Crimson Desert Players Seek Refunds Over Poor Control Mechanics

It’s been less than a day since the launch of Crimson Desert, the latest title from Pearl Abyss, following the massive success of their MMORPG, Black Desert Online. Unfortunately, the game is facing a rough start. Reviews have been lukewarm, and its Steam user score has already dipped to “Mixed” after nearly 6,000 ratings. While Crimson Desert has its fans, a significant number of players are frustrated with the game’s overly complicated controls, which require multiple inputs for simple actions like jumping or interacting with NPCs.

“These controls have made it incredibly hard to enjoy as everything seems like a chore. Talking to NPCs should not be this annoying,” commented a Steam user. Another user expressed their discontent, stating, “Complete garbage. This game somehow manages to overcomplicate what Black Desert had, and at the same time deliver less. SO many keys, for so little.” On social media, one player lamented, “Crimson Desert has the worst controls I’ve experienced in a game. It doesn’t click with me. They need to rethink this.”

Interestingly, one of the most popular posts on the Crimson Desert subreddit is a humorous take on the “press F to pay respects” meme from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

But complexity isn’t the only issue players are facing with the controls. Many have reported significant input lag, where there’s a noticeable delay between pressing a button and the corresponding action appearing on-screen. “Feels like every action happens after the button is released, not when pressed,” noted a Reddit user in a discussion about the game’s problematic controls.

In a detailed review, a writer described Crimson Desert’s control scheme as a “nightmare.” They pointed out that while complex control systems can be rewarding to master, they should be logical and intuitive. In Crimson Desert, it seems that basic interactions have been made unnecessarily confusing, creating an illusion of depth. There’s no reason why a single prompt shouldn’t suffice to perform simple tasks, or why multiple mechanics are needed to achieve similar results. Typically, an abundance of button combinations is only effective in combat scenarios.

As of now, Pearl Abyss has not announced any plans to allow players to remap the controls in Crimson Desert. However, given the widespread criticism, it wouldn’t be surprising to see adjustments made in a future update.