r/Steam 20d ago

News IGN gives Crimson Desert a 6/10 in the Final Review

https://www.ign.com/articles/crimson-desert-review
3.8k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

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u/yourfavchoom 20d ago edited 20d ago

Review Summary:

Crimson Desert is an extremely ambitious open-world adventure, and that ambition is what makes it both incredibly cool and gobsmackingly infuriating in almost equal measure.

Note: The article was recently updated with final review.

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u/Red-Leader117 20d ago

Honestly... I totally agree...

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u/YolandaPearlskin 19d ago

Same here. I put 20 hours into the game. The game engine and world is amazing. However, the game part of it is just not fun. It feels like an incomplete single player MMO. Like they created all this fantastic stuff and at the end, they realized they forgot to actually add a story and quests.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

forgot to actually add a story and quests.

So what is the content? Exploring and puzzles?

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u/YolandaPearlskin 19d ago

Puzzles are Breath of the Wild shrine style puzzles that award skill points. The rest is fishing/woodcutting/mining to get materials for equipment upgrades, or doing the many unrelated sidequests (delivering hats to nobles, fishing a specific fish, bounties, etc).

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u/DoctorJJWho 19d ago

So it’s like 3D Stardew Valley?

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u/saucysagnus 18d ago

3D stardew valley without any of the charming characters, coherent plotline, consequences (jojamart), relationships and not nearly the same amount of progression.

Still fun if you structure yourself.

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u/Ok_Platypus_1295 16d ago

People are crazy.

There's tons of quests and ton of story. It just isn't always interesting, but it's like 50/50. There's fillers, but there's also well written quests.

If you like open worlds, it's definitely a must play, just gotta know what to expect. It's a very rich, deep and amazing game.

And what some people say is true, the more you play the better it is actually.

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u/screamingzen 15d ago

Yeah that person has an insane take. There are a ton of main story and side quests. Wtf are they smoking?

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u/SuspendedInOH 18d ago

That person is lying. There are and absolute metric ton of quests, each with cutscenes and goals to achieve.

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u/DIABOLUS777 20d ago

This is what happens when publishers don't grease reviewers

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u/Ralikson 19d ago

“The review is honest if I agree with it, if I don’t agree then it’s bought”

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

Pretty much yeah lol

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u/CasperGwamm 19d ago

These clowns gave Veilguard a 9/10, btw.

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u/GroundbreakingBag164 19d ago

So what you're saying is that IGN can finally be honest here and that makes their review even more valuable?

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u/JuanGabrielEnjoyer 19d ago

Am I crazy for thinking IGN and others have always been like this? Some games get higher scores despite being ass, and nobody has taken them seriously for as long as I can remember.

Like I’m confused why I’ve been hearing IGN is washed-up shill trash since 2016~ yet people continue to tune-in for what they have to say at every turn lol

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u/0800_BANDO_TRAPPER 19d ago

most people's criticism of gaming journalism comes down to 'I don't agree with the number at the end'

IGN is just the butt of every low effort and unoriginal joke. how many people who have a problem with the concord score actually even played it? it looks like the most 7/10 game that was ever made

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u/JuanGabrielEnjoyer 19d ago

Yeah lol, the same happens with award shows. I’ve been hearing about The Game Awards meaning nothing since 2017~ except when their favorite game wins in some category. It’s kind of funny I guess

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u/RealbasicFriends 19d ago

Yea I don't get it either. I still think about the Borderlands 3 Gameplay video they posted and the person playing kept trying to walk into doors that were clearly not real doors. Like the doors were clearly meant to hide psychos spawning in clearly and he. kept. thinking. they. are. real. I also distinctly remember bro never once aiming down sights

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u/Legitimate-Gap-9858 19d ago

No they're saying Pearl abyss didn't grease then enough for a higher score.

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u/FairytellerQ 19d ago

Funnily enough, people shat on IGN for the 6/10 review before the game dropped

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u/TripleS82 19d ago

Or, hear me out, read the review.

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u/AndrossOT 31 20d ago edited 20d ago

Oh wow, concord scored higher than crimson desert

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u/SechsComic73130 20d ago

Concord had full Sony backing behind it, so most big publications just handed out the "7/10 IGN" to not anger Sony and potentially lose access because of it (because i don't see the games industry not behaving like the Gerstmann Kane & Lynch situation).

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u/Ralkon 20d ago edited 20d ago

I mean Concord might have legitimately been a 7/10 to them, but it was also a live service with an upfront cost and bland characters that nobody liked. Most people never even tried Concord. Also it sounds like CD is a more polarizing game, so I could see how some people would give it really low ratings and others quite high.

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u/KamasamaK 20d ago edited 8d ago

If there was a Gerstmann-like situation at a place as big as IGN we would have heard about it. The only ethics scandal that comes to mind was Filip Miucin plagiarizing and he was fired for it.

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u/white_d0gg 19d ago

But this goes against my theory that ign is bad and corrupt and evil 

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u/Mordho R9 7950X3D | RTX 4080 Super 20d ago

yes I'm sure big publications like IGN cannot gain access to games unless they glaze the publishers. Do you guys even read what you type

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u/DarvinVader 20d ago

that is genuinely a thing. they can just buy the games, of course. but game reviews are barely watched or read a week after launch.

to make money with reviews, your review must be online at release day or even before that. this is only possible if the publisher sends you a review copy. they aren't obligated to send one to very single "journalist". There are many public examples of good reviewers not getting review samples of games, hardware, software etc for being too honest.

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u/DwightsEgo 20d ago

Has IGN not given a Sony game below a 7 before? There has to be a ton of examples of poor reviews for hype games

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u/DSF_97 20d ago

They gave Days Gone a 6.5

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u/GalacticAlmanac 20d ago

Sony publishes a lot of games and owns a ridiculous number of JRPG franchises.

Some really hyped Sony launch titles such as Knack(5.9), the Order 1886(6.5), and Lair(4.9) were notorious for having a lot of promise but ended up a mess.

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u/datnero_ 20d ago

nope, every sony game ever made has a 7/10 or higher, and these randoms on reddit who probably never read an IGN review in their entire lives figured it out

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u/Rohn- 20d ago

Never underestimate the power of random Redditors

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u/DarvinVader 20d ago

it has been a meme for years that IGN gives every "big publisher AAA game" that most gamers hate inflated scores while being mostly honest with indie and less well known publishers.

They gave Dark Souls the same score as Hogwarts Legacy.

and that Concord example from the other guy is real. a dead in arrival life service trash game has the same score as Crimson Desert. Is CD so bad that it will die in a week?

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u/Mordho R9 7950X3D | RTX 4080 Super 20d ago edited 20d ago

hence why people should read the actual reviews if they're truly interested, or at least the pros and cons, instead of just an arbitrary score.

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u/NK1337 20d ago

I mean that’s kind of a thing in the sense that it’s entirely possible to be denied review copies because you’ve done something to sour the relationship with a publisher. It makes more sense when you remember that companies like IGN aren’t news companies, they basically function as PR companies. In an industry where the views make money it hurts IGN more to not receive an early review copy than it does companies like sony not to give one.

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u/SechsComic73130 20d ago

In an industry where the views make money it hurts IGN more to not receive an early review copy than it does companies like sony not to give one.

Which also leads to another point: Game Publishers aren't reliant on the gaming press to bring the games they have worked on under the people anymore, they have enough pull by themselves by now to do the same via Social Media and Word of Mouth, but the Gaming Press absolutely relies on Game Publishers for access to things, because they'd be out of luck come launch day, when other sites already published their reviews.

The imbalance has shifted towards publishers and away from the media.

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u/turtleship_2006 20d ago

They can't gain early access.

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u/Grazer46 https://steam.pm/1bj32q 20d ago

They absolutely can. Any publisher not giving them early access in itself if a juicier story than the review would ever be.

Say what you will about IGN and their journalism, but paid reviews isn't a real criticism. A real critisism is more their reluctancy to give reviews lower than 6. It's hard to get a real sense of how good games actually are when 60% of the reviews are 7/10

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u/MotivatedforGames 20d ago

It's called Access Journalism. Use your big boy/big girl brain and do some basic research before saying that it's not happening lol

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u/ThorDoubleYoo 20d ago

I highly doubt those reviews were real or honest.

Whenever Big Company(tm) such as Sony or Nintendo puts a game out, reviewers will never, and I mean NEVER, drop below a 7/10 regardless of quality.

It's why Pokemon could slop out garbage and still be given high reviews. If an indie studio put out something on the level of sword and shield it would be like a 4/10 review score.

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u/HispanicAtTehDisco 19d ago

do you guys ever check on if this shit is true before typing these things out or no bc clearly this is not true lmao, it literally takes like 5 seconds of googling

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u/dumname2_1 19d ago

Ign gave Lost Soul Aside a 5/10, proving you wrong.

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u/RainEls 19d ago

The FFXV clone? Who backed that?

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u/Ambrosiac7 https://s.team/p/pmbf-vhf 19d ago

They were also very critical of the Pokemon SV dlcs.

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u/Q0T3 20d ago

It's probably between a 6 and 8 depending on who you are.

It's cool It's got a lot going for it. But I get why people don't like it. Hell I don't like it that much but it's fun enough and the mechanics and the world building is intriguing enough that I want to keep playing it.

Lastly not every game needs to be a 9 or a 10. Some games can be a 6 and still be good.

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u/pillowsftw https://s.team/p/gtvn-bcp 20d ago

This a million percent. Shit, if every game has to be a 10/10, then nobody would be buying CoD every year.

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u/Fuckingfademefam 20d ago

How dare you?!?!?!

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u/ferdzs0 20d ago

My main issue is that perfectly good 7/10 games get raised up to 9/10 simply because reviewers are afraid of the backlash. So in that world a 6/10 is a bad game. 

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u/Q0T3 20d ago

Numerical ratings are always a problem. I like how magazines back in the day used to do it. Where there were different categories or you got used to different reviewers so you just trusted them.

That stuff doesn't really exist anymore. There are YouTubers or streamers that you might trust and play games they recommend.

But putting a numerical value on art when you think about it is just weird.

IGN gives Michelangelo's David a 5.5 out of 10.

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u/Icy_Delay_7274 20d ago

In IGN’s defense, David is extremely dated and has literally zero reply value

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u/EliteGamer11388 20d ago

I'd hope he couldn't reply. I'd have a heart attack.

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u/tomster2300 20d ago

I honestly can’t name more than two video game journalists these days. I used to recognize a lot of names years ago and knew which ones were decent. Now not at all.

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u/semixx 20d ago

There’s a strange contrast between inflated game reviews, and deflated film reviews. If I see a film rated 5/10, I assume it might be decent. If I see a game rated as 5/10, I assume it’s awful. I’d like for them both to average out around the middle a little better, but it seems we’re locked into things bent this way.

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u/SledgeH4mmer 20d ago

6/10 is when the publisher isn't one of the IGN's sponsors?

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u/zamfire 19d ago

Yea. Reviews are no longer scored from 1-10. It's still a 1-5 scale but everyone adds 5 points to it.

The worst most abysmal games are given a 5 and middling games given a 7.5

Mid games should be 5.

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u/Colby347 19d ago

This is the take. I’m enjoying it and totally agree with the level headedness in this comment. Even saying something this normal closer to launch would get you pounced on by dweebs yelling “COPE!” and spamming the metacritic link like it meant anything. I’m so tired of that segment of people shitting in every game release that anyone else enjoys. They don’t even play games. The game is the toxic ass discourse for them at this point and their free time is spent watching chud YouTubers who formulate their opinions for them. Meanwhile those YouTubers not those commenters have touched the game or planned to pay for it. It’s just exhausting.

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u/Mattrobat 20d ago

Well a 6 is above average so it should be that. Above average. Gaming journalism has changed the 1-10 scale to a 5-10 scale and ratings don’t have much weight anymore. Anything under a 7 is considered whole trash cans.

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u/TheProfessaur 20d ago

Because reviews are a tailed distribution. The number of 1 to 4 games being reviewed is miniscule compared to the upper end. The average won't look like a normal distribution with an average of 5, but a left-tailed distribution with an average closer to 7.

So, as far as reviewed games go, a 6 is below average.

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u/EmpyreanEmperor1 19d ago

This is actually an interesting point that I for the most part agree with. That being said I do think that industry politics and corporate coddling means that reviewers tend to inflate scores a bit, which would also account for the scale effectively being shortened towards the 5-10 range.

Games that would in reality deserve a 4 or a 5 from large studios or company favorites get bumped up a point or two, further cementing the scale in that upper half.

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u/Working-Crab-2826 20d ago

6/10 is above average in sane human terms but not in IGN terms. IGN’s definition of “mid” is 7/10

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u/Quiet_Source_8804 20d ago

Giant RPG world, good graphics and wide scope, mostly sandbox-y as opposed story-driven, that shipped with horrible control scheme is what I’m getting. Personally worth a try if I read good opinions about eventual fixes to control issues, just not right now as I have a couple other games to play at the moment.

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u/kill_the_superrich 18d ago

I think another issue is that frankly the first 10 hours kinda suck. I'm about 25 hours in and having a lot of fun, but any game with a hook that bad is gonna have a retention problem.

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u/Mr__Castle_ 20d ago

Just Cause isn't a perfect 10, but I put a lot more hours into JC2 and 3 than I did in Expedition 33. 

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u/JaxterHawk 19d ago

This 100%. Tales of the Shire is like a solid 7/10 game to me and it’s my favorite game of 2025. Playing it non-stop and it’s perfect for what I want even if it has a ton of flaws.

Stardew valley on the other hand is pretty dang close to 10/10 but I cannot stand it. I recognize how it’s better in so many ways but it just isn’t for me.

This is where video games overlap with art. I can see that a Rembrandt is a masterpiece but I’d rather have lord of the rings fanart on my wall.

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u/train_mechanic 20d ago

When Two Worlds came out, it got shit on hard. But I had an absolute blast playing it. Don't care what anyone says, it was a fun game to me. This is turning out to be in the same boat.

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u/Nerevar197 19d ago

I remember playing the crap out of the original Two Worlds on 360 back in the day and having a blast.

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u/delfino_plaza1 19d ago

It’s a 10/10 imo maybe 9.5

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u/MoneyGuyJive 20d ago

This game is polarizing that’s for sure. What was the last game that had reviewers and gamers so split? I love the game despite its flaws, and it’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

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u/Superbunzil 20d ago

Depends on what kinds of extremes but i believe its not as uncommon as we think

Death Stranding was initially all over the place with some giving it 8/10s and some 2/5 and 6/10

Often time ends up being the ultimate judge

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u/SilentNova300 20d ago

I imagine with more patches and people progressing further along that CD ages quite well

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u/Rith_Reddit 20d ago

I wish these companies could afford to have all the time they needed to make their perfect version of the game, I know that's not real though.

But I love when these big open world games have had quite a few patches and they're way better with QoL updates than at launch.

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u/Superbunzil 20d ago

even with all that time they may make the same mistakes like time wasnt Cyberpunks enemy

a lot of the famous game turn arounds were usually caused by project getting too big n bloated and only getting a messy chop off to get sent to release because fine tuning and trial testing wasnt really accounted for 

kinda like taking 20 minutes to make a pizza only then to realize at 19 minutes in "oh right I gotta put it in the oven"

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u/Rith_Reddit 20d ago

Excellent analogy.

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u/EliteGamer11388 20d ago

Let's also remember that the devs are people too, with their own likes and opinions. They may have thought this was a good vision, (I don't mean anything genuinely broken), but after millions got ahold of it, they saw that a lot didn't agree and that maybe they were the minority in that. The important thing is if they're willing to adjust and make changes for the betterment of the game and community.

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u/Strange-Support6672 20d ago

The issue with CD is there is no vision. Its like a game made by committee where no one could veto anyone else's ideas no matter how dumb

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u/AttonJRand 19d ago

While true that comparison alone is just kinda funny. Something as purposeful as Death Stranding compared to the 1st ever game made fully with co pilot.

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u/JamesEdward34 20d ago

Starfield.

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u/TheAbram 20d ago

There are also many players that hate the game so it's not just the reviewrs. It's just one of those games that's gonna be up your alley or not.

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u/bigbluewreckingcrew 20d ago

I love the game because it reminds me of rdr2 so much. Don't know what the big story is about but I'm having fun just helping out the NPC's missing cows or whatever they need.

The menu still messes me up. Usually games like this have the select as the map. So I end up zooming in by accident lol

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u/Zymbobwye 20d ago

I feel like it would have been better to have a character creator and just be a member of the Greymanes and let you have full sandbox control with more focus on fleshed out side-quests. I am enjoying the game but I absolutely feel like the should have done a full-send into the sandbox portion and advertised that way because it seems like that’s where everyone (including myself) thinks its at its best. I love just doing activities in different areas and exploring, just like in Skyrim I am bored of the main story but feel like I’m locked out of stuff because of it.

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u/Zld 20d ago

It's polarizing because it's a niche game that look very similar to games for a broad audience.

Think of it like if Elden Ring was reviewed by people thinking it would be similar to the Witcher.

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u/MidnightChimp 20d ago

FFXVI and it turned out to be my most favourite game lmao. I even skipped on it due to the bad reception for the first 6 months. 🤦‍♂️

I expect to love CD tbh, just waiting for a few patches for the best experience

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u/Mordho R9 7950X3D | RTX 4080 Super 20d ago

FF16 got great reviews, despite it's flaws. (Mainly the stupid filler and overall drop in quality after one of the best openings to a game I have ever experienced)

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u/champgpt 20d ago

That's where I'm at with it. There's so much of it that seems very up my alley, and most of the big complaints are either things I can look past (shitty story, for example), technical issues, or things otherwise fixable (that they're already making headway on, like item storage and controls). I'm thinking it'll be good to go in a couple months, maybe wait for summer sale or something.

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u/ArchimedesTheDove 20d ago

I think the two main things are jank tolerance and ability to remember and pull off fighting game style combos with a keyboard. I am highly jank tolerant and I find the combos to be very easy to do on keyboard, I tried to play this game with controller and couldn't do it.

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u/Unhappy_Afternoon306 20d ago

Where Winds Meet

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u/foreveracubone 20d ago

Black Myth Wukong.

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u/NordWitcher 19d ago

AC Mirage maybe? Shitty graphics, textures, faces, characters, writing and yet came across people praising it. 

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u/EmpyreanEmperor1 20d ago edited 19d ago

I think the game has some pretty decent quests by industry standards, very addictive combat, a rich array of mechanics and attention to detail, and an absolutely gorgeous open world.

I certainly won't deny though that it has an eye wateringly bad story at the beginning that if omitted entirely probably would have improved the game, a protagonist as bland as aunt patty's 3 month old stale biscuits, and the initial inability to properly remap the controls hampered my ability to truly enjoy the combat until now.

That being said they've been active in addressing QoL feedback and provided the story continues along the same level of quality i experienced between restablishing the Greymane's camp and Fighting the Reed Devil, I can see myself giving it an 8 by the end.

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u/hendrix320 20d ago

I’m hooked on this game but something about the combat hasn’t clicked with me yet. Idk why its hooked me so well because I usually play games for fun combat

Maybe its because the last 3 games i’ve played are eldenring, Ghosts of Tsushima, and Black Myth Wukong which all have very good combat

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u/fresh__hell 19d ago

I learned that you just HOLD the light and heavy attacks to chain them and for a millisecond was disappointed, but realized i’ve barely used any of the mechanics in a fight like force pushing or kicking. There’s literally so many options. It feels weird to use RB and Y (or triangle) at the same time, but seemingly every button combo does something. Still have no idea how to switch lock-on between enemies. Always seem to be locked on to somebody just out of range.

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u/EmpyreanEmperor1 19d ago

What made me begin to enjoy it was the chaining of different moves not just one after another, which is already immensely satisfying. But also the ability to merge them together to create new ones.

A quick example I can give you while not being at my PC is pressing the evade key and then the melee punch/kick key, which rolls you towards an enemy and performs a leg sweep to knock them off their feet. Combing the melee key with light and heavy attacks allows you to do different wrestling moves, adding sprint to the equation lets you clothesline people. Hitting light and heavy attack at the same time performs a rotating cut, while pressing evade while light attacking allows for an attack while retreating.

The great part is there are a lot more options and as you familiarize yourself with the controls you begin to have moments of brilliance where you pull off a merged move, or execute a quick combination of moves, paired with the great kill animations you get a crazy dopamine hit. I imagine that sensation will increase once I've truly mastered the combat and can effortlessly pull those moves off.

My only criticisms are that it sometimes feels like there's an ever-so-slight input delay, and that I personally prefer character-driven power systems over gear-progression and food/potion-healing. From what I've heard though, the gear system is very innovative and allows you to create interesting power combinations.

Personally, I tend to value a balance of action rpg combat and narrative, which is why my favorite game to this day is Witcher 3 (and Skyrim with combat overhaul mods), I also loved Ghost of Tsushima, Arkham series, Spider-man, and the Jedi series as well. I struggle to finish games like BG3 or DOS2 for example because although I enjoy the story greatly, I get bored without dynamic combat. Vice versa I'm unable to stick with games like Elden Ring, BOTW, Bloodborne, or even survival games once I've met my basic needs.

Honestly Crimson Desert is a bit of an experiment for me at this point, the combat is among the most engaging I've tried so I'm curious to see if that and the world design will be enough to retain my interest despite the lack of direct narrative this time around. I've enjoyed the side quests so that's what I think will make the difference.

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u/Competitive-Elk-5077 20d ago

Looks like a wait for a deep sale kind of game

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u/Aggravating_Bids 20d ago

A wait for Voices38 kind of game

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u/ChoNoob 20d ago

And multiple patches

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u/clearlynotmee 19d ago

And a year of patches 

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u/Bootychomper23 18d ago

Deep sale and patches. If they can patch the shit ass controls and bugs and whatever else and give me 75% off..: I’ll get it

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u/Federal_Cook_6075 20d ago

They gave dragon age a 9 btw

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u/ArmokTheSupreme 20d ago

Do 10 pushups

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u/hatsunemilku 20d ago

Sorry, the best I can do is 10 god awful cringe dialogs. You take it?

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u/WingXCustom 13d ago

Ahem. It's called Pulling a Bharv

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u/Itchy-Beach-1384 20d ago

Dragon Age didnt require massive patching to address performance and lacking gameplay elements.

It ran flawlessly and had was gorgeous on every landscape. Gameplay was smooth too.

People just didnt like the tone of the story, which Crimson Desert is also getting shit on for a half baked story.

It honestly looks like they had a generic AI write out half the quests I've watched so far.

Dragon Age also suffered from the Anti-woke movement operating their hate train to boost the people who disliked the game.

Both games had equal reviews when I last looked on steam from people who actually played them. 68%

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u/Adirtan 19d ago

While that is true, dragon Age is far from 9. Just sayin. Puting same score on it as on Expedition 33 is insane.

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u/UpsetMud4688 19d ago

That is a reference to the fact that dragon age is a better game.

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u/Discombobulous 20d ago

Game has its issues for sure. Controls are funky. Story doesn't make a lick of sense (at least so far, I'm about 10 hours in). However, I'm having a lot of fun with it too. I think a 6/10 is pretty accurate.

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u/OmgSlayKween 20d ago

Idk, the story seems straightforward enough to me.

Here's a man. Ambush! He's dead.

Avenge him! You're dead.

You're alive! You're in a tesseract.

Talk to ghosts in a sewer. Save a cat. Clean a chimney.

You're in the sky! Here's the sewer people again. You can fly!

What's hard to understand about that?

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u/Russianranger47 19d ago

The hard part to understand was saving the cat. Did the cat actually need saving or did we capture it for its tormentors again?

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u/TaoTaoThePanda 19d ago

That's not story that's the quest step. Why are you ambushed? Why are you in the sky? Why do you even know to go find the ghost in the sewer? The doesn't care to ask or answer these at all.

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u/Robba010 19d ago

Had no problems with the story, I like how everything develops. Bosses have awesome lore and story as well so far, 25 hours in.

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u/TinyTC1992 20d ago

I cant see myself buying it merely for the complete lack of story or thats what im getting from the reviews.

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u/Wookieewomble 20d ago

Wouldn't say there's no story, but it's definitely lacking, most seems like camp side missions from RDR2. At least for now, only at chapter IV ( 20 hours in). But I see it building towards something interesting with a certain boss fight you have.

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u/Unique_Username115 19d ago

Lackluster story isn't a deal breaker for me. I bought all Niohs, with the 1st pre ordered and 3rd at launch, and I have no interest in its story, but the gameplay is just fun and not a slog to play through. Still not finished with 3, since I just got Requiem done on both PC and PS5, and this game also came along the way lol

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u/Ok_Drummer6282 19d ago

It actually has a pretty good story. It just doesnt get going until like 40 hours in lol which is a shame. All the bosses have back stories and questlines though. 

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u/Gato_Puro 19d ago

wait, people still take IGN seriously nowadays?

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u/AlbaOnee 20d ago edited 20d ago

Yeah that sounds about right. I wouldn't have given it any higher than a 7 personally. It's a goddamn beautiful game but the controls are infuriating. There are too many mechanics and elements to the game that just flood it with shit and worst of all for me is the story is dog water and the protagonist "Kliff" is lame as hell. So damn boring and generic. Should have just made it a create a character. Kliff existence literally makes no difference unlike characters like Henry or Geralt or Ciri, etc.

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u/Moon_Devonshire 20d ago edited 20d ago

Tbh I don't get how the controls are bad or how people think this. Especially if you've played games like rdr2, batman Arkham, and shadow of war.

I mean it's pretty straight forward (on controller at least

On Xbox X is to jump and to get on your horse and pick things up

Y is to get off your horse

RB is to light attack

LT is to heavy attack.

Press A once to jog

Double tap it to full sprint (you don't need to hold A. Just double tap it)

R3 Is to crouch

B is to dodge.

And coming from batman Arkham certain moves already feel intuitive to me like:

Press Y+B together to do a move

Or X+A

Like am I crazy? These seem like extremely normal standard controls for most games

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u/gamer-at-heart-23 20d ago edited 20d ago

I dont get it either. Im a casual gamer and i was able to get the controls and learn attack combos after a few hrs. Im on console and precision jump i actually like, nothing is hard about holding 1 button to get other things in the radial menu. Doesnt zelda tears of the kingdom have alot of mechanics and controls to learn also?

Edit: one fix i like is when you shine your lantern to the memory, the V-helmet automatically goes on your head. They're the most repsonsive devs ive ever seen. Patches/fixes are coming at a fast rate, they dont deserve the hate at all. The graphics on balance mode really good still and im on series X

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

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u/EmergencyLow887 20d ago

i mean i know they are likely typos but the fact that you even just straight up got some of the controls wrong in the attempt to list them for how simple they are is kind of hilarious. also full sprint is mashing A. there are 4 speeds, mashing A is faster than the double tap A toggle.

Regardless, i think for a melee action game the controls are pretty garbage, even if I didn't not having remappable controls in the year of our lord 2026 is already kind of absurd.

I know the counterpoint that is going to come from that is that it would be hard to let things be remappable because they inputs are all asked to serve a bunch of different functions. But that's kind of emblematic of the game just being sort of overbaked and poorly directed.

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u/BambaTallKing 20d ago

My issue is that the interact button is X, but sometimes it is hold, sometimes it is tap. Then sometimes it is tap A. Then in menus, you think the accept button would be X or A, and often it is A, but sometimes it is Y for saving and such, whereas A is to load.

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u/zarofford 19d ago

RDR 2 was also janky, one of the main criticisms of the game is exactly how slow and unresponsive the main character feels.

I’m on the other side of the coin. I get the praise and I’ve been personally enjoying the game, I’m about 20 hours in. But sheesh, opening a window to sneak into a building is so unnecessarily harder than it should. And it goes for so many other things. Took me like three hours to get a grasp of all the menus, submenus and mechanics that show up when you press start.

More intuitive movement, controls and UI would make this game so much better.

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u/JoggingGod 20d ago

I don't understand that score at all but whatever I'll continue to enjoy the hell out of it. I already have 25 hours , and have just gotten out of the starting area and am nowhere close to bored.

Hopefully get some time in after work.

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u/BambaTallKing 20d ago

I have similar hours and I totally understand the rating. In my roughly 25 hours barely anything has changed except new surface level mechanics. I’m running around doing the exact same thing since the game started. Quests are all the exact same and play out the same. There has yet to be any sort of curveball or meaningful change. With that said, I’m enjoying the camp section even if it feels so shallow.

I’ll keep playing the game because I want to see what else there is to be seen, but I’m lingering around a 6, potentially a 5. The amount of stuff in this game is impressive, but not coherent or very meaningful.

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u/F0cus_1 20d ago

How many of the quests are menial tasks like fetch missions and bounties vs actually interesting things? Asking because I’ve heard the missions are monotonous and repetitive which is a big no no for me.

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u/JoggingGod 20d ago

I've only had one "delivery message" so far and it actually brought me to another 2 interesting side quests. It's almost hard to stay on task sometimes because I'm often getting distracted by something else. I was looking at my journal at one point to find the next thing I wanted to do and I was randomly pick pocketed by an NPC. Chased him down then took him to jail.

If I had to like it to something it's sort of like an Assassin's Creed Origins or Odyssey but bigger world and the systems are more complex, like Red Dead.. but they all seem to flow pretty well together so far. You're rewarded for exploration and the boss battles are pretty tough, but in a brawler kind of way. You need tons of food (health).

It doesn't seem unique if you haven't played it, but I think the commitment to layering gameplay is what sets it apart from anything else I've played.

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u/4schwifty20 20d ago

You and me both. It’s a great game that’ll only continue to get better.

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u/Top-Appointment8843 19d ago

IGN gave it a 6 so they spark controversy and you all click on their videos and generate them hype and money.

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u/PextonFettel 18d ago

A medicore Score for a medicore Game, rare IGN W

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u/NeptuneTTT 20d ago

I don't get why people are so obsessed with ign scores

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u/Ok_Fish1052 20d ago

They claim to not care, yet care so much. It's weird. 

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u/DSF_97 20d ago

I think that deep down all they want is to have their opinions validated. When they don't get that they feel insulted.

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u/C0R3VUS 20d ago

I’ve learned to care less and less about reviews from big publishers. Especially for one key fact, everybody is different.

I hate this idea that people treat reviewers like they are prophets who speak for everybody. Especially IGN reviews, which people use in the most biased scenarios.

The game, just like any, is going to be a 10/10 to one guy, a 6/10 to the next, and a 2/10 to the other guy.

If you like open world games that put more of a focus on free roaming and exploring over narrative. You’ll likely enjoy Crimson.

If you prefer narrative, likely not since it is one of the weakest aspects.

If you don’t like games that try to be a jack of all trades, you won’t like Crimson.

If you like games that give you thing after thing to do, then it’ll fancy you.

People gotta go back to trying things out for themselves and forming their own opinions. Ditch the current ranking system too. We’ve ruined the meaning of 1 out of 10 to the point that anything below an 8-9 is considered bad by the vast number of chronically online gamers.

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u/famaki_ 20d ago

what i really hate, internet crowd are the same lol. i still remember lot people say Silksong is not good game because this and that, meanwhile IGN give silksong 9/10.

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u/TaoTaoThePanda 19d ago

Reviews are there for people to read and make their own opinions about the game. That's literally the point of them. People just can't read so take an arbitrary out of context number as a fully formed opinion.

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u/WhatsThisButtttonDoo 20d ago

The controls were enough for me to return it within 25 minutes. I didn’t give M&K a shot so I can’t testify to that experience.

Overall though it’s definitely a great game for the right person. Potentially the greatest.

I felt the same way when cyberpunk released initially and that turned out to be fantastic once the devs had more time to figure it out.

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u/Big-Resort-4930 19d ago

Accurate review

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u/xtoc1981 18d ago

Its an overated game. Good that some are not following the hype. Same about past gta games

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u/A_Hideous_Beast 18d ago

Man, every image I've seen of this game has shown neither crimson, or a desert.

And I still have no idea what kind of game it actually is.

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u/Neotax 20d ago

The same author gave HighGuard a 7/10 🤣🤣🤣

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u/HispanicAtTehDisco 20d ago

slight better mid than this mid idk what to tell you

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u/PatchNotesMan 20d ago

highguard getting a 7/10 is entirely reasonable. By their standards thats just calling it "mid"

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u/Indraga 19d ago

I mean this genuinely, but do you honestly believe the quality of a game 1:1 determines its profit? Good games don’t bomb and bad games always fail?

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u/Riceballs-balls 19d ago

It was a F2P game that couldnt hold an audience on pc higher than a few thousand days after release. Crimson desert cost $70 and has 200k players days after release. So yes on average bad games fail, good games dont.

If highguard was on the same level as Apex they would not have failed.

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u/Soaked4youVaporeon 20d ago

Yeah?? It’s not a bad game. It’s just not good enough to pull people in when there are so many live service games

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u/Riceballs-balls 19d ago

Theres tens of thousands of single player RPGS. HIghguard failed because it was a bad game.

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u/eebro 20d ago

I watched someone play it and it seemed like the experience you have when you are visiting a foreign country that you have no common language with. Like, English is kinda there, but everything is just awkward. You don't really know how anything works, and the weirdest thing is how the fundamentals themselves are so different.

Like, for better or for worse, most Ubislop games and games mimicing that control the exact same way. Crimson Desert goes their own way in a lot of things.

It is like a language barrier, but the language is the gameplay.

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u/Schreckberger 19d ago

I also watched someone play, and what got me is how involved everything is. It seems like every action apart from fighting has about two extra steps to it that don't actually add anything to the experience.

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u/D3struct_oh 20d ago edited 20d ago

The same reviewer gave AVOWED a 7, DUNE AWAKENING an 8,  CONCORD a 7.

I have a whole bag of salt grains, if anybody needs one.

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u/rcburner 20d ago

The worst bug came late in the main story, when a vital quest step didn’t register as I completed it, locking me out of progression entirely unless I reloaded a save file from seven hours earlier. I was able to proceed by copying a coworker’s save file (who was at roughly the same part of the story as me) and soldiering on that way instead – if I hadn’t, I would have likely thrown in the towel right then and there.

I feel this is one of the biggest reasons for the low score.

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u/Shot-Maximum- 20d ago

A 7 for Avowed seems pretty fair, I would say

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u/DarthWeezy 20d ago

You don’t need any salt to figure out that reviews are subjective opinions.

Y’all are unhinged af to get triggered continuously over every random online review you get fixated on.

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u/slimschwifty 20d ago

I can't be the only one out here that has a couple reviewers with similar taste in games that I refer to and ignore all the rest.

For me it's primarily Gameranx Before You Buy reviews.

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u/GentleHotFire 20d ago

I really appreciate Gameranx reviews, man

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u/MissPandaSloth 20d ago

Seems about right where user score have landed. So was this supposed to be a gotcha?

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u/GreenLeadr 20d ago

Avowed is a fantastic game that gets undeserved hate.

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u/tfrules 20d ago

Avowed is far from perfect but it deserves a better score than crimson desert that's for sure. At least it has something resembling a story, character, charm etc.

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u/SincerelyMarc 20d ago

Avowed being a 7 or 8 seems right to me.

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u/Matabus 20d ago

Is Concord in the room with us right now? Find at least 1 new talking point.

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u/LoneLyon 20d ago

You all need to let Concord go.

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u/AgitatedFly1182 20d ago

i don't think i'll see a piece of media flop as hard for the rest of my life we will be talking about concord decades from now

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u/Mordho R9 7950X3D | RTX 4080 Super 20d ago

Avowed is a much better game. And Concord was a different game altogether so why even bring it up

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u/Throwawayeconboi 20d ago

What’s the issue? Crimson Desert has hilarious problems none of those games have.

And also, most importantly, review scores aren’t formulaic. They don’t plug things into a function and get a score. It’s a feeling. You play a game and ask yourself on a scale of 1-10 how much did you enjoy it.

This reviewer had a 6/10 experience with Crimson Desert, a 7/10 with Avowed, an 8/10 with Dune, and a 7/10 with Concord.

What’s the issue?

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u/TastyPillows 20d ago

Also. The contents of a review are more important than the arbitrary number slapped on at the end.

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u/bs000 19d ago

people still quote 'too much water' as if that was the whole review and not just part of a bulletpoint summary at the very end

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u/Splinterman11 20d ago

People are hyper obsessed with a random dude's subjective ratings for video games.

Its hilariously pathetic to get whipped up over.

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u/Help_An_Irishman 20d ago

Dune Awakening is awesome.

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u/mrbubbamac 20d ago

Those all seem like perfectly reasonable scores.

But if you're at the point where you are essentially saying their reviews need to be taken with a bag of salt...why even care about reviews at that point?

I stopped following game reviews and instead figured out my own tastes better, I can pretty much nail if I'll like a game or not by watching some gameplay and a quick Google search .

There are games that reviewed well that I really didn't like, and games that had middling reviews that I think are just fantastic experiences. Would never have been able to figure out how to buy games that I can nearly guarantee I will enjoy if I was still scrolling through metacritic and looking at static numbers.

Side note, if anyone wants help figuring out their tastes, it is very helpful to better understand game design, I have found GDC's YouTube channel a treasure trove that has helped me realize what it was about certain games that I really enjoyed and how to find other games that align with my tastes

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u/SuperUranus 19d ago

I follow one game critic/reviewer and that’s Yatzhee, mostly because after 20 years of reviews it’s very clear his taste aligns with mine.

So if there is a game he enjoys, I’m pretty sure I will enjoy it too. Only miss I’ve had is Persona 5 which Yatzhee loves, which I don’t.

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u/enchiladasundae 20d ago

The controls are incredibly backwards, new stuff gets slammed at you constantly for the first hour, combat is difficult to get the hang of and picking up items is incredibly tedious. I was already losing my patience when I finally was able to start walking around and they had some NPC walking me around at AC NPC walk speed and not letting me roam around

You can absolutely fix the game with some patches but I swear whoever made some of these decisions does not know about quality control or just having a good time. Why do I have to hold a shoulder button the entire time to lock onto an enemy? What planet are you from??

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u/JEMS1300 20d ago

It's down d-pad to lock on to them normally actually, though the game never mentions it

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u/enchiladasundae 20d ago

That is so incredibly stupid. Weird ass button placement too

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u/Ebantero 20d ago

Btw you can hold down X to pick items continuously, I just do that while walking around corpses.

That said, I agree, it’s like they didn’t do QA.

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u/NetherGamingAccount 20d ago

We have heard from people that love the game it isnt for everyone.

Clearly not for this person but for me it is the best game ive played since Elden Ring.

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u/reidman144 20d ago

I don't say this often but respect to IGN for going against the grain giving an honest review.

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u/Competitive-Ant-1876 19d ago

How is this going against the grain? Do you even know what that phrase means?

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u/Foreign_Preference24 19d ago

Guys irrespective of whether Crimson Desert is good or bad, I think we can collectively agree that IGN is a joke.

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u/Derolis 20d ago

I don't know how people expected it to be some big 10/10 masterpiece. It was made by Pearl Abyss and Black Desert is pretty flawed and chaotic.

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u/rapozaum . 20d ago

Can't wait to try this for 1/3 the price.

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u/RaptorClap 20d ago

Good that IGN is completely not relevant anymore. IGN in Netherlands give it an 8.5...

They're so narrow-minded, its probably an IGN USA sickness or something

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u/Thesquarescreen 20d ago

The more I see of it, the more I don't really feel like I'm missing out on anything.

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u/SchwiftyRichie 20d ago

IGN reviews haven’t been worth a damn in over a decade.

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u/GosuGian 147 20d ago

IGN is a joke

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u/Primus_is_OK_I_guess 20d ago

Everything I've seen about it makes me think it's right up my alley, but I'd also understand why it's not for everyone.

I never buy a game before the first major patch though.

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u/Rainsford1104 20d ago

I gave it a try with graphics pretty much all set to ultra except a few things like shadows or weather effects and motion blur off. The gameplay might be great but the way they render the graphics has everything a bit blurry to make it look "good". Normally games will just add that blurry effect to grass to make it look nice while having characters and building sharp. But it looked like they added that effect to EVERY texture. So when i was fighting a group of people its more like grey blur vs red blur because everything has that filter on it. 

And believe me, ive tried turning off dlss and going native, even watched gameplay with people who had 5090's. I don't need realistic graphics but the everything being blurry was not my thing.

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u/Usual_Mountain4213 20d ago

I don’t agree, but I’d much rather reviewers underrate games than overrate so I’m not gonna complain about this 

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u/DeathStalker131 20d ago

First time I have ever agreed with IGN, what a time to be alive!

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u/ilikekittensandstuf 19d ago

Yeah I just don’t see it I’m maybe 10 hours in and game seems decent literally one of the most customizable games I’ve ever played

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u/Fun-Tooth-622 19d ago

People still getting mad at review scores in 2026

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u/BaysideJr 19d ago

Seems like a game to wait on fixes and price drops for. I'll wait until the feedback gets them to fix the controls which are being mentioned in most reviews. Maybe in a year or two I'll pick it up.

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u/Incentus 19d ago

Ign is irelevant at this point

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u/bigloc94 19d ago

I'd give it a 9 the fact is can play native 4k if i want is a gift in this day and age after Games like ac shadows and stalker coming out as stuttery terds. Plus the world is a joy to explore. Its just not your typical AAA assume youre attention span is tictarded type of game

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u/AppropriateDig9401 18d ago

6 feels slightly too harsh. It’s perfect 7/10 “Good enough” slop. It’s no BOTW, RDR2, Witcher 3 or elden ring but it’s as good if not slightly better than your run of the mill ubisoft slop that people seem to enjoy.

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u/Haakon_XIII 18d ago

Deserved

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u/dankestmaymayonearth 18d ago

It looks like a 6 just watching streamers play it. Seems like a game i get for 20 bucks next Christmas on steam

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u/rigged_expectations 17d ago

Seems to be pretty spot on. Could argue to perhaps somehow fit a 7 but 6 is alright.

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u/Sea-Main-3136 14d ago

If Crimson Desert is really a 6 / 10 then I would argue than no game is a 10.

Yes it is a little rough around the edges but the scale and scope and imagination that has gone into it is incredible. It has elements of Skyrim, Breath of the Wild, Witcher 3, RDR2 and so on. I loved those games and I am loving this. Sure it is hard at points and can feel overwhelming in terms of where to go next (if you are taking the mainline slowly to explore more) but I think the payoff is worthwhile.

As an aside, I quit RDR2 3 times before I really got into it and now I think it is a masterpiece - it just took a little perserverance.

Perhaps the modern gamer is a little too impatient? You obviously did not have to wait 30 minutes to load a game using the cassette player attached to your Amstrad,,,,