Crimson Desert is 'not a copy of other AAA games' according to The Witcher 3 director — and after my 175 hours of playtime and five million copies sold, it all makes sense

• The Witcher 3 director, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, has praised Crimson Desert for "delivering something quite fresh" from other AAA games
• Pearl Abyss recently announced that the game has sold five million copies
• There are still plenty of updates to come from Pearl Abyss with new game content

Pearl Abyss is receiving heaps of praise for its efforts on Crimson Desert, mainly thanks to its open-world design, which rewards players for their curiosity during exploration — and recent compliments and copies sold back that up.

In an interview with The Game Business, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, director of The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt, praised Crimson Desert — alongside the likes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — for standing out from other AAA games and pushing the boundary beyond what players are accustomed to.

Further justifying Tomaszkiewicz's compliments is the fact that Pearl Abyss recently announced that it has sold five million copies of Crimson Desert, marking the game as a huge success for the developer (based on the reported $133 million development cost). And frankly, after 175 hours of playtime, the game gets my praise as well.

Speaking about attempting "risky stuff" in AAA RPGs for more immersion, Tomaszkiewicz said: "I think that this [idea] is growing these days, because when you look at Clair Obscur, or Crimson Desert right now, those games are different.

"They are not a copy of other AAA games, but delivering something quite fresh. And I'm really glad of it because I'm starting to feel like I did in the 1990s when I played games on my 286 PC, or even on the Atari where every game was different."

Praise from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt director is worth noting given how well-crafted and successful the CD Projekt Red title was. While Crimson Desert isn't a narrative-driven experience, it thrives at delivering an open-world experience that few games have replicated.

Crimson Desert is quite clearly a rare gem in the eyes of many gamers, including myself, and that's become more evident with compliments from Tomaszkiewicz, the game's high and consistent player count on Steam for nearly an entire month after its launch date, and (most notably) after I passed the 100-hour mark without feeling bored.

Usually, the latter serves as a significant downside to an open-world game, with them often overstaying their welcome, but Crimson Desert has kept both me and literally thousands (via SteamDB) of other players hooked for multiple hours.

With more updates adding new content on the way, and the mod community for the game already adding new mods, such as new hairstyles and beards for playable characters, it looks like Crimson Desert will be the talk of the town for a very long time.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.