In Crimson Desert, the true boss battle is wrangling its controls to unlock the cool combat within

Crimson Desert - Kliff crosses blades with an enemy, looking strained, while wearing another sword and shield on his back.

I sat down to play Crimson Desert at Summer Game Fest armed with false confidence. I'd already played a combat demo at an event in 2024, so I charged protagonist Kliff into a battle with dozens of enemy soldiers with the foolhardy impression that remembering the button to swing my sword was good enough. I was instantly curbstomped.

Pearl Abyss has provided the press with lots of opportunities to play Crimson Desert ahead of its still-unspecified 2025 release, and in that time I've seen it described a number of ways: a game for fighting game sickos, a darker Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3 with a grab button.