Is Crimson Desert an RPG? Weird Online Arguments Erupt as Dev Refuses to Call It One

We’re precisely one month away from Crimson Desert releasing on PS5, and for a lot of, it is ended up being one of the anticipated titles of 2026 thus far.

However is it an RPG? That is apparently the query that is now plaguing Crimson Desert discourse, with arguments happening throughout social media over the past day or so.

We have seen all of it earlier than, after all. The categorisation of a online game can carry out some weirdly passionate opinions, however we do assume Crimson Desert’s case is sort of attention-grabbing.

That is as a result of developer Pearl Abyss outright refuses to name it an RPG, regardless of the sport clearly having a lot in frequent with mainly any open world RPG you possibly can consider.

The truth is, there was a time, not lengthy after Crimson Desert was first introduced, once we referred to the title as an “open world RPG” in a headline.

Shortly after the article was revealed, we had been truly despatched an e-mail from the sport’s PR workforce, particularly stating that it is not an RPG, and needs to be described as an open world “journey” as a substitute.

Since then, we have all the time puzzled why Pearl Abyss is so in opposition to the concept of calling it an RPG, and as talked about, the entire matter has erupted once more thanks to current previews and interviews.

In accordance to IGN, a summarising social media publish from @SynthPotato appears to have sparked the controversy. It’s one other case of the developer stressing the purpose, highlighting the truth that Crimson Desert does not have expertise factors and character stage ups — and subsequently cannot be thought of an RPG.

However the counterargument is that it does have stats, tools, loot, aspect quests, ability bushes, and whole crafting methods. Mainly, stuff that just about anybody would affiliate with a contemporary tackle the style.

The idea, then, is that Pearl Abyss is solely overlaying its arse and trying to preserve expectations in examine — which is honest sufficient. It might simply be that it does not need gamers going into Crimson Desert anticipating some in-depth role-playing fantasy such as you’d discover in Baldur’s Gate 3 or The Witcher 3.

Nonetheless, persons are arguing on each side. In the meantime, we’re simply sitting right here hoping that the sport truly fulfils its potential — RPG or not.

What’s your tackle all of this? Would you hesitate to name Crimson Desert and RPG, or is Pearl Abyss hamstringing itself for no actual cause? Strive to make sense of all of it within the feedback part beneath.