Gaming News

Crimson Desert Draws Steam Criticism: Gameplay Issues, Not Optimization, Are the Core Concerns

July 11, 2026Diego Herrera1 мин

While early reviews for a game of this scale may not fully capture the complete picture, a clear trend has emerged: a significant portion of players struggled to get past the initial stages. It appears the prolonged and challenging introductory phase proved to be overly burdensome and tedious.

Currently, Crimson Desert holds "mixed" reviews on Steam, with approximately 60% positive ratings. For a major title, this is considered a rather modest outcome.

Notably, the primary complaints are less about technical glitches and more about core gameplay elements. Players frequently express dissatisfaction with the plot, the protracted introduction, the inventory management system, the user interface, and the overall game comfort.

For developers, addressing such issues is often more challenging than merely fixing bugs, as these fundamental elements are harder to rework. Nevertheless, some of these concerns could potentially be resolved through updates, provided the studio reacts promptly.

Despite the mixed reception, the game's launch was quite strong: on release night, peak concurrent players reached 239,000. While this is far from Steam's all-time records, these figures could potentially increase further over the weekend.