It is the most obvious forecast in the world to say that Grand Theft Auto 6, should it actually hit its fall release date this time, will be far and away the biggest release of 2026. Of the generation. Of the decade. I mean, probably of all time, in terms of pure scope. But one game gaining steam will be out much sooner, and players are amazed by what’s been shown. So much so that some don’t…actually believe it.
The game is Crimson Desert, developed and published by Pearl Abyss, most famous for Black Desert Online. Originally, Crimson Desert was meant to be a prequel to Black Desert, but ultimately morphed into its own game, though keeping the colored desert theme.
The game’s previews show a sweeping, open-world offering with elements of both Elder Scrolls and The Witcher, featuring three playable characters (none of them customizable, which was sort of Black Desert’s whole thing).
A new preview went up yesterday, already racking up a quarter million views and drawing widespread praise from fans. It doesn’t exactly look like it’s breaking the mold for open-world fantasy games, and taking elements from many. Not just the ones I mentioned, but there’s an entire sky-based landmass that feels extremely Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I almost laughed at some of the preview video because it was just such basic RPG stuff, but that’s…kind of the point. But then there are also…missile shooting mechs. Perhaps there is more here than it seems.
Play Puzzles & Games on Forbes
Players have been missing out on something like this for ages now. We can reference The Witcher 3, but that was 11 years ago. Skyrim was 15. The latest Dragon Age wasn’t even close to something like this. So, simply by showing up, looking good, and getting the basics right, Pearl Abyss could be poised to have a huge hit on its hands.
There is sort of a weird thread through all of this, some fans saying that something feels “off” and like all this is too good to be true, especially from this studio in particular. They reference Black Desert Online as a game that in early previews, looked like it would be the MMORPG to end all MMORPGs, and while it was a success ultimately, it wasn’t that, certainly. The concern is that as good as it looks, it may not quite feel the same way in practice.
I…don’t buy that. I have not seen any promotion for this that feels like it’s misleading. I suppose the game could control poorly, or run poorly, or have a bad story, or end up being too generic, but I don’t think there’s some sort of trick going on here. These previews feel too elaborate for that, and it’s not some cinematic or a vertical slice or something. We’re too close to release, which is out on March 19 across all platforms.
Follow me on Twitter and YouTube.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.