If there's one thing I've learned playing Crimson Desert for 75 hours, it's that you should absolutely treat this game as a slow burn

If there’s one thing I’ve learned playing Crimson Desert for 75 hours, it’s that you should absolutely treat this game as a slow burn | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Action Crimson Desert review: The Forza Horizon of action RPGs Action After 6 hours, Crimson Desert is one of the most overwhelming, chaotic, madcap videogames I’ve ever played—and I’m hungry for more Action Do yourself a favour in Crimson Desert and play the game with a controller Action I’ve spent over 100 hours in Crimson Desert—here are my top 20 quick tips to triumph in Pywel Action Crimson Desert has the most diabolical lock and key system I’ve ever seen Action After whiffing its release date by 5 years, Crimson Desert is putting out oodles of preview stuff as ‘We never want to be accused of hiding anything, because we have a lot of ground to make up’ Action Crimson Desert can be overwhelming—do this one thing in each new city to make your life much easier RPG Avowed didn’t rewrite the RPG rulebook in 2025, but it still gave me some of my biggest gaming ‘wow’ moments of the year RPG Crimson Desert is the most hyped game I’ve seen in a minute MMO Everything we know about Crimson Desert Action Crimson Desert guide: Tips, puzzle solutions, bosses, and confusing UI explained RPG After 2 years in early access, Greedfall: The Dying World still feels unfinished Action Cairn review: A gripping ‘strand-game’ about the limits of the body Action Like a good ol’ southern potluck, South of Midnight had me going back to play for seconds, and then thirds, thanks to all its little details RPG I’m sorry to break it to you, but don’t expect to be able to play an evil pest in Crimson Desert: ‘Would I recommend a full playthrough in that playstyle? Eh, I don’t know’ PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!MarathonGDCBest PC gearQuizzes Games Action Crimson Desert If there’s one thing I’ve learned playing Crimson Desert for 75 hours, it’s that you should absolutely treat this game as a slow burn Features By Mollie Taylor published 20 March 2026 Take it easy, enjoy the ride. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Pearl Abyss) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Signup + Every Thursday GTA 6 O’clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O’clock experts. Signup + Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what’s on the horizon. Signup + Every Thursday The Setup Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more. Signup + Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo’s new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play. Signup + Every Saturday The Watchlist Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Reviewing games can be kinda weird. When I’m playing stuff for personal reasons, there’s no deadline. No definitive date that I have to roll credits or reach 100% completion by. It’s just me and the journey. However long that takes.But I am also employed by one such website called PC Gamer, and sometimes I do have to play games as part of my job. Ones which do come with deadlines. I’ve just spent the last week of my life devouring as much Crimson Desert as I could feasibly manage alongside boring regular human stuff like cooking and showering and sleeping (blech!). Another few days and I probably would have developed a Scottish accent and started cooking two dozen steaks in anticipation of a looming boss fight. (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)I’ve got a lot of takeaways from my 75 hours of playtime—you can read all about them in my Crimson Desert review if you haven’t already, thank you very much—but one of my biggest ones of all? This is not a game to be devoured. It’s a sippin’ drink, not a tequila shot. It’s one of those weird little sweets your grandma always had that were undeniably better when you spent five minutes sucking them to a razor-thin pebble rather than crunching straight into it and shattering it into tiny pieces.Article continues below You may like Crimson Desert review: The Forza Horizon of action RPGs After 6 hours, Crimson Desert is one of the most overwhelming, chaotic, madcap videogames I’ve ever played—and I’m hungry for more Do yourself a favour in Crimson Desert and play the game with a controller It’s a game that absolutely thrives on the joy of discovery. To paraphrase Joel Franey from how review over on our sister site GamesRadar: Crimson Desert is better savoured as “a sandbox than as a story.” One where the journey is infinitely more interesting and satisfying than the destination.There are so many damn things to do that it feels like a disservice to ignore it all in favour of questing your way to the credits. Some of the most fun I got out of Crimson Desert was when I halted progression of the main story entirely and spent some time with my fellow Gre