All the hype has already made Crimson Desert one of the biggest launches on Steam this year

Crimson Desert, the open-world motion RPG off-shoot from Korean MMO Black Desert Online, has formally launched, practically six years after it was initially revealed. The sport has been increase a whole lot of momentum over time, which not too long ago coalesced to show it into one in all 2026’s most anticipated titles.

All of it has been main as much as this second, and the sport seems to have landed easily, although not with out controversy, as has seemingly turn into a part of its MO.

It has not been 24 hours since Crimson Desert launched on PC and consoles, and it’s already turn into a giant hit. On Steam, one in all two shops the place the sport might be bought (the opposite being the Epic Games Store), the sport shot to the highest of the charts.

The motion RPG continued to build up increasingly gamers on Steam, peaking at a really respectable 239,045 concurrent gamers (through SteamDB). Although its success was very a lot anticipated, we maybe didn’t predict its peak could be that prime.

Certainly, Crimson Desert has been in Steam’s top 100 global sellers list for six weeks, leaping up six spots to turn into the primary vendor this week simply earlier than it launched. As we get nearer to the weekend, the numbers might climb even larger.

This peak concurrent places Crimson Desert in the identical league as a number of of the opposite main releases of the primary quarter of 2026. The highest spot continues to belong to Slay the Spire 2, which peaked at a staggering 574,638 concurrent players. It occurred simply days after the juggernaut Resident Evil Requiem achieved its personal 344,214 peak concurrent, which was the 12 months’s highest up till Slay the Spire 2’s launch. All three are properly forward of Nioh 3’s 88,045 peak concurrent, and Marathon’s nearly identical peak of 88,337.

Crimson Desert has seen one thing of a blended reception by critics. James gave it three stars in our review, saying it “lacks the connective sinew to be really practical,” which is a standard criticism shared by different shops. Many additionally lamented the sheer variety of techniques preventing for participant consideration, its poorly defined mechanics, and counterintuitive controls.

On Steam, at the least, gamers have equally been divided, with the present Steam consumer score sitting at Combined, primarily based on 8,728 critiques. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the destructive reactions fall on the clunky controls and the sport’s tendency to, as one Steam user put it, “so miserably tries to be every thing directly, and fails to be something in any respect.”

When you’re simply getting began in Crimson Desert your self, or plan to take action quickly, we suggest studying these crucial tips to assist orient your self within the sport’s huge world. You also needs to plan your preliminary talent unlocks by prioritising these skills to spend your Abyss Artifacts first.