By Crimson Desert rose to the top as one of the best single-player RPGs of all time. But most gamers aren’t aware that before Crimson Desert, there was Black Desert.
Black Desert Online is the hit MMORPG developed by Pearl Abyss, the same folks who made Crimson Desert.
While Black Desert Online, or BDO for short, is an online multiplayer game, it also shares so many similarities with Crimson Desert.
BDO has been around since 2015, and it’s one of the most popular MMORPGs available right now. Many BDO veterans still claim it to be better than Crimson Desert. But I beg to differ.
Here, I’m laying out five reasons why Crimson Desert is better than BDO.
1. Play Single Player & Offline
With so many MMOs and live service games getting discontinued (RIP Destiny 2), we are officially entering the era of single-player games.
I don’t know about you, but I purposefully seek out single-player games over multiplayer games these days just to save my sanity. I also don’t have enough time to dedicate to playing online games, grinding for resources, and staying up-to-date on every new event.
With Crimson Desert’s fully single-player campaign, I’m able to jump in and out of the game anytime I want. I especially enjoy completing all the side activities, solving puzzles, and just exploring its massive map in my free time.
Unlike BDO, you can play Crimson Desert fully offline. And there’s no FOMO (fear of missing out) or need to participate in all the latest events. You can play at your own pace.
2. Better Storytelling & Missions
Many players argue that Crimson Desert lacks good storytelling. That’s actually not true. Crimson Desert uses a different, Eastern-style storytelling, which most Western players are unfamiliar with. That’s part of why they don’t get what the story is about.
When comparing it with BDO, Crimson Desert’s story is a hundred times better! BDO has one of the weirdest stories, featuring characters that you meet only once or twice. Then, most of the missions are fetch quests where you run around the map to kill mobs.
You can pretty much play BDO’s story campaign missions while watching a movie on a second screen.
Crimson Desert offers much more memorable side quests, missions, and characters that will stick around in your mind throughout the game.
3. No Microtransactions
BDO is well-known for its predatory microtransaction system. Even though the game is cheaper on Steam, it sneaks its way into your wallet as you try to progress through the game.
Almost every aspect of the game, including its weapon-enhancing system and even cosmetic items, is designed to get you to spend real money. For example, there are dozens and dozens of different types of resources in BDO, and as you progress, you will need more inventory space to store them all. Of course, you’ll need to spend real dollars to buy inventory slots.
In comparison, Crimson Desert is completely free of microtransactions. You just have to pay $70 to buy the game, and then you own it. You can play it as long as you want without needing to spend any money on pay-to-win items, inventory slots, or even cosmetics.
If you play on PC, you can even grab a Crimson Desert cheap Steam key through a third-party platform instead of paying full price to the official store. But honestly, paying full price for this game is not really a waste because it delivers well over 100+ hours of gameplay value.
4. Interactive Open World
BDO has a massive open-world map. You get to explore it as you level up your character, and it has different biomes as well. But the enemies and NPCs you meet will always feel repetitive and non-responsive.
Other than a handful of characters that will talk with you to give quests, BDO doesn’t have options for interacting with NPCs.
In Crimson Desert, however, you can interact with folks in town, talk to NPCs, and you’ll even come across various puzzles and interactive events everywhere you go. This makes the world of Crimson Desert feel much more alive than BDO.
5. Impactful Combat System
BDO offers a wide range of classes to choose from. You can fully create your own custom characters and choose a class based on the combat style you want. And the combat is really fun, arguably the best in the MMORPG genre.
The developers took this core combat system and supercharged it for Crimson Desert. Every swing of your sword, every parry, and every dodge feels more impactful in Crimson Desert than BDO.
In BDO, you mostly run around defeating enemy mobs to grind for levels. It’s fun for a while, but it gets tedious very quickly. But in Crimson Desert, every encounter with an enemy is more engaging and meaningful. You have to put more effort into defeating monsters and leveling up.
Which Game Should You Play?
Even though I’ve said some negative things about BDO, I still play it from time to time. It’s still one of my favorite MMOs. Crimson Desert offers a different experience from BDO, especially since it’s a single-player game, and both games have their own unique traits.
If you haven’t played either of the two games, I recommend playing Crimson Desert first. Play it all the way to the end and finish all the quests. And then, when you feel like you want more, you can go ahead and start playing BDO.
