The reviews for Crimson Desert are out, and the game launches in all of the regions today, but the reception seems to be fairly mixed for a title that is one of the most anticipated open world games of 2026.
Scores range from some of the prominent journalist outlets in the games industry giving the title ratings as low as a 6, to some others calling it a generational game and crowning it with 10s. This has created a lot of confusion for the consumers.
Not everyone was expecting Crimson Desert to be the biggest thing this year, but the mixed scores sure did enough to turn heads. The reactions are echoed throughout social media, with most users blaming news outlets for favoritism, which has led to a cacophony of memes.
Crimson Desert had an ambitious development roadmap
The Korean Developer Pearly Abyss is not a company that’s completely new to this industry. Previously, they have been known for years as the famous creators of the widely popular MMORPG Black Desert Online.
Originally planned as a prequel, Crimson Desert is a game that takes everything the makers of Black Desert learned throughout its development and packages it into a single-player experience. The title was first officially revealed in The Game Awards almost half a decade ago.
Since then, it has set all kinds of precedents with the scope of gameplay that it was proposing. Everyone knew that it was going to be an insanely ambitious title, but it seems like most were not ready for how much they were underestimating the actual scope once the reviewers got their hands on it.
A summary of most of the general reaction tells us that Pearly Abyss may have gone a bit too far and beyond. Most of the reviewers still seem mixed on what to think of the game as a whole, with some calling most of its systems convoluted and unnecessarily bloated.
But there is also the other side of the coin, as some reviewers are in genuine favour of this type of game design, implying it might go down in history as a game that everyone will come back to again and again.
Pearl Abyss’ stocks have plummeted by 30%
Social media is filled with users who were looking forward to the reviews all year. Now the obnoxious nature of these scores has left them confused, with some picking up on memes.
Others are taking the chance to dunk on journalists. But something even more shocking has happened in the meantime. According to a news outlet, Seoul Economic Daily, Pearl Abyss’ stock has taken a massive hit. Nearly 30% of the company’s stocks have plunged.
Pearly Abyss wanted to make one of the most ambitious and dense open-world titles of the year. That density seems to have expanded to the review scores as well, which is unprecedented for a lot of major games in this day and age.
We have published our own review of the game as well, which you can check out on our website. If you are still confused, it’s best to wait for proper opinions and playthroughs from gamers in the coming days to make a decision.
