desert begins to hit differently: much less high-fantasy heaven and more like hell.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"poll_wrapper\" data-fixed=\"true\" data-hashid data-init=\"false\" data-poll-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\" data-autopogo>\n<p>And so we are back in Pywel: the super-sized and often super-pretty realm where the deserts are blood-red, the grass is a lurid shade of green, and Kliff and his merry gang of Greymanes seem to be pissed all the time. Yet what&#8217;s this? Peace seems to have broken out across the region, which means our grizzled action hero is in a reflective mood.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"aside right\">\n<h2>Crimson Desert: Charting the Unknown<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Developer:<\/strong> Pearl Abyss<\/li>\n<li><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Pearl Abyss<\/li>\n<li><strong>Platform:<\/strong> Played on PlayStation <\/li>\n<li><strong>Availability:<\/strong> Out now on PC (via <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/5001840\/Crimson_Desert_Enhanced_Charting_the_Unknown\/\">Steam<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/store.epicgames.com\/p\/crimson-desert-crimson-desert-enhanced-charting-the-unknown-2202f5\">Epic<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/store.playstation.com\/en-gb\/product\/UP4162-PPSA25286_00-DLCPREORDERBUNDL\">PlayStation 5<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xbox.com\/en-US\/games\/store\/crimson-desert-enhanced-charting-the-unknown\/9n3q1csz0vhh\">Xbox Series X\/S<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>At the outset of Charting the Unknown, Crimson Desert&#8217;s recently released DLC, I&#8217;m tasked with taking Kliff out for a quiet spot of moonlit fishing. The problem is, I seem to have forgotten how to actually fish &#8211; and if memory serves, perhaps I never learned because the system was so poorly explained in the base game. So I flail around for a full 15 minutes before eventually relenting and consulting Reddit on how to snag a bite.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Crimson Desert - Official Charting the Unknown DLC: Features Overview Trailer\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p6AXPqHnnuw?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/p6AXPqHnnuw\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Crimson Desert &#8211; Official Charting the Unknown DLC: Features Overview Trailer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Here&#8217;s a 6-minute video detailing all the DLC&#8217;s new features.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p6AXPqHnnuw\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You might reasonably assume that these types of basic explanatory wrinkles had been ironed out in the countless updates since Crimson Desert&#8217;s release in March. Certainly, developer Pearl Abyss has gone to great effort elsewhere to streamline what was, at times, a frustratingly clunky experience (those menus at launch, <em>oh god<\/em>) while adding even more <em>stuff<\/em>, such as all-new cutscenes (to improve the story&#8217;s legibility) and the ability to ride wolves and tigers (because why the hell not). But for all the tinkering and wholesale additions, Crimson Desert has retained its essential character: the menus remain a total faff and the narrative, which I started afresh some weeks ago, is still bafflingly incoherent (maybe even more than I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/crimson-desert-review\">initially appreciated<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s into this churn of ongoing development that Pearl Abyss has produced Charting the Unknown, a DLC which adds even more elements to a game already buckling under the weight of mechanical overload. Now you can build ships and sail them around Pywel&#8217;s azure-blue waters. You can dive below the waves and swim with the fishes. You can also fall in love, get married, and &#8211; should things not pan out &#8211; get divorced. The everything game has become, well, even more <em>everything<\/em> in quintessentially audacious style. On that note, just wait until you see some of its supermassive Evangelion-esque maritime bosses.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-3.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-3.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Though don&#8217;t get too excited. Like the base game, the DLC is a mixed bag. First, shipfaring lacks any kind of drama. Islands are so spread out as to make the actual journey painfully boring: impressionistic oceanic voyaging \u00e0 la <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/legend-zelda-wind-waker\">Wind Waker<\/a> this is not. The diving, though, is beautifully executed. Underwater locales are notably serene, free from many of the irritating distractions that plague ground traversal.<\/p>\n<p>As for the new narrative threads involving all three playable characters &#8211; grizzled Kliff, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/bayonetta\">Bayonetta<\/a>-alike Damiane, and gentle giant orc Oongka &#8211; they&#8217;re equally uneven. Kliff&#8217;s is the most interesting, transplanting the player to a desert cloaked in a thick orange sandstorm that, without the aid of a working compass, must be mapped out using beacons resembling luminescent dongs. It&#8217;s pleasingly disorientating, a rare example of Pearl Abyss pushing a kind of intentional design friction, rather than accidentally creating it by inadequately explaining how to interact with the game.<\/p>\n<figure data-count=\"2\" role=\"group\">\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-5.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-5.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-1.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-1.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<\/figure><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Alas, there are also bugs, one of which was game-halting: Damiane&#8217;s steed wouldn&#8217;t spawn when I needed to follow Kliff on horseback. It was a reminder that for all the visual splendour, Crimson Desert can often feel like it&#8217;s being held together by the code equivalent of gaffer tape.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Everything controls about as well as you&#8217;d expect if you&#8217;ve played the base game, i.e. not very well at all. Kliff may be able to run on water and soar through the sky like a cross between Matrix star Neo and Jesus, but he remains a bastard to control for even the most basic tasks. Why can&#8217;t I lock onto the object a foot away? Why is he doing a three-hit combo somersault through the air when all I tried to do is pull out his lantern? These issues are compounded by the new romance and socialising options that appear every time you target an NPC: Crimson Desert becomes even fiddlier as it introduces these additional layers.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-6.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-6.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As the hours pass by &#8211; as I run, gallop, and bound through the arresting landscape in a manner that is comparatively frictionless compared to the rest of the game &#8211; my mind begins to numb. For all the extraneous mechanical gubbins, missions remain brainlessly simple: cavort from one waypoint to another and do a few simple button presses, or crack a few skulls to chug the narrative along. But then perhaps a certain numbing is the point of Crimson Desert? At a time when the real world is markedly inhospitable (diminishing job prospects, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the looming threat of geopolitical meltdown), Pearl Abyss&#8217; epic swaddles the player like a swords-and-sorcery comfort blanket. It is a safe space to disappear into for hours. Leave your worldly woes at the start screen.<\/p>\n<p>The impression this mash-up of a game appears to want to impart is generosity: here, Pearl Abyss seems to say, is a product capable of accommodating your every wish, will, and whim. It appears to have left no gameplay stone unturned in its ultimate quest to provide the player with total satisfaction &#8211; a kind of blissed-out contentment at the thought of never having to leave this almost divine realm.<\/p>\n<figure data-count=\"2\" role=\"group\">\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-8.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-8.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/crimson-desert-dlc-4.jpeg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"crimson-desert-dlc-4.jpeg\" height=\"2160\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"3840\"><\/p>\n<\/figure><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But rather than generous, perhaps there is something nefarious about Crimson Desert&#8217;s maximalist design philosophy. It strikes me again that this is the most uniquely modern title I&#8217;ve ever played, as if the Grand Theft Auto and Assassin&#8217;s Creed franchises, countless MMORPGs (the genre in which Pearl Abyss cut its teeth), and many hyper-compulsive mobile titles were squished together in an attention-devouring final form. One so mightily captivating, so singularly consuming, that the player keeps playing until their lifeforce is depleted and they can play no more.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"3\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>That seems to be the way these &#8220;forever&#8221; games curve: toward the player&#8217;s surrender &#8211; of mind, body, and time. And at least until <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/gta-6-everything-we-know-so-far-9357\">Grand Theft Auto 6<\/a> is released in a few weeks, Crimson Desert and its new DLC seem to be the purest expression yet of this type of thing. Wading through its sheer mass of hit-or-miss distractions (which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/crimson-desert-dev-conducting-extensive-research-on-multiplayer-modes-plots-potential-sequels\">could expand even more<\/a>), the design ethos begins to grate. As if I&#8217;m stuck in an elaborate, endlessly bifurcating maze of hamster wheels, always busy, though never enjoying any discernible pay-off. And so, as its presentational lustre wears off further, and its eye-popping massiveness becomes less of a novelty, Crimson Desert begins to hit differently: much less high-fantasy heaven and more like hell.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"poll_wrapper\" data-fixed=\"true\" data-hashid data-init=\"false\" data-poll-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home Features Crimson Desert In Charting the Unknown, Crimson Desert doubles down on its maximalism in audacious, faintly sinister style More like Py-hell. Image credit: Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss Feature by Lewis Gordon Contributor Published on Nov. 6, 2026, 12:32 p.m. 9 comments Follow Crimson Desert Prioritise us on Google And so we are back in Pywel: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2241698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2241698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2241698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2241698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2241698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}