So, you’ve conquered the world of Pywel, and now Crimson Desert lies as another completed title under your belt. Lucky for you, this Pearl Abyss-developed game draws inspiration from several other productions that you can jump into right now if you’re still chasing that same vibe.
Whether you’re looking for that same sense of visceral impact, a massive world to get lost in, or a similar mercenary-for-hire lifestyle, check out the following titles to fill that void.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Many players find that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the closest thematic and mechanical match to the experience found in Pywel. This is largely because Capcom’s single-player RPG has a physics-based combat engine as its main draw.
The gameplay prioritizes emergent chaos over scripted sequences, allowing for similar fight scenarios across both titles. You can get into a street fight just as easily as you can climb onto an ogre’s back for some vertical combat. Plus, its resource management systems are also quite robust.
The game further mirrors the mercenary vibe through its pawn system, where you travel with AI companions who assist in battle and offer advice. It has a slightly janky but rewarding charm that encourages experimentation instead of following a rigid path.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Crimson Desert’s Kliff is the classic medieval fantasy type of protagonist: gruff, available for hire, and navigating a world of intrigue where the lines between “monster” and “man” are often blurred. As luck would have it, such a description also fits CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt down to a T.
Much like Kliff, Geralt of Rivia serves as the archetype for the lone-wolf warrior, and the game sets the gold standard for dark fantasy world-building not by taking the player’s hand, but by essentially throwing them into a place of disarray and letting them sort themselves out.
While The Witcher 3 lacks the combat physicality of Crimson Desert, both games share another trait: fight preparation. More than that, both games’ worlds react dynamically to your moral choices, ensuring that your actions as a mercenary have lasting, often unintended consequences for the inhabitants of the land.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Less fantasy, more dirty realism: this is a factor that a lot of Crimson Desert reviews highlight as positive in the game. There is no over-the-top magic, and most of the world is easily explained under real-life premises. Luckily, there is another game that takes that premise and drives it even further: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
Set in 15th-century Bohemia, this game provides a historical simulator that strips away high fantasy magic entirely and forces you to master the actual physics of swordplay, where stamina management and directional strikes are the difference between life and death.
The game demands a high level of immersion, requiring you to eat, sleep, and maintain your gear to survive. It captures that identical feeling of being a vulnerable person in a harsh medieval world, where a single mistake against a group of bandits can be fatal if you are unprepared.
Ghost of Tsushima (and Yōtei)
Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yōtei are both easy recommendations for our list due to the fact that, like Crimson Desert, their combat system is highly strategic. Like a dance of death, the stories of Jin Sakai and Atsu are filled with fights that are designed for timing and precision, rewarding successful strikes with brutal, high-impact finishes that feel incredibly satisfying.
Also, the open worlds from all three games are visual masterpieces, replacing traditional objective markers with a guiding wind and encouraging a more organic flow of discovery and exploration, perfectly blending cinematics and gameplay progression into a breathtaking journey.
Elden Ring
Crimson Desert has also found its appeal among the “git gud” gaming demographic by bringing gargantuan bosses, really tough combat, and the uncovering of secrets in a vast world, much like FromSoftware’s Elden Ring did before it.
Both games provide a sense of grand adventure through a massive, interconnected, multi-region world that allows for total freedom in how you approach your objectives and build your character.
While some key differences in combat apply between both games, they also share a lot of similarities, with bosses that bring scaling difficulty, demand proper precision and timing, and create an overall sense of “justified confrontation,” making every enemy encounter feel unique and memorable.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is often cited as a major inspiration for the exploration and environmental interaction seen in Crimson Desert. It offers players an almost infinite level of freedom to interact with the world through physics-based puzzles and creative traversal.
The similarity lies in how both games treat the environment as a tool for the player, allowing you to use the landscape itself to overcome obstacles. While the aesthetic is brighter and more stylized in Nintendo’s title, the underlying systems of discovery and player agency are remarkably similar.
Black Desert Online
We could not write about Crimson Desert without mentioning its earlier, older sibling: Black Desert Online. Also from Pearl Abyss, it shares the same engine and a very similar high-fidelity visual style and gameplay systems as its modern-day counterpart. The reason for that is simple; originally, Crimson Desert was meant to be Black Desert Online’s prequel. The game took on a scale too large to be delivered as such, though, and it ended up becoming its own standalone story.
Despite the change, Black Desert Online still presents itself by showcasing what you can understand as “earlier versions” of all the systems you see in the new game, except in online MMO form. It is real-time, strategic, intelligently designed, and has the visuals to back it all up, which is saying something considering Black Desert Online came out in 2015.
While it is an MMO rather than a solo narrative experience, it remains the best place to go if you want to stay within that specific aesthetic world. It offers deep character customization and a dynamic economy that can keep a player invested for hundreds of hours beyond the main story.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Alright, calm down, we know Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is that part of Ubisoft’s franchise that lost a lot of fans due to its gameplay shifting from stealth-based action to action RPG and level-up mechanics.
While all of those complaints are valid, it is undeniable that this game specifically seems tailored for Crimson Desert fans, as it caters to all the factors that made it such a controversial entry in the first place: a huge map open for exploration, total freedom of navigation, impactful combat, and a meaningful story. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla offers a sprawling medieval map focused on conquest and war, where you lead a group of warriors across the European landscape, engaging in large-scale conflicts that mirror the mercenary skirmishes of Pywel.
It sort of loses itself about halfway, with a skill tree that is not readily understandable and an upgrade system that can be a slog for more impatient players. Still, the equipment choices are vast, allowing you to tailor your combat style, and it captures the gritty feeling of building a settlement and surviving in a land torn by war, providing a massive world filled with secrets and historical intrigue.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is a unique recommendation for those who specifically enjoyed the process of managing a mercenary group and facing recurring rivals. Its Nemesis system creates personal stories with enemy leaders, where every defeat or victory changes the hierarchy of the world.
The game allows you to build your own army of orcs to lay siege to massive fortresses, offering a sense of military leadership that resonates with Kliff’s journey. The combat is fast-paced and brutal, rewarding players for mastering environmental interactions and managing multiple enemies at once in a dark fantasy setting.
God of War Ragnarök
God of War Ragnarök is the go-to recommendation for players who crave the specific sense of weight and impact found in the combat of Crimson Desert. Every swing of Kratos’s weapons feels heavy and visceral, with audio and visual design that emphasizes the sheer violence of every encounter.
Seriously, just take one look at Kratos trading blows with Thor and Kliff drop-kicking and slamming enemies, and tell us you don’t perceive the same energy and intensity.
While God of War: Ragnarök is a more directed and narrative-heavy experience than a seamless sandbox, the cinematic boss battles and aggressive combat skills are top-tier. If your favorite part of being a mercenary was the feeling of completely obliterating enemies with heavy melee mechanics, this is a perfect fit.
Final Thoughts
Crimson Desert is the latest title to thrive on the legacy of games that prioritize weight, realism, and player freedom. Whether you choose the historical grit of a 15th-century medieval town, the physics-driven chaos of a high-fantasy sandbox, or a mythic journey through ancient folklore, each of these games captures a specific piece of the magic that made the continent of Pywel so memorable.
Exploration and combat remain the core of the adventure, and these ten titles ensure that your next journey will be just as epic as your last. Crimson Desert is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
