Crimson Desert Preview: All Hail the Crab Killer

I walked into Pearl Abyss’ recent preview session for their upcoming action-adventure title, Crimson Desert, very much blind. I had little prior knowledge of the game, and even less of how the preview demo would unfold. All I knew is that it looked beautiful and had a very Scottish, very gruff-looking protagonist to play as. Think CBBC’s Raven if he spent 6 days a week in the gym and ditched the faux-hawk.

 I was given roughly an hour to work my way through the demo which aimed to showcase a very specific element of Crimson Desert: combat, primarily centered on the game’s boss fights. Through a short tutorial sequence, we’re introduced to our main man Kliff — not to be mistaken for FFXVI's Clive, though I've never seen the two in the same room. After a quick taste of general combat, the preview build dropped me into a sort of nexus. An intangible landing point to kick off what was essentially a four-boss gauntlet. Each of the four boss fights, as it was explained, would run at different lengths and feature different mechanics or movesets to be aware of. I was encouraged to begin with Staglord, a man with a penchant for deer antlers and a nasty aversion to staying down. Yes, Crimson Desert is one for the multi-phased boss fights enjoyers. 

Staglord is a fairly straightforward encounter. He is just a man, albeit a heavy, shoving one, but the fight remains one-on-one. Despite this, I found him to be the more frustrating of the four bosses. Perhaps this was largely a side-effect of being thrown into the deep end with this demo, but his relentlessness left little breathing room. I felt almost worn out by the time I’d finally knocked him down for the last time.

For the most part the combat is fairly enjoyable; hits feel impactful, and the aggression of Kliff rivals that of his foes. I did, however, struggle with readability. The game’s camera takes an odd, almost aerial perspective in fights and at times had me feeling as if I was wrestling for control. Not ideal for trying to get your bearings in a tricky fight. It also made it hard to keep track of Kliff himself amidst the chaos, something that becomes a particular burden in multi-enemy fights. There is a lock-on feature, but even that was hard to read. Eventually, through a combination of light and heavy attacks, some well-placed arrows, a force push or two, and some failed parry attempts, Staglord was sliced down for good.

It was time to move onto my next challenge, though not before looting a shiny, new sword and shield from his corpse to use in the upcoming fights. There was a brief moment of respite, too. The developers encouraged me to double-back slightly to the start of the area to look out into the open world. It was striking, and a little frustrating, as all I then wanted to do was get out there and explore. Crimson Desert’s environments shouldn’t be overlooked. Whatever my gripes are with the combat, the allure of a seemless open world and its very pretty environments was more than enough to pique my interest. But, there was no time to gawk any longer — this demo was on a timer. 

Of the three remaining bosses, I was advised to choose either Hexe Marie or the Reed Devil. The former, a ranged spell-slinger and lover of dark arts. The latter, a ninja with a natural resistance to Kliff’s basic attacks. I began with Hexe Marie in order to test how well Kliff’s skill set responds to magic. 

Her fight is saturated in pagan iconography and features a delightfully atmospheric soundtrack, making it a standout segment of the demo. Hexe Marie utilises dark magic, sending waves of minions to attack Kliff at every angle. The minions are weak, but can gang up to form some pesky interruptions and damage. Meanwhile, Hexe Marie is slinging spells at you from afar, but is particularly weak to a good bow and arrow. The problem of the camera rose again, however. With so much happening on screen, the floaty camera angle added an extra challenge, and keeping a lock on one of the many enemies felt like an impossible task. 

The Reed Devil changed up the system once again. While bringing Kliff back to a one-on-one fight, this particular boss had a fondness for illusions. He would summon copies of himself, and parry away any attempt by Kliff to land a light attack. Combos and arrows were the trick to taking him out, and destroying a number of totems scattered around the field were the main gimmick. I appreciated the variety in bosses, both in terms of combat and aesthetic. After a bit of persistence, the Reed Devil was defeated. Well, somewhat. He slinked off into the ether to fight another day. Presumably, Kliff faces him again at a later point. 

My final challenge, and one that the developers admitted had bested plenty of journalists before me, was a giant stone crab. It was a challenge I was more than ready for, expecting something akin to the Adamantoise superboss in Final Fantasy XV which was more of an hour-long endurance test than a combat hurdle. Thankfully, Pearl Abyss wasn’t about to make me relive that. Rather than being a creature with an ungodly amount of health, the trick to taking down the Queen Stoneback Crab was to destroy three weak spots then execute a (rather tricky) combo to deliver the killing blow.

There were a lot of mechanics to manage in this fight. Kliff must first destroy the shiny rocky formations covering the crab’s weak spots. Then, cling and climb up the crab’s stone back, resisting its attempts to shake him off, before stabbing down into the freshly uncovered points. This was the easy part. 

After doing this three times, the pots that sit on top of its head shift and it's here that the tricky combo must now be performed which, had a developer not been around to tell me what to do, I’d have had no idea how to execute it. The combo involved using an item - a spider silk - then launching Kliff into the air and attaching the silk to the top of the crab. Kliff then has to swing around it like Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, pulling himself closer as he goes, then a collection of buttons have to be pressed quickly to execute the combo attack and destroy the crab for good. After a few attempts, I did eventually manage to pull it off, and with a few minutes to spare. I sat in my chair, smug, having been part of a select few to have defeated all four bosses in the allotted time (I don’t have much. Let me have this). 

Crimson Desert has a lot of elements that drew me in: its style and aesthetic, the allure of its open world, and a strong variety in its boss fights. The combat, however, had a few sticking points largely centered on the camera and a lack of readability. I also had to rely very heavily on the plentiful reserves of healing items the developers had kindly equipped me with for the purpose of the demo. It broke up the flow somewhat, having to constantly open up and select the item from the hot-key menu just to stay afloat. I would chalk that up to me perhaps being bad, but I did complete the demo pretty efficiently, so who’s to say. With smoother, more focused combat, Pearl Abyss could be onto a winner with Crimson Desert. I’m itching to dive into its open world, however, and explore what stunning environments await me throughout the realm of Pywel.