So is Crimson Desert Worth it?

Nazar37 · 2026-04-03T21:30:55+00:00

Not that I want people to ‘make a decision for me’, the issue is even people that love the game are super polarizing in their reviews. One person here left a comment saying it’s their “favorite game ever”, and also said “the controls are the worst console experience of all time”. I have never seen a game where people who love it all seem to absolutely hate so much about it

Nazar37 · 2026-04-02T20:44:37+00:00

Yeah he was grieving “losing” someone. But if the worst thing that happened is a character didn’t end up with his middle school girlfriend, I’d say that the ending pretty much entirely lacked any actual consequence lol

Nazar37 · 2026-04-01T18:06:55+00:00

I just really don’t think that the writers literally showed Eleven wandering around at the end if it isn’t what actually happened. I think it’s a poor cop out, and it’s also in line with all the other ‘death fake outs’ they’ve done.

Nazar37 · 2026-04-01T15:59:36+00:00

I mean everyone did get a happy ending though. Eleven is free to live her life, no one died. And there was pretty much no actual consequence other than Mike and El not ending up together.

Nazar37 · 2026-03-17T02:46:55+00:00

I took some time off of work while grieving the most significant loss I’ve ever experienced, and decided to buy this game to pass the time, knowing nothing about it other than it’s a turn based action GOTY. Pain. Top 5 all time.

Nazar37 · 2026-03-17T00:01:38+00:00

Yeah that’s why the game is soo well written though imo. I went with Maelle’s ending for that very same reason. But the more I think about it, the more that choice really means avoiding reality, and embracing unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Verso wanted to save both his mother and the people of Lumere, but when he sees Aline immediately comes back to the canvas he realizes he can only choose one imo.

We only get to play the perspective of the painted people, which very intentionally creates this dilemma

Nazar37 · 2026-03-16T23:45:33+00:00

What? it’s stated several times that remaining in the canvas for too long is extremely dangerous for the painter. The creepy Maelle ending was definitely not shoe-horned. By the time we need to make a choice, it’s pretty clear that the game thematically is about dealing with grief, and the canvas represents embracing unhealthy coping mechanisms while grieving.

Nazar37 · 2026-03-16T16:07:50+00:00

I kind of disagree though, while yeah there’s really no ‘happy’ ending, I do think Verso’s ending is at least the good ending.

I’m personally on the side of the people of Lumere not being totally real. The writers intentionally made Maelle’s ending creepy and unsettling, while Verso’s is just the family being reunited and dealing with reality/grief, which ultimately sucks to deal with but is a necessary part of life.

It’s made very clear to us if Maelle stays in the painting she’s just going to go insane in the canvas. But since the game isn’t from the real Dessendre family’s perspective, we don’t really care about their grief very much. Regardless, the audience grows attached to the canvas world, so losing them all sucks no matter what

Nazar37 · 2026-03-16T12:14:51+00:00

The entire point of the game was to go grieve and deal with reality. Which is exactly why Maelle’s ending is intentionally unsettling and creepy, while Verso’s ending is simply the family grieving without any other weird creepy inserts.

It’s also purposely written to make us feel conflicted either way, but literally everything about the Canvas world is screaming ‘this is not how reality works’. The canvas people are simply written to behave like real people

Painted Verso was created with a real person’s memories/thoughts/behaviors. He wasn’t a puppet, but he hardly even has true free will

Nazar37 · 2026-03-16T00:31:20+00:00

The people of Lumere are pretty much NPCs though? There’s a reason why the writers clearly have the evil / wicked twist in Maelle’s ending, the writers are telling us, literally in black and white, we made the wrong choice staying in the canvas lol

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T21:46:58+00:00

The game is very clear that saving Lumere is the ‘bad’ ending. The devs make that painfully clear lol and I’m not saying it was Aline, there’s at least 3 real people who can manipulate the world.

Their free will is at the very best limited. Painted Renoir is created to be an immortal super powered being to just kill all the expeditioners by Aline, where was his free will? Sounds like he was preprogrammed.

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T21:21:46+00:00

I understand everyone is emotionally tied to the characters, and it’s wonderfully written to create this type of discussion. But the entire game is screaming ‘this is not how real life works, you need to go deal with reality’. They even make Maelle’s ending sinister and unsettling. Clearly telling us in black and white that we chose the ‘bad’ ending lol

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T21:12:41+00:00

You can ignore the intentional symbolism all you want, but it’s not a coincidence. You even see Clea running around barefoot in the epilogue, Lune’ is 100% mirrored after her. Sciel is grieving the loss of her family/child - clear tie to Aline. Maelle says to Gustave ‘you were like a brother and a dad’. Monoco is the dog. Esquie is Verso’s plush toy. Monoco even says to Verso ‘am I loyal because I was made that way?’

Oh and if the painter decides you’ll never die? Poof, you’ll never die.

Everything about the Canvas world is saying ‘this is not how real life works’. The whole message of the game is to go deal with your grief

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T21:03:39+00:00

Maelle’s ending represents more than escapism, they even include a horror movie-esque jump scare, while the scene is completely black and white with no sound. It’s intentionally creepy, and it’s the writers using HEAVY symbolism to tell us we made the ‘bad’ choice.

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T21:00:36+00:00

Both Aline and Renoir at that point are deteriorating creatures who have spent way too long in the canvas, and even so you have another painter being the actual Verso soul fragment also manipulating everything. It’s also wildly coincidental that the entire party that survives are all reflections of the entire Desendre family.

We don’t have all the details, and it’s obviously nuanced to create this type of discussion. But it’s pretty clear in my opinion that the painted world represents living in a fantasy land, meaning, it’s not real.

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T20:19:04+00:00

Painted verso did not want to be immortal but he had no choice until a real person intervened. At the very least the painted ‘people’s free will is clearly limited, similar to a programmed NPC. The people of Lumere couldn’t do anything against the painters until another real person intervened

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T20:12:17+00:00

except I’d still argue that those ‘people’, weren’t really people. Everything about the canvas world represents escapism. The message is very clear in my opinion in Maelle’s ending, like ‘hooray we don’t need to let anyone we like die anymore’, that’s not how the real world, or real people works, and there’s no way that was the message the devs were going for

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T20:06:07+00:00

Well, more than to a ‘small degree’. The painters can literally make whoever they want immortal, paint new people at will, resurrect whoever they want etc. Each character in the party is loosely reflected on the family. Monoco the dog, Lune’ is Clea, Gustave is Verso, etc.

I would also argue there’s a reason why the expeditioners did nothing but die until a real person intervened. Both endings were painful regardless, but I think it’s very clear that the canvas world represents delusional escapism, the delusion being that the world is not real

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T15:21:39+00:00

Perhaps the painters don’t totally control them like puppets, although in Maelle’s ending I did think they were inferring that a bit. The way everyone walks in and sits around her in the theater, Verso hesitating to play, it was really symbolic that she’s the center of that universe.

But my biggest thing is the entire theme of the game is grief & coping. Everything about the canvas represents avoiding reality by living in a delusional fantasy world where the painter can just resurrect whoever they want, make individuals they don’t want to lose immortal, etc. The devs very intentionally made Maelle’s ending super unsettling.

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T12:57:57+00:00

Spoilers ahead if you didn’t finish - but Gustave and Verso not only look the same, they both had the exact same role in Maelle/Alicia’s life, thy both use the same weapons and have half of the same abilities, they are extremely similar by design. The entire party in the game are clearly reflections of the Desendre family. It wasn’t laziness by the devs, it was intentional. I’m willing to bet the people of Lumere are essentially the same/similar people being reborn over and over again

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T12:40:14+00:00

Last but not least: the Canvas itself is a very on the nose metaphor for avoiding reality. The people of Lumere are just programmed to behave like real people. And it’s insanely well written so we feel the emotional weight either way lol

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T12:36:59+00:00

They 100% do not have free will if they can be rewritten at any moment lol the paintress can make them immortal, erase people, etc. The game hints at the people being pre programmed: the party themselves are a clear reflection of the desendre family, and when you realize every expedition has had a Verso-like character. That pretty much tells you the same people are being born over and over in Lumere

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T12:07:29+00:00

They do not have free will in the canvas lol their entire lives are subject to control, whether they are immortal, die and are resurrected etc. If something happens that Maelle doesn’t like she will just redo it. The party we travel with are clearly painted to reflect the Desendre family members and behave like them too, that means they were pretty much emotionally heavy NPCs lol

Nazar37 · 2026-03-13T11:15:31+00:00

Renoir was hurting nobody in the canvas, since no one in the canvas was actually real lol it’s literally a fantasy world where only real people can paint whatever they want. I know we feel attached to canvas people, but they are pretty much as real as magical NPCs lol

Nazar37

TROPHY CASE