TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 2,013
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
Take it easy, enjoy the ride.
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Reviewing games can be kinda weird. When I'm playing stuff for personal reasons, there's no deadline. No definitive date that I have to roll credits or reach 100% completion by. It's just me and the journey. However long that takes.
But I am also employed by one such website called PC Gamer, and sometimes I do have to play games as part of my job. Ones which do come with deadlines. I've just spent the last week of my life devouring as much Crimson Desert as I could feasibly manage alongside boring regular human stuff like cooking and showering and sleeping (blech!). Another few days and I probably would have developed a Scottish accent and started cooking two dozen steaks in anticipation of a looming boss fight.
I've got a lot of takeaways from my 75 hours of playtime—you can read all about them in my Crimson Desert review if you haven't already, thank you very much—but one of my biggest ones of all? This is not a game to be devoured. It's a sippin' drink, not a tequila shot. It's one of those weird little sweets your grandma always had that were undeniably better when you spent five minutes sucking them to a razor-thin pebble rather than crunching straight into it and shattering it into tiny pieces.
It's a game that absolutely thrives on the joy of discovery. To paraphrase Joel Franey from how review over on our sister site GamesRadar: Crimson Desert is better savoured as "a sandbox than as a story." One where the journey is infinitely more interesting and satisfying than the destination.
There are so many damn things to do that it feels like a disservice to ignore it all in favour of questing your way to the credits. Some of the most fun I got out of Crimson Desert was when I halted progression of the main story entirely and spent some time with my fellow Greymanes. Running errands for them, expanding the number of allies at my camp, and seeing it become a real community. A home to return to. One with merchants and farmhands and freeswords. One which really came to feel like a tiny slice of familiarity and warmth in a vast, overwhelming, and occasionally unforgiving world.
At one point, I wasn't pursuing any quests whatsoever. I hopped on my horse and rode around the forests lining the outskirts of Hernand. I picked peonies. I listened to the birds cawing and squawking nearby. I… er, shot a few deer for their ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Reviewing games can be kinda weird. When I'm playing stuff for personal reasons, there's no deadline. No definitive date that I have to roll credits or reach 100% completion by. It's just me and the journey. However long that takes.
But I am also employed by one such website called PC Gamer, and sometimes I do have to play games as part of my job. Ones which do come with deadlines. I've just spent the last week of my life devouring as much Crimson Desert as I could feasibly manage alongside boring regular human stuff like cooking and showering and sleeping (blech!). Another few days and I probably would have developed a Scottish accent and started cooking two dozen steaks in anticipation of a looming boss fight.
I've got a lot of takeaways from my 75 hours of playtime—you can read all about them in my Crimson Desert review if you haven't already, thank you very much—but one of my biggest ones of all? This is not a game to be devoured. It's a sippin' drink, not a tequila shot. It's one of those weird little sweets your grandma always had that were undeniably better when you spent five minutes sucking them to a razor-thin pebble rather than crunching straight into it and shattering it into tiny pieces.
It's a game that absolutely thrives on the joy of discovery. To paraphrase Joel Franey from how review over on our sister site GamesRadar: Crimson Desert is better savoured as "a sandbox than as a story." One where the journey is infinitely more interesting and satisfying than the destination.
There are so many damn things to do that it feels like a disservice to ignore it all in favour of questing your way to the credits. Some of the most fun I got out of Crimson Desert was when I halted progression of the main story entirely and spent some time with my fellow Greymanes. Running errands for them, expanding the number of allies at my camp, and seeing it become a real community. A home to return to. One with merchants and farmhands and freeswords. One which really came to feel like a tiny slice of familiarity and warmth in a vast, overwhelming, and occasionally unforgiving world.
At one point, I wasn't pursuing any quests whatsoever. I hopped on my horse and rode around the forests lining the outskirts of Hernand. I picked peonies. I listened to the birds cawing and squawking nearby. I… er, shot a few deer for their ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?