Some game demos, you write it down after the expo, because they need a little reflection. Some game demos, you’ll quickly write them down, because they’re easy to digest, even through the drone fugue of jet lag. And some game demos, you write right away, as you will be perfectly synced with your swivel-eyed hypercaffeinated delirium.
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We found Crimson Desert at the epicenter of the Summer Games Fest 2025 campus. When he saw it last September, James aired the horror that “an exploration of Crimson Desert’s fantastic open world would be interrupted by regular bouts of twangie, unwieldy, unhappy combat.” I wish I could provide such a consistent analysis. Crimson Desert is more than just an action game, so I’m trying to remember what I was playing during the 60-minute hands-on.
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It’s a witch’s sword with a light, intense attack, but it’s also Spider-Man with a swinging astral hook shot – and whisper some wrestling moves while you’re in it. And ask the PR man to remind him that the eyeball to print of “basic controls” is a button, a jump button.
Crimson Dessert is a thrilling story of Grayman’s Cliff Macduff. He looks impressive every day. When I fought after dark I found him exchangeable from many human enemies I was fighting for. This is partly a fatigue issue, and partly because Crimson desserts are throwing those enemies at you like fistfuls of burning popcorn. It sometimes makes the dynasty warriors look sparse. Dynasty warriors tend to have fewer barrels of explosion.
It mentions that Kliff Macduff cannot be seen by friendly PR men at Chaos. The makeshift solution for a kind PR man is to dress Kliff MacDuff in a radically orange Tudor doublet and look like the villain of the week in BlackAdder. This appears to be serious injustice against Cliff McDuff. Otherwise, you’re growing Geralty’s understatement notes, but Cliff McDuff is probably the kind of video game journalist, so you’re probably going to be happy overall as he’s not murdered by a random picket man.
Certainly, Crimson Desert is probably much easier to scan if you’re not playing on packed show floors with brain-torn glares of 20 competing demos. Also, certainly, complexity is probably easier, if you actually start from the start, rather than directly mediating the resolution of a pitched battle that you’re hoping to use the artillery mechanics mentioned above to crush some front post bases with one hand and defeat the boss.
I don’t remember at all who was fighting that demonstration fight, but there was an impressive wealth of world building. Many surrounding chatter from friendly soldiers and civilians have been injured against the fortress, standing outside the tent, and on the side of the trail. I look forward to investigating Crimson Desert’s fantasy realm and stop accidentally forcing me to jump into the ditch, or summon my horse every time I try to heal.
In a terrible strait like these, button mashing can be your solid ally. I massaging the controller like the throat of my most beloved enemy for two thirds, marveling when Cliff Macduff bouncing, rolling and kicking, throwing and calling out to the campfire, getting caught up from the campfire, hanging out like his horse and horse and calling for a call. Slashing through all his healing items, somehow equipped, making Batman glide, switching to his hammer, spinning like a top, and stuck on the fence.
It all swam until I failed the boss fight (in fact, our time was almost over, so PR jumped over me to a prepared save, and I couldn’t stop laughing). To defeat the boss – a troubled lord oaf with horned shoulder pads suggesting Dali paintings of power suits of the 80s – I had to stumble him first by the abilities of my power. Then I had to pick up a fallen stone pillar and stoke him with him.
This second feat serves as a useful case study of the game’s control scheme, which appears to have been designed by Angry Bees. First, I had to click on both analog sticks to engage in focus mode. Then I had to press and lock two face buttons, aiming for a thin section of the column wafer. Then I had to hit another face button to float the pillar. Finally, I actually had to press another button to equip it on my arm. All this before the boss regains his composure and tears my gravel.
I ended up cracking it, mainly thanks to the demos that offer unlimited revivals. If it weren’t, I don’t think I should have passed that first Peakman. It felt like it would soften the bomb a bit, except that if Microprose was in the business of Parry Mechanics it was like playing a microprose game, except that it was like playing a microprose game.
“Did you have fun?” asked the PR man who was a little worried at all the furious squeals I had probably been making. Yes, I was surprised to find out. Yes, I had fun. I don’t call Crimson Dessert elegant, but it’s not like there’s a shortage of RPG tricks. For many of you, busyness is a selling point. Read more about Steam.