Crimson Desert review: 20 hours in, bigger open worlds aren’t better

Six and a half years after its announcement, the standalone title from the creators of Black Desert Online is finally here. Two things are clear: Expectations are sky-high, and it’ll take a few hundred hours to fully judge whether they’re justified. As I didn’t have that much time between receiving the game and its launch day, an impression of Crimson Desert‘s early game will have to suffice. To be clear, my official on-the-clock time is closer to 30 hours, but I spent a lot of time testing various aspects of the game for coverage, so my “real” playtime is likely closer to 20 hours. But my philosophy is thus: If it’s no fun after 20 hours or frankly even 10 hours, it’s not worth the 10 hours. And this is coming from someone who loves these types of games — last year, I wrote about how Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is the “best RPG I’ve ever played.”