Crimson Desert is staking everything on its open world: "I'm more hyped for this game than GTA 6"

The surging interest around Crimson Desert is as fascinating as it is telling. Due to launch on March 19, Reddit is awash with would-be players caught in Pearl Abyss' chokehold, eagerly awaiting the combo-heavy third-person adventure.

Some are "more hyped for this game than GTA 6", according to one Reddit thread. And honestly? I'm not surprised. With Fable and The Blood of Dawnwalker also among the upcoming RPGs slated for 2026, and a new Witcher game not too far off either, I too dream of worlds unspoiled by the messy, overfamiliar touch of the modern day. 2026 is shaping up to be the year of the medieval RPG – and Crimson Desert is first up to bat.

The great outdoors

Don't get me wrong – I'll be the first to bite off CD Projekt Red's hand when Cyberpunk 2 comes a-calling. But until that day arrives, and with my Game of the Year already booked with Resident Evil Requiem, I'm all in on yesteryear when it comes to RPGs.

Whether pining for the days of Skyrim or your first outing in The Witcher 3, there are many reasons to anticipate Crimson Desert. The Reddit page is currently running full pelt at the game's graphics themselves, for example, marveling at its gargantuan 80km-squared map size that makes it even bigger than Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2. "It looks like what Dragon's Dogma 2 should have been," one commenter remarks. Despite how much I adored the combat in Capcom's 2024 epic, I see what they mean.

Pearl Abyss' attention to specifics makes its hyper realistic world a joy to behold, even in mere videos. Bolstered by our own glowing Crimson Desert preview, it's clear the developer has managed to recapture that yearning for a sense of adventure that many of us have been craving. "Don’t even care if the story is mid," one Redditor says. "Just get me lost in this world."

That right there is the golden kernel, the root of the fascination. Games espousing huge open worlds are ten a-penny in 2026, but more often than not, you'll find a beautiful hollow shell instead of a deep, immersive sim.

Hogwarts Legacy always holds the player at arm's length, for example. There's no relaxing at the dinner table with housemates, as our Editor-In-Chief notes in his Hogwarts Legacy review, with the whole world lacking the responsiveness of something like Skyrim or The Witcher. Meanwhile, Starfield is a gigantic game that nobody can successfully explain to me, because it's a whole lot of empty space.

The reactivity and liveliness of a video game is one of the most prominent player expectations at the moment, and for good reason. A huge map is less necessary – Dying Light: The Beast boasts a modest yet incredibly interactive survival horror playground, for example – but Crimson Desert seems to promise both size and substance in one.

Okay, maybe it's not the golden kernel, the "one great thing" drawing players to Crimson Desert in their droves, but it's certainly a key factor. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch Digital Foundry's new gameplay deep dive for the hundredth time and dream about killing beasties.

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