Crimson Desert looks like a perfectly fine game. I’ve not played it, and I don’t intend to, so my perspective is based predominantly on trailers and reviews from my industry peers. Which, as it happens, also generally seemed to reach a consensus of “yeah, it’s fine.” Sibling site European Gamer certainly seemed to think so, as did others. But if you ask the European CEO of developer Pearl Abyss Lybee Park, the difference between critic and user scores comes down to the fact that the former didn’t have the “the fair chance to explore” the game in full during the review period.
