The Humble Rock Dove

6/4/26

This video game launched on the nineteenth of March 2026. Within 13 days of that, my time spent on it exceeded that spent on a goliath in its own right: The Witcher 3. I have epic memories of the enjoyment and experience of the Witcher 3, and many epic, long nights, indulging deep into its mechanics, storytelling, characters and action.

The main criticism early on, is that crimson desert borrows too much from other games. I cant help but spit or cough up a little fire at statements like that. But to try to see what they mean by that, I think i’ll attempt a list, and it wont be without a sprinkling of resentment.

What’s so “new” about the title Crimson Desert is the recipe. No other game I’m aware of so seamlessly pulls off borrowing the best bits from other games, actually, the polar opposite extreme is what people do accept and embrace: games of a specific genre, that deliver a practically one-dimensional copy, that has a few modifications, and at its core, is a game you’ve played a million times. Almost every first person shooter, grid-based turn based strategy RPGs, Soulslike, deck-builder, wrestling game, and more standard and bland “sandbox” games that borrow the bulk of what they are from either Bethesda or Rockstar.

I don’t see why the reaction to Crimson Desert, is about not reinventing the many wheels on this locomotive, when I just enjoy every part. I’ve been told prog rock had a similar unwelcome greeting into the world. People fussing over it being loaded with loads of unoriginal ideas, I hear critics of prog rock would give that “jack of all trades, master of none” label to something like a pink floyd album, when they blended blues, hard rock, classical and more, into a single unit. So in a single phrase I can sum up what makes it special: the ingredients, that should have been too much, but have been so well incorporated, that I think this game deserves to be met and judged as its own type of game.

Let me show you what I mean:

• The combat can be played like Dynasty Warriors, with the sheer mass of waves of enemies that “ain’t so tough” Dark Souls, if the enemies are tough enough, or if you prefer, you can grapple, punch and kick your enemies into submission instead, like a fighting game such as WWE on steroids, with Witcher 3 style acrobatics and character animations.
• I never played RDR, but I’ve heard the horseback conversation journeys are very like it.
• There’s a land of floating islands, and puzzle dungeons, just like Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom. In fact, overall, this is arguably the game emulates the most. I could call it Tears of the Kingdom dressed in an extremely ambitious Witcher 3 type land, With the gorgeously mind-blowing, epic level of detail I found in Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remastered. I’ve heard other comparisons, such as to a game like Dragons Dogma, which I never played too much of, but, oh yeah… they stole the “run by tapping the run button”from GTA. That’s another mechanic people actually use as fuel for some sort of “jack of all trades” argument against Crimson Desert. Can you get a feel of why all this, (and for it to run so well on launch date too), gets on my nerves? At what point will people stop comparing it to so many other games just to have a go at breaking this game to pieces? How long before people may start saying “this is truly next gen, just as Crimson Desert is, and was”. How are so many people jumping on this bandwagon? At some point the comparisons need to stop, the game, re-approached, and have people just judge it as Crimson Desert, for a change.

If this seems like I’m a little too impassioned on these points, its because the game got an instant “best row” seat in my heart, almost on contact. I saw it, bought it, and “got it”, pretty darn well – to the degree that the reviews against it are so baffling to me. So it’s a little personal, only because its in my heart, and arrested my attention so much, I feel I could almost live inside the game for… a very long time.

Next up is the storyline, (or lack thereof). Brilliant, I say. There’s a classic phrase: “If you want a story, read a book.” that obviously applies here. This game is about gameplay, quests, puzzles and action, eccentricity and magic. Go on and get lost in those elements like a single-player MMO. I think this is the slant, angle and point, that the developers were going after, anyway.

I might wrap this essay here for now. I’m only just over eighty hours in, and I’ll surely return with more thoughts later. What stays with me most is this question: when will we stop comparing Crimson Desert to every other game, stop calling it a “jack of all trades, master of none,” and simply judge it as Crimson Desert, as it is? For me, the answer is already here. This game has earned its place in my heart not by being the best at one thing, but by blending so many things so well that the whole feels greater than any single part. That, to me, is its own kind of mastery.