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Despite Crimson Desert's popularity, almost 80% of Steam players haven't made it halfway through the story yet, proving how massive Pearl Abyss's open world is
Crimson Desert players seem to not be all that bothered with the main questline, as reportedly just over 20% of players have hit the halfway point of the game.
Crimson Desert is pretty big. That's the vibe I get from the game anyway, where all of the pre-release material was effectively 'we have literally everything in this game by the way, go tame some cats.' Hell, Palworld's communications and publishing head 100%ed the game's achievements after 189 hours, and says he still has 20+ hours of side quests to do. Plus, even in the face of Resident Evil Requiem and Pokemon Pokopia, it's probably the most popular game of 2026 in terms of player reception, but for all the praise showered on its mechanics and the sheer amount of silly stuff you can do in it, I actually don't know anything about the story.
As spotted by PC Gamer, a glance at the Steam Achievements list for Crimson Desert reveals that only 22.1% of players have unlocked the Protector of Pailune achievement, which marks the completion of Chapter 7 of the main questline (around halfway through the main plot), which perhaps puts the reason I don't know anything about the main quest into perspective. The story seems to be the same over on PlayStation, as PSN Profiles says that only about 20.09% of players on PS5 have hit the same milestone.
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It's not entirely a stretch to say Crimson Desert's story seems to be one of the weaker parts of the game, especially since even Pearl Abyss studio CEO Heo Jin-young admitted the story could have done with some work. Plus, Kliff mocap actor Trevor McEwan said "I think what it lacks in narrative it more than makes up for in other aspects," although he does not there's a ton of lore nuggets hidden throughout the world.
Granted, I don't really see a problem with this. A good open world can definitely sustain itself by just exploring and doing whatever. I played about 100 hours of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild before I bothered to go have a scrap with Calamity Ganon, because it was simply that fun to roam about in. And despite having an incredible story, I wouldn't be shocked if there's a ton of Red Dead Redemption 2 players who haven't finished the story either thanks to just how good that open world is.
Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.
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