Crimson Desert Hype

From Endgame Viable

March 16, 2026

About this episode

The episode discusses the hype surrounding the game Crimson Desert and the host's skepticism about its combat mechanics.

I’m trying an experiment in writing in a single topic individual post with a relevant title. A weird concept. I’ve been hearing people talk about Crimson Desert for what seems like my entire life. Now that it’s actually imminent, I’m hearing more people talk about it in a distinctly hyped manner. My humble question is: Why? What am I missing? Not once in the entire history of my knowledge of this game have I ever thought, Oh neat, I can’t wait to play that. My memory of the combat in Black Desert is that it was overwhelmingly meh. Or I guess mid is what they say now. Or default. Or whatever. I have to assume the combat in Crimson Desert will be based on the same concept: A lot of flashy (and flashing) animations that block the whole screen, but not a lot of tactical depth. I’ve never been a fan of combat where you press a single button and it looks on the screen like you’ve set off a series of nuclear explosions with your sword, vastly more powerful than what you, the player, actually did. It feels cheap and unearned. From the videos I’ve seen of Crimson Desert it has the same basic look as Black Desert, which was a hyperrealistic…

Topics covered

  • Crimson Desert
  • gaming
  • Black Desert
  • combat mechanics

Keywords

  • hype
  • game design
  • combat
  • graphics

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Crimson Desert, Black Desert

Books & works: Black Desert

Places: Black Desert, Crimson Desert

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