Crimson Desert Enhanced

MY SCORE: 8.0/10 - From a technical aspect it is a 10/10 Unargubly this has to be one of the most vast and complex RPG in modern times with incredible features! + The best Part: the combat! This game is made for massive battles. You can get yourself into a war with a whole battalion! It is a lot fun. Combine that with wicked and cool combos, and you may have some Dynasty Warriors and Devil May Cry moments. One vs a thousand. It's pure fun! + The raw, unpolegetic language and medium grade gore. I love how the c-word gets spout out unexpectedly where I start bursting into laughter. "Sheep, goat and horse f.....rs". The setting is definately right. It's so pure - I love it! + Cool armors and plenty of weapons: To me, that is one of the most important things in games. Crimson Desert delivers just THAT. It ticks the boxes. There are even better armors than in Elden Ring, Witcher 3 etc. I really enjoy running around with diverse armors and using different weapons at any given time. It's beautiful. + The world is absolutely astonishingly beautiful. It has similar vibes to Witcher 3 DLC Blood and Whine. It's vibrant and it is rediculously, generously massive. Like Elden Ring massive - perhaps bigger. It feels like a beautiful fairytale. Moving away from dark tones, into a bright world. I love it! It has snowy and desert areas too! Let me put it this way: I LOVE beautiful open world setting. The world in CD feels alive. NPCs walk around, engage in various activities, plenty of enemies... It's incredible. + The boss fights are cool and straight forward. Many of them have great designs and it was overwhelmingly fun fighting them EXCEPT for one (the smoke boss, aka The Crimson Nightmare - that was weird and annoying). + The graphics are a double edged sword to be honest. While world rendering and multiple enemies are clearly the focus of the engine. The world and vegetation rendering are very good. I'm playing on native AA resolution and a mix of ultra and cinematic graphics settings. It is just absolutely beautiful and fantastic. Much respect for developing their own engine. + Plenty of missions and sidequests! THE NEGATIVES and why I cannot give this game a 10 out of 10. The graphics While I appreciate the beauty of the world, there is one thing that really bugs me over the course of gameplay in terms of rendering and details: My personal opinion is the lack of character detail especially during close-ups and cut scenes. They all look like "low-polygon" mesh with dirty faces. They just lack lack detail. I compare it to modern Assassins Creed games. Take a look at AC Shadows and Black Flag Resync: Open World and a lot NPCs to render, but still a lot character and face details. It's more refined. Again, in regards to Crimson Desert's engine I assume the priority was to render a lot NPCs and a vast open world. There had to be tradeoffs - I understand that part. Nevertheless, seeing a lot of cut scenes with low-polygon dirty faces is a huge turn off compared to peers like the modern AC games. The Puzzles Over-ambition turns into annoyance, especally the Abyss part - the area up in the skies. Generally, a lot puzzles are obscure, not very well explained or not explained at all. Some puzzles are manageable, some are ok, some are just a pain in the neck. The volume of puzzles have become a pure annoyance. So much so that I go "here we go another puzzle, let's look it up on Youtube". I cannot stress this enough, the amount of puzzles will pile up. Fatigue and boredom sets in. I try to understand the devs. My understanding is that they "try" to offer a contrast to the huge battles. Away from the combat and mess. The same problem occurs: Everything of it is too much - there is way too many puzzles, and there are too many frustrating puzzles. It drags down the flow and pacing. That's not even the worst part. Combine puzzles with clunky and over-complicated controls. Please read carry onto the next section. Controls and Mechanics While I appreciate the deep extensive gaming mechanics, I feel a bit overwhelmed and a bit frustrated simply because I overlooked or underutilized a function. The controls can get very clunky. In other words the controls are NOT intuitive and user-friendly in any way. Weird button combinations with overlapping inputs etc. You will find yourself in a spot "I accidently performed an unwanted move". Pair that with platforming and puzzles - you can get a frustrating time. Story I can certainly say that you should not get the game mainly for the story, because it is not the biggest strength. I found the introduction of the other playable characters very shallow and unsatisfactory. They are just there! No real explanation, connection as in deeper links on how the destiny are interconnected. ------------ This game leaves room for self-expression and the way how you want to handle things. There are plenty of tools, mechanics and weapons. You could dive in for HOURS. While the game has a slow start and often times doesn't sufficiently explain on how or what to do, you will somehow manage it, also with a great help from Youtubers. The game offers quality and rich features. Wheather you are an action or RPG lover - you must give it a try!