Is Crimson Desert Too Big for Single-Player?

Published: 29-05-2026, 2:19 AM

Is Crimson Desert Too Big for Single-Player?

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Crimson Desert is Pearl Abyss’s latest single-player adventure, and it’s a massive commercial success. Pearl Abyss published a press release on May 6th, 2026 (less than two months after its release), thanking fans for over five million copies sold worldwide. It’s safe to say players have been absolutely enchanted by Crimson Desert. But after the dust starts to settle, cracks begin to show.

Is Crimson Desert Even Meant to Be Single-Player?

One of the main gripes heard about Crimson Desert relates to the sheer size of it. Crimson Desert is a massive game. Even rushing through the story can take you anywhere between 50-100 hours, and that’s if you totally ignore the myriad of side quests, secrets, and hidden puzzles the game has to offer. 100% completing this adventure will take you hundreds upon hundreds of hours.

That’s a big ask for people with school, work, and families to tend to. For some, it’s not even possible. Completing Crimson Desert may be a daunting task for many, and there’s a good reason for that—Crimson Desert wasn’t originally meant to be a single-player game.

The Vast World of Crimson Desert — An image showing Kliff sitting on horseback looking over the vast world of Crimson Desert.

When Crimson Desert was first announced in a Pearl Abyss 2019 press release, it was pitched as an MMORPG. It was going to be a next-gen sequel to the massive multiplayer experience that is Black Desert Online. As we know, the studio did shift focus, and Crimson Desert was eventually born. The choice to switch gears was not a last-minute decision, but it does shed some light on why Crimson Desert features so many similarities with MMORPGs.

How Does an MMORPG Differ to a Single-Player Game?

An MMORPG is a very different experience than a single-player game. Single-player adventures are played alone, have an emphasis on storytelling, and usually take anywhere from 10 to 150 hours to complete, depending on the game. There are, of course, long single-player experiences. But at some point, you will have done everything there is to be done. An MMORPG, on the other hand, is completely different. MMORPGs, or massive multiplayer online role-playing games, are meant to be shared with friends. Entire communities can be—and are—formed in-game.

Kliff Fighting in Crimson Desert — An image showing Kliff from Crimson Desert engaged in battle.

An MMORPG isn’t designed to ‘end’ like a single-player game is. These games can become like double lives to players. It’s where they socialize, hang out with their friend groups, and make even more friends. Something like that doesn’t simply end after a 10-hour campaign is over. These games are built on repetition, so communities of players can continue to thrive.

MMORPGs do have stories, but there is not as much of an emphasis on the story as there is in a single-player experience. In a single-player game, the story is the driving force. In many MMORPGs, on the other hand, the sense of community and long-term progression are the driving forces. Not the story. As a result, the story is often put on the back burner in preference for other features, like dungeons, raids, and lots and lots of small, easy-to-complete quests.

Crimson Desert Fight Scene — An epic shot depicting a battle in Crimson Desert.

Things like raids offer repeatable experiences that keep players coming back for potentially thousands of hours. That’s not to say that MMORPG stories can’t be awesome. They absolutely can be, but in many cases, the story is not what keeps players hooked.

Is Crimson Desert an MMORPG?

While Crimson Desert is marketed as a single-player, open-world action-adventure game, it shares many similarities to an MMORPG. These may be remnants of the Crimson Desert that once existed in early development, or a result of the team’s expertise. Pearl Abyss specializes in crafting massive MMORPG experiences for players, after all. But the size of the world is not the only similarity between Crimson Desert and an MMORPG.

Crimson Desert Is Massive

The sheer size and scope of Crimson Desert seem almost never-ending, like it’s a living, breathing world of its own. At the time of writing, Crimson Desert has been out for over two months, and data provided by SteamDB shows that only 7.4% of players have completed the main story. This is an unusual statistic for a single-player game that’s been out for so long, but not for something designed to be played almost indefinitely, like an MMORPG.

Crimson Desert Waterfall Shot — An image showing Kliff from Crimson Desert standing at the edge of a cliff looking out over a waterfall.

So few players having completed the main campaign in Crimson Desert does go to show that they are playing it right. Such an intricate open world deserves to be fully explored. But is that the only reason why players aren’t as invested in the main story? I personally don’t think so. I think this stems from the fact that Crimson Desert’s story just isn’t that gripping.

The story is not bad, by any means. It’s not so terrible that it’s worth avoiding. It is, however, a little basic. Lackluster, even. And it just goes to show that the driving force of Crimson Desert is not the campaign, just like how the story is not the central pillar of an MMORPG.

Crimson Desert has Lots of Small Side Quests

Even the side quests are structured more like an MMORPG than a single-player experience. Side quests in single-player games usually take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to complete, sometimes more, sometimes less, of course. Many of Crimson Desert’s side quests, however, only have one or two objectives and can even be completed in under two minutes.

Crimson Desert Herbs of Vitality Quest — An image showing the Herbs of Vitality quest. The only real objective here is to collect 5x Lavender.

This is a common MMORPG structure, and it works. Lots of little quests allow players to hang out with their friends and still feel like they’re making progress, even if they don’t have a lot of time to play together. It also prevents you from getting off track. Trying to organize a time to play together gets tricky, especially when commitments arise. Having to stop in the middle of a long-winded quest to pick it up a week later is not as efficient as being able to knock something out in a few minutes.

The Skill Tree

Another MMORPG-esque feature Crimson Desert has is its in-depth skill/ability tree. There are a lot of weapons to use and abilities to learn, to say the least. It’s not quite as overwhelming as something like PoE’s skill tree, but it’s overwhelming enough. Some of these abilities require elaborate combos, requiring you to press multiple buttons to pull off. This is not unusual in a PC-based MMORPG, but it gets tricky in a single-player experience played on the couch with a controller.

Crimson Desert Ability Tree — An image showing one (of many) Crimson Desert Skill Trees.

Sure, it’s easy enough to fall into patterns with your abilities. Turning Slash, for example, requires pressing two buttons at the same time. To imbue that with Lightning, you can follow that up with the second input. It’s doable, but it’s certainly more complicated on a controller than many other single-player experiences are, and I find myself sticking to the same abilities since learning a whole new combo seems too hard at the end of a long hard day. It’s just not as easy to test out and play around with new abilities when you are memorizing several combinations of button presses.

Is Crimson Desert Too Big?

The question of whether or not Crimson Desert is too big is a big one in itself. It’s also a deeply personal one. For me, the answer would be no. I love being able to dive into a rich world, and after completing an adventure, I often find myself wishing I were able to play more. If you’re a busy person with only an hour or so a week to spend gaming, perhaps you’d be better off playing something smaller with a hope of finishing. But playing Crimson Desert for the rest of your life doesn’t sound all bad, either.

Is Crimson Desert overwhelming? In the beginning, yes, and it does feel more like a single-player MMORPG than a traditional action-adventure title. But is that inherently a bad thing? No, not at all. MMORPGs are Pearl Abyss’s specialty, so it’s natural for some of those skills to cross over in another one of their projects. Crimson Desert is a long and arduous adventure, but it is well worth the 300 hours of time it takes to play it, even if your friends can’t join you.