Crimson Desert could easily give the likes of Dragon's Dogma 2 and Assassin's Creed a run for their money by the time it launches later on in 2025.

It wouldn’t be hyperbolic to say that Crimson Desert has the potential to be one of the most ambitious open-world games I’ve ever played. I say ‘potential’ because for as impressive as trailers and the small gameplay slices developer Pearl Abyss has shown so far have been, earlier this week I got to get hands on with the game a second time – and for the second time wasn’t actually able to explore its open-world.

Instead, much of my hour-and-a-half hands-on time was spent getting my butt kicked by four distinct boss fights; boss fights that absolutely felt exciting and rewarding to overcome in the moment. I just hope that by the time Crimson Desert releases on , , and |S later in 2025, what you do outside of these epic confrontations are equally as awesome.

For the time being, it’s at least good to know that Crimson Desert knows how to set the stakes for an epic battle against all kinds of supernatural individuals. The fantasy open-world game is set in the undeniably beautiful continent of Pywel, and every location I was dropped into – from sun-kissed wheat fields to keeps situated upon a snowy mountaintop – did well to make each confrontation all the more epic.

My first fight was against a ruined warlord called the Staglord, who very quickly challenged my core parrying and countering skills. The fight played out in fast and frantic fashion, and I was only able to get the upper hand by keeping a good deal of distance, and then timing my stabs and thrusts perfectly in between the Staglord’s fast-paced blows.

It didn’t take long for Crimson Desert to again prove to me very quickly just how refreshingly different it plays compared to, say, – and more specifically games that continue to ape that format. While there is the ability to block, parry, and even stagger opponents (by reflecting the sunlight off of your sword) to leave them open to attack, the button combinations needed to pull off attacks like slashes, thrusts, and even a grapple-based Neckbreaker manoeuvre are a lot more specific unusual.

The result is a third-person action RPG that plays a lot more like a fighting game, as opposed to something like , , or even the recently released .

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Nowhere did Crimson Desert’s unique controls come into play more than in my fight against Hexe Marie, a mysterious witch type character who seemed to be more crow than human. Her nature to summon legions of clay-made minions meant I had to think about riposting a continuous string of attacks from all angles, but the encounter was made more challenging any time she leapt into the air and attacked from above using her crow swarms.

This was the point I could use main character Kliff’s force blast ability to push myself into the air, taking the fight into the sky by forcing myself upwards and unleashing a barrage of explosive arrows. Compared to the fight with the Staglord, going toe-to-toe with Hexe Marie forced me to fight in slippery positions I previously hadn’t thought about.

I could recount similar stories about how uniquely my battles with the Reed Devil and Stoneback Crab played out, but by now I don’t think anyone would question that Crimson Desert has the goods when it comes to boss fights. And this is exactly my point. Although there’s still some unknowns with regards to how players will engage in these confrontations – either naturally in the world, or as part of a main or side mission – the four bosses I got to tackle sold me on Crimson Desert’s mostly slick combat. What I (and everyone else who's curious about what Pearl Abyss is working on) am wondering is, what else does Crimson Desert have to offer?

Purely in terms of scope, Crimson Desert is intimidating, being the kind of open-world RPG that has me wobbling at the knees about how tough it’s going to be to get a handle on come review time. In every boss fight there was the sight of life in the distance, be it a trading ship coming into port or a far-off hub of townsfolk going about their day.

Hence why it was painfully frustrating that when demoing the game again, the invisible walls were up, and I couldn’t get out there myself to find an engaging adventure of my own. If Pearl Abyss is just as confident in everything else as it is its epic boss fights, Crimson Desert should end up being a superlative RPG experience. But if that’s the case, why not show it off? The game’s release is scheduled for ‘late 2025’ after all.

Ultimately, while it’s disappointing that Pearl Abyss is still very much playing its cards close to its chest with regards to the full extent of what Pywel has to offer, Crimson Desert’s killer combat still has me excited about checking out the full game later this year. It helps that the team’s in-house BlackSpace engine looks to be pulling double duty, offering a suite of luscious locations to do battle in. As we creep ever closer to the game’s 2025 launch, I just hope that there’s plenty else present in this world to make me want to endlessly explore it.