The Tuesday letters page is surprised to find how big Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss is, as one reader is doubtful as to whether Screamer will be a hit.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

May contain annoyances
So I bought Crimson Desert on Saturday, after reading several reviews and watching some YouTube videos of the game with the intention of getting a refund if I didn’t get on with it. The funny thing is it wasn’t even on my radar really until everything blew up, but it really got me curious as to how some reviews were really high on it and some very average.

Long story short, I didn’t refund it and I’m several hours in now and I’m hooked. It’s just such a fascinating game to play, I’m finding the flaws almost endearing and even though the controls certainly are a choice you do get used to them. It’s not what I thought it would be at all either, it’s closer to a sandbox fantasy simulation with so many interconnected systems and depth.

It feels like every suggestion for a minigame or feature was evaluated by asking the question, ‘Will this be fun for someone?’ and if the answer was yes it went in and that feels quite refreshing, especially since it seems like you can ignore those quite happily if you don’t want to bother with them.

I will say, however, that this is almost certainly the most Marmite game I’ve ever played. It will either draw you in or you’ll bounce off it, I think. So I can totally see why there isn’t as much of a consensus on this as something like The Witcher 3.

It reminds me in some ways of Destiny, when that first came out. There was something so compelling about that game, that just hit the spot for those of us who really got into it and this feels exactly the same to me. So, I don’t think the people who are saying it’s good and enjoying it are kidding themselves.

Hopefully over time the annoyances and the issues will be ironed out, as the dev team do seem to be responding quickly to the community. But even if those issues remain, I’m still enjoying my time with the game, warts and all.
Carl

Money to burn
I love how all this stuff coming out about the developers of Crimson Desert just spamming the game with random features and parts of other games, is exactly how the reviews described it and imagined it must’ve been made. What I wonder is how the game ever got founded, because I definitely would not be giving a bunch of people who have only ever made one MMO before the cash to make a… whatever Crimson Desert is supposed to be.

It’s funny how often the biggest disasters in gaming can be seen from a mile away but I guess as long as the right people are making money from it all the madness is left to continue.
Sagat

GC: Pearl Abyss is actually a really big company, with over a thousand employees; they also own EVE Online maker CCP. Black Desert Online is very popular in Asia.

Resist temptation
The fact that Rockstar Games is paying some people less than minimum wage is beyond disgusting. I don’t care if they’re the cleaners, this is the company that makes the biggest entertainment product in human history and they have to have their knuckles rapped by the government in order for its employees to earn a living wage.

I’m extra shocked that this is happening in the UK, although I guess the US government would never have cared and we wouldn’t have found out. But c’mon Rockstar, try and do better. It’s not that hard not to be evil.
Bootles

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Exception to the rule
I appreciate the review of Screamer, which I had never heard of until now (including the old 90s game). It sounds great: inventive and unique, which is why I’m sure it won’t sell at all and then everyone will complain why are there no arcade racers? Or whatever your favourite rare genre happens to be.

People have to vote with their wallets to get anything noticed and yet we constantly see great games do badly and then there’s no follow-up, from either that developer or another. I’m still shocked that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was a hit because it seemed to have everything going against.

Sure it was good, but if that was all you needed for something to be a hit the world would be a very different place.
Hordak

Still in the game
I have to hand it to Microsoft, they are trying to carry on as if everything is normal. That Partner Showcase thing sounds like it’ll be a bit of a dud but they’re doing it anyway, as if everything was normal and the Xbox was still a viable format.

I’m very interested to see what they’re going to be like when they unveil the next gen console. Probably very arrogant and trying to pretend they’re king of the world, but I can’t pretend I’m not interested in seeing what they put out. It’s obvious they haven’t given up yet.
Holstis

Remasters and remakes
I have to admit I am very impressed with what I have seen with Resident Evil Requiem. Although I did not buy this game I did watch a 100% walkthrough and I can assure everyone this game absolutely delivers. From an honest perspective I am an original Resident Evil 2 fan and that was the game that got me into Resident Evil, alongside Resident Evil 1.

Also, with new DLC coming for Requiem we have been spoiled savage by Capcom and hope that we will see them consider continuing with new DLC in the foreseeable future, as the game has already sold 6 million copies. I’d love to see them do DLC adding more characters with unique campaigns, such as past Resident Evil characters making a return, like Alyssa has.

Also, I think now that in 2026 it is time Capcom considered making future Resident Evil games more open world, with PlayStation 6 and Next Gen Xbox coming.

Finally, there is one point I’d like to bring to everyone’s attention. Someone has done an AI 4K HDR10 overhaul of the original Resident Evil game with up-to-date graphic enhancements and it looks and plays glorious, here’s the video.

If this can be done with an AI overhaul surely Capcom could do this with Resident Evil’s Directors Cut, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis in a remastered HD Collector’s Edition that would be sweet and nice for fans.
gaz be rotten (gamertag)

Loveable Evil
Kudos to the people that organised that Resident Evil fan film. I can’t believe the amount of effort it must have taken to organise, on top of all the normal problems of making a film. I’d love to know how much convincing the actors took. They apparently couldn’t get Jill Valentine but I’m amazed any of the others wanted to remind people of their roles, so kudos to them.

Despite all the gore and horror, Resi really is such a loveable series. It’s so dumb and honest and fun. I agree that it should never be taken seriously because that completely robs it of half its appeal. The skill from Capcom is in riding that line between cheesiness and real scares.
Necktie

Never again
Crimson Desert is indeed many things: ambitious, overstuffed, bloated, disappointing, and a generic single-player title that I pre-ordered and in less than 24 hours traded in immediately to CeX. Because it is, from what I’ve played and the many reviews, a very barebones title. Personally, I am very glad to be rid of it and just from seeing the awfully bland graphics, the awful controls, the lack of a narrative to grip you. It is indeed one of the most disappointing games of 2026.

It’s no surprise that Pearl Abyss’s stock has fallen, but my mistake is one to be learnt from. I ignored the countless red flags, the shady tactics by Pearl Abyss to implement a review embargo so very late and the lack of any explanation, as far as any hints to the narrative beats and overall themes of the world. It was only false window dressing, disguised as the next great open world feature.

Patches can only do so much to fix or even try to fix what is essentially a title that will be forgotten very soon, especially when we are less than a month away from the release of Saros and Pragmata. They seem infinitely more interesting, but I cannot stress this enough, I’ll be waiting for reviews for both releases.

I’m more confident about Saros, since it’s a continuation of the systems introduced in Returnal, but if my mistake has taught me anything. It’s that always trust your instincts. I only wish I hadn’t even gazed at Crimson Desert or given it a glance at all. That’s truly a regret I have to come to terms with.

As far as the reviews go, it sits at a 78 on Metacritic. In my opinion, it’s far too high of a score for such a wasteful opportunity. It deserves far much less. Even GC scoring it a 6 is far too kind. It’s more or less a 4 or a 3 out of 10. For utilising a beautiful world but lacking in many important factors.

May there never be a sequel to this debacle. On a final note, it would be absolutely phenomenal if GTA 6 was to release on the Nintendo Switch 2. But it is even possible? We’ll have to see and wait.
Shahzaib Sadiq

Inbox also-rans
Sympathies in advance to whatever penniless students end up having to walk around the Minecraft theme park wearing a bunch of cardboard boxes to look like the characters. I feel grateful my boy has never shown any interest in the game.
Scourge

Agree on adding more character moments to Resident Evil. The next game definitely has to have Leon and Ada putting on a dinner party for Chris and Jill and the rest. And then zombies attacking, obviously. (Or maybe Hunters? They were always my favourite and it feels like we haven’t seen them for years.)
Grossman

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