The Crimson Dessert Hype-Train

I wrote an article on how well Will Powers and Pearl Abys’s marketing team have been at getting information out there about what this game is. As I said their answers have been concise and they never shied away from answering a question but if they couldn’t answer it, for whatever reason such as spoilers, then they were clear about it and the reasons why and yet still tried to answer the question anyway. But as the release day moves ever nearer (11 days as I write this) I am wondering if the hype-train that has been created has shot past the intended station again.

As I said I think Pearl Abys has done the right thing by being open, honest and straightforward about the game. I really think they have been clear on what this game is. It is becoming increasingly hard to ensure that random people on the internet (often people who make money from being there and need constant content) are clear on what your product is. I am as excited as anyone for this game but I do wonder if people waiting for this game have really grasped what this game is. I of course also wonder if I have got it wrong and all these people on the internet are right (that would be good). 

A few creators were invited to play 6hrs of the game recently. I believe they spent 4hrs of that at the beginning of the game and were allowed to explore freely without any restrictions. Then they had a further 2hrs with a save that was further in the game. Every person who attended this seemed to love the game, they were amazed at how well it ran and said the event galvanized their interest in the game. The combat was fun and more arcadey than Dark Souls like. Some went in with reserved enthusiasm, expecting this to be too good to be true but said they were surprised at how much they liked the game and, although still sceptical about how well it will run after a curated publisher-led experience, we’re excited about what they game would offer. 

I see people who have had experience of the game saying this is what we want developers to make. They have made a game that is outside of the norm and, from all reports, runs well and is available to everyone. The game is clear in what it is trying to be and is very much aimed at a particular audience. 

But the internet is going to internet. I worry that this enthusiasm that has been created by this marketing has created a monster. They almost did too good a job but they forgot that people on the internet do not listen past 30s. Many of the creators loved the game but pointed out that the game is not what people think it is. They were also clear that this game was not for everyone. This is not the Witcher 4 or Dark Souls or many other games. I hear Breath of the Wild mentioned a lot, a concern for me personally as I really could not get into that game at all and not from lack of trying either, but that could have been the Switch rather than the content of the game. 

Pearl Abyss have been clear not to use the term RPG as they feel this conjures up a particular idea of what a game like that entails. There is no player creation, you play Kliff a Greymane who is helping to establish a new home for the Greymanes after they were forcefully evicted from their land by another group of people, the baddies in the game if you will. There is no character customisation outside of cosmetic and some skills. You do not play your character in the games and although you do have instances where you play as other pre-defined characters that play different from Kliff, they are auxiliary to your protagonist. You can define your Kliff through upgrades and skills but he is still very much defined. Personally I understand why they make this distinction because you don’t want to create a perception of what the game is and have people be disappointed, but this is an RPG as you do still roleplay a character even if it isn’t your customised character as in other RPGs. But this is all semantics. 

The big thing to keep in mind is this is made by a developer that created and has worked on a very successful MMO for the past 10yrs. MMO is in their blood. I believe the game started as an MMO and during development the developer decided it felt like a single player game and pivoted. This is not to say that the game is an MMO in disguise but this is the developers DNA and as such there will be MMO style mechanics in here. I need to make clear that this is not a bad thing or that I think this is a single player MMO but rather this is a single player game made by MMO developers who are using their experience to make a single player game. From everything I have seen and heard from interviews, articles or press releases from the developers themselves, you can play this game for 50hrs or hundreds of hours. There are the usual single player trappings that you would expend from a single player fantasy game but there are also things you can just go around doing. There is fishing, farming, exploration and so on reminiscent of an MMO. There is also base building but I am not sure if this is a clear descriptor as it is the Greymane’s base of operations after being forcefully removed from their land. The game is packed with content from the get go but it is all content you can access if you want to. You don’t like fishing? Don’t do it. You want to see what that weird looking tower is in the distance? Go to it, or don’t up to you. It is this open endedness that I think makes the game interesting. 

There is no multiplayer but from the enthusiasm of the future player base, I think it may be an addition they seriously think about. But Will Powers has been clear that this is not the focus of the game as they wanted to make a purely single player experience. Which is great but if this world is as densely packed as it appears to be, multiplayer in a non MMO style for people who do not like MMOs would be great and add longevity to the game in the future, but I think making it single player at the outset is the correct call.

I am really looking forward to this game (I even asked for a key to be cheeky) but I hope that the hype-train that is crucial to a games immense success these days is not going to be the thing that makes people disappointed with the game. The internet has a horrible habit of overshooting the mark and creating false narratives. Because of short form content and the ambiguity created when people consume content at a rapid rate, it is easy for a clear message to be muddied by mis-hearing or people hearing something and creating their own narrative. My strongest suggestion to anybody interested in this game (if you have even got this far reading this article)  is to hold fire and wait for more reviews and content to be released. Pearl Abyss have said they will be releasing more information closer to the time, including performances on base consoles and lower end PCs. I really would love to know how it plays on the Steam Deck and other handhelds. This could be a great game to sit on the couch at the end of a long day and just toodle around exploring the hidden depths of this game or fishing or petting dogs and cats (I believe we can do this right….?) 

But the biggest take away I can give as an old man who has gamed for many years, is to not let hype overshadow the facts and to ensure that you as the consumer make yourself aware of what the product you are buying actually is. Written articles and even videos are seen through your own filter and that often results in people feeling they were lied to when in fact the message and information were clear and we just misunderstood it. Hopefully this game will be good and everything they say it is and will shake up the industry so that more developers create interesting games. We will have to wait and see.