With Crimson Desert’s release finally arriving last night, a massive wave of players have thrown themselves at the open world RPG. However, while there’s certainly many out there having a good time, others are running into a major problem with Pearl Abyss’ latest release: the controls.
But what do people mean when they say the controls are bad? Well, these gripes are split into two major categories: confusing button mapping that makes performing certain actions frustrating, and sluggish feel of gameplay. Both in one package has players feeling a touch…underwhelmed.
“Whoever designed the control scheme for crimson desert should seek employment with the devil,” wrote eziobakker on X. “They are fully qualified cause wtf is this.” Their sentiments are shared by InkblotPrincess, who provided examples of where the controls fail for them.
“‘Looting something’, a staple of this type of game, is a laborious venture involving playing with a finicky button prompt that only sometimes appears, and needs to be seen from a specific angle and with an exact distance from the thing in question,” she wrote. “Talking to an NPC requires me to *hold one button* and then *press a different button*. Genuinely what the f*** are we doing?”
Others have focused in on the game feel, pointing to a sense of sluggishness that permeates the game. As Niflheimm on X puts it: “Crimson Desert has set a new low for me in terms of game feel. I genuinely thought it would be like Tsushima – mid, but comfy due to the great visuals. Instead, it was so unbearably bad that I decided to quit and get a refund literally within 5 seconds of touching the joystick. I made it like 2 min in before quitting lol, I genuinely thought my controller wasn’t working at first because of the inertia.”
Or, as TheMassExodus on the Crimson Desert Reddit succinctly summarised the issue: “Feels like every action happens after button is released. Not pressed.”
These public complaints come after mixed (though leaning positive) critic reviews, which resulted in developer Pearl Abyss’ stock value dropping 30 percent. The game also received last minute changes to its Steam version, adding Denuvo DRM. But, on the bright side, base PS5 Crimson Desert footage was released (and now tested by players) and it looks okay.
It’s worth noting of course that while many are having issues with these controls, some are managing to have a good time with Crimson Desert in spite of them. For some additional insight into what the game is like, Eurogamer’s Crimson Desert review is a great place to start. In it, In it, Lewis Gordon described the game as “an experience that feels distinctly modern, oscillating between whoop-inducing bombast and utter brain-smoothing banality.”
