CRIMSON DESERT: THE 10/10 MASTERPIECE HIDDEN BEHIND A 1/10 START! 🤯🔥I almost refunded this game in 2 hours… and now I can’t stop playing!

Is Crimson Desert the weirdest RPG ever made? YES. One minute it’s a 10/10 cinematic spectacle that makes The Witcher 3 look old, and the next it’s a 1/10 slog of unskippable small talk on horseback. 🐴💩 But if you can survive the first “dozen hours” of chimney sweeping and cat-saving, you’ll discover a world with interactability so deep it puts every other RPG to shame!

We’re talking S-tier exploration, a GTA-style wanted system, and “Abyss Jumps” that let you free-fall through the most beautiful open world ever rendered. 🌌✨ Don’t let the “negligible” gear stats fool you—the real progression is in the Abyss Gears and the massive Greymane Camp you build by hand. It’s janky, it’s beautiful, and it’s arguably the most freedom you’ll ever have in a game.

Ready to see why I changed my mind?

It’s the game that nearly everyone wanted to refund in the first two hours. It’s the game that asks you to save a world-ending balance after your throat is slashed, only to immediately task you with sweeping a chimney. Crimson Desert is, by all accounts, a bizarre contradiction. But after 130 hours of gameplay, the verdict from the hardcore community—led by prominent critics like TheLazyPeon—is clear: despite its “dog shit” narrative, it might just be the best open world ever built.

The ‘Refunding’ Barrier: A Rough Start

The biggest hurdle for Crimson Desert is its own introduction. Critics have slammed the opening hours as “shallow, predictable, and uninteresting,” featuring unskippable cutscenes and “follow-the-NPC” missions that move at a glacial pace [15:01].

“I actually refunded it on day one,” admits TheLazyPeon. “The start was so bad I didn’t want to play. But I repurchased it the next day, gave it another chance, and realized that beneath the trash story is a 10/10 world.” [00:10]

World Interaction: The New Genre King

Where Crimson Desert truly destroys its competition is in its “interactability.” The world isn’t just a backdrop; it’s a fully animated playground.

Next-Level Detail: NPCs have routines, they pick up items you drop, and trees sway realistically in the wind [11:03].

Physics-Based Fun: Players can use trees as slingshots, lift objects to “bonk” enemies, or free-fall from miles up in the sky with a draw distance that captures the entire map [11:55].

The Criminal Life: A GTA-style wanted system allows players to go on murder rampages, steal anything in sight, and eventually deal with the consequences in a fully realized jail system [11:42].

The ‘Negligible’ Gear Controversy

One of the weirdest aspects discovered 60 hours in is that gear stats are almost entirely “cosmetic.” At maximum refinement, the difference between early-game armor and late-game boss drops is negligible to non-existent [04:35].

The real power lies in the Abyss Gears—gems that can be extracted and socketed into any piece of equipment. This means players are essentially choosing their outfits based on “fashion” rather than “power,” leading to a massive community outcry for a transmog system [18:56].

Combat: Impactful but ‘Easy’?

While the combat is hailed as “flashy and impactful” (earning an 8.5/10), it faces criticism for its lack of cooldowns. Players can infinitely spam their most powerful attacks and “eat through everything” with a limitless supply of healing food [10:06].

“I didn’t die more than twice on any boss,” critics claim. “The food spam makes the game feel too easy, and I didn’t feel a true sense of accomplishment compared to other RPGs.” [09:14]. However, the ability to switch between three playable characters—each with a unique feel—adds a layer of variety that keeps the “mindless” spamming from becoming boring.

The Broken Economy: Gambling and ‘Save-Scumming’

Perhaps the most “tabloid-worthy” scandal in Pywel is the state of the economy. Players have found that “save-scumming” at the investment bank and pickpocketing gold bars from nobles is so overpowered that it makes the actual trade and bounty systems feel “redundant and pointless” [18:30].

The Verdict: An 8/10 Mess

Despite a story that earns a “2 or 3 out of 10,” the sheer scale, visual fidelity, and exploratory freedom of Crimson Desert push it into the territory of a must-play masterpiece. It is a game of “spectacle cinema” interrupted by “obtuse puzzles” and “forklift-on-a-tightrope” controls [07:51].

If the developers can fix the “buggy” pet looting, improve inventory stack sizes, and—most importantly—allow players to skip the narrative “shit on the cheesecake,” Crimson Desert could easily reach a 9/10. For now, it remains the weirdest, most frustratingly beautiful game of the year.