Key Feature 3: The Battles
The adventure of Crimson Desert begins with a conflict between two clans. It only takes a few moments before you cross your blade for the first time with aggressive adversaries. In action-packed combat, you deliver heavy slaps while countering enemy attacks, dodging quickly, and constantly deploying active skills.
In Crimson Desert, you will not only strike with melee weapons, duck behind a shield, or shoot potential victims from afar with a bow or musket. You will chain complex combos, cast destructive nature spells, utilize the environment to your advantage, and throw in throws and wrestling maneuvers.
Since many quests and challenges in Crimson Desert require a violent solution, you cannot avoid battles. It is not possible to find a peaceful way through dialogue or to tire out a boss with conversation.
Moreover, the open world is filled with enemies. Groups of bandits lurk everywhere, the potentially dangerous fauna of Pywel (such as toxic spiders) abounds, or you may stumble upon the fortress of a hostile faction, packed with dozens of fighters and a tough boss.
It is primarily peaceful away from quest content, in optional activities like Rock, Paper, Scissors, resource gathering, crafting, farming, or the various secrets in the game world that are often tied to puzzles. But you cannot complete Crimson Desert this way. The battles are clearly one of the most vital components of the open-world adventure.
