Crimson Desert soars past 150,000 Steam reviews with Very Positive rating despite story criticism

As I write this, Crimson Desert has a total of 150,814 reviews on Steam with an overall Very Positive rating. In this unstable landscape where even opt-in updates can make otherwise enthusiastic audiences turn on Slay the Spire 2, it’s impressive developer Pearl Abyss has charmed its Steam players enough to keep them in good spirits even as they criticize the open-world game’s story.

One positive review with 353 “helpful” ratings summarizes what seems to be Crimson Desert players’ thoughts and says, “It’s Ok to Love a Game and Criticize It Fairly.” While Pearl Abyss’ ambitious adventure starring every-yeoman Kliff is so huge, most players are barely halfway done exploring even though the game launched in March, people say Crimson Desert’s narrative is not nearly as deep. Ostensibly, Kliff is a hawk-eyed adventurer trying to restore the glory of his murdered Greymane faction, but in practice, as one fan on Reddit says in a related thread, “It makes more sense if you imagine Kliff as an omniscient lobotomite that just does things because its on the left side of my screen.”

Pearl Abyss might not even disagree with this characterization – the developer admitted to shareholders earlier this spring it regrets not thickening Crimson Desert’s story further, but it was in a rush, and polishing gameplay was most important. Anyway, notoriously cranky Steam reviewers – who turn green at the sight of new Helldivers 2 Warbonds, and pan Cities: Skylines after 30,000 apparently excruciating hours of playtime – are fine with it, for some reason.

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One positive review with almost 120 hours on record calls Crimson Desert “generally good,” but also disclaims, “each time I have to do another “follow another Wolf member, especially Yann, on horseback” so they can ***** and moan – mission…I am tempted to review bomb this.”