Crimson Desert Is Sekiro & Shadow Of The Colossus Rolled Into One ARPG

My experience starts at Gamescom 2023, not this year's iteration. There, I was one of the few who got to attend a closed-door presentation of the upcoming action RPG's then-current build, watching a developer navigate a bustling city. The hero, Kliff, a warrior from a combat-hardened outfit, explored the city and unraveled a complex quest chain simply by donating a coin to a beggar and listening to his story. There wasn't a major prompt — it just happened naturally after the player decided to engage.

I was keen on the game then, eager to see what it played like after seeing its RPG trappings and a quick look at the Reed Devil boss fight. Now, at Gamescom 2024, I was finally able to play an hour of in a Gamescom-specific boss rush build that showcased four different battles. I was optimistic about Pearl Abyss' game before — now I'm a full-on believer, and I think it might be game to watch in the buildup to its release.

Gamescom is the biggest video game trade show in the world, and that means a plethora of big reveals. Here’s the best of the opening night livestream.

During my hands-on, I got to tackle four bosses in an hour-long span. In order of appearance in the above gallery, attendees were able to fight the Queen Stoneback Crab, White Horn, Staglord, and Reed Devil bosses. Prior to that, I was given a quick ten-minute tutorial video on the general basics of combat, including the magical powers Kliff has access to that offer a variety of uses from stuns to temporary flight to, essentially, web-slinging like Spider-Man. This is a game that doesn't shy away from anything it thinks might be cool.

Even the tutorial combat, which I played prior to getting thrown into the deep end of a slew of monsters trying to murder me, was reminiscent of another game — this time something like , but midway through an early level where there's still plenty of opportunity to die. There were a band of berserkers happy to try to claim Kliff's head and it took everything I knew from