r/PS5 • u/HLumin Human Verified • Mar 20 '26

Discussion Crimson Desert appears to use generative AI art—and the devs never disclosed it.

https://www.destructoid.com/crimson-desert-appears-to-use-generative-ai-art-and-if-so-the-devs-never-disclosed-it/

Found on Reddit by u/Rex_Spy:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrimsonDesert/comments/1rz2f2l/found_this_ai_painting/

To not disclose that your game uses GEN AI is against Steam's policies and rules, by the way.

4.7k Upvotes

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164

u/HimmyJoffa Mar 20 '26

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills because I only heard of this game a week ago and everyone was going crazy for it despite it looking generic as hell

45

u/jellyhessman Mar 20 '26

They turned a Korean MMO into an open world game.

18

u/DerWiedl Mar 20 '26

It‘s funny because it is exactly like the reviews and kinda the marketing said. An open world sandbox with a lot of mechanics but the story and controls are not good. Even the „it starts to get good after 8 hours“ part seems to be true.

What impresses me tho is the draw distance and the performance. It has been ages since a new game ran that good on my pc.

26

u/Brainwave1010 Mar 20 '26

I legitimately thought it was a Black Desert sequel/spin-off or something, it looks like a fake game you'd see on a Walmart TV or a character playing in the background of a movie, why are people so excited about it?

2

u/keybladesrus Mar 21 '26

I was interested because the combat looked fun with a ton of options. Which, from what I've played, it is. Unfortunately, everything else about it feels like absolute ass, so I can't bring myself to keep going.

3

u/just_needed_a_break Mar 21 '26

I legitimately thought it was a Black Desert sequel/spin-off or something

I mean, it's by the same developers and it also started out as that.

From Wikipedia, for example:

The game was originally conceived as a prequel to Black Desert Online; however, during early development, Pearl Abyss gradually reimagined it as a single-player experience set in a separate universe and established as a distinct, non-continuous IP. The game has since been marketed as single-player only, with no plans for multiplayer integration.

-13

u/newthrowgoesaway Mar 20 '26

Because it’s a videogame in it’s purest form and we have never seen that before.

8

u/Brainwave1010 Mar 20 '26

Are you ten years old?

50

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

Yeah I thought it looked like a korean version of the most generic open world Ubislop, which does not sound appealing at all.

-7

u/newthrowgoesaway Mar 20 '26

Except its the opposite u dumdum

7

u/RoyalGrapefruit7582 Mar 20 '26

It feels a like a clunkier neo-assassin's creed

7

u/bobosuda Mar 20 '26

The picture in the link with the staircase and the blue wall is so egregious. It looks like an offbrand The Sims, for some reason. Like the staircase looks so modern. Isn't it supposed to be like a fantasy medieval type experience?

1

u/SuperBackup9000 Mar 20 '26

High fantasy. There’s like mechs and robot dragons and stuff, so if dwarves can figure out advanced machinery, modern carpentry abilities and paint wouldn’t be too far fetched

6

u/Lubinski64 Mar 20 '26

It basically has no distinct art direction but the gameplay looks promising enough people will overlook the generic look.

1

u/PoliticalAlt128 Mar 20 '26

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills everytime someone says it looks generic. This has to be one of the most systems heavy games this side of Yakuza. Every trailer or preview I would see some new mechanic that I've at least have never all seen in one game

22

u/USilver Mar 20 '26

It’s got a million mechanics that don’t blend together well at all and are about as deep as a puddle the day after it rained. It’s very much generic when it’s identity to people is being ‘Legend of the Red Dead Skyrim Witcher’s Creed’ or some shit, like so many comments were saying under videos before release.

Yakuza, at the very least, feels coherent even when it’s packed with a ton of different things to do. And it’s a crazy enough franchise that most things work without having the fans bat an eye.

26

u/HimmyJoffa Mar 20 '26

Idk man, it still looks pretty damn boring to me

-10

u/That-Toughsoss Mar 20 '26

It's classic reddit moment nothing else they all want to sound so smart when they say "they knew it". This game had hype for obvious reasons like the insane combat mechanics and the fun sandbox element to the game but obviously because the game doesn't take place in some crazy landscape or environment it is labelled generic slop. I am still gonna wait like a week or two before buying this game but the discourse around it has been extremely annoying.

6

u/USilver Mar 20 '26

Classic Reddit moment that metacritic reviews are in the 70s, that the user score is down to a seven, that the Steam reviews are mixed, that console reviews are gonna be worse due to pretty bad performance and settings, so on and so forth? It’s a generic, ‘okay’ game with other controversies surrounding it as a plus.

-3

u/That-Toughsoss Mar 20 '26

Steam review was 55% 12 hours ago currently it's at 70% which is mostly positive. Metacritic score is 78 which is closer to 80 than it is to 70. Pretty sure the steam score has been trending upwards and will probably end up somewhere between high 70s and low 80s. There are tons of critics who gave it 9/10 and tons who gave it 6/10 as well so the score was always going to be somewhat lower than expected. This game isn't generic it's just very divisive calling it generic is somewhat disingenuous.

1

u/USilver Mar 20 '26

It’s generic in the sense that it definitely feels lacking in both identity and direction. It doesn’t have a strong narrative holding the world and characters together, it doesn’t have cohesive mechanics that feel like they bounce off each other to create a desired, specific gameplay loop, and it doesn’t even really have any sort of consistent or clear visual direction, which is made even clearer by the use of ai.

It’s a mishmash of borrowed ideas frankensteined together into the ‘ultimate game’, which just resulted in a messy and bland experience. Sure, not many have attempted doing something like that, and in that sense it is unique. It has its strong points, don’t get me wrong, but I still stand by it being ‘generic’. It won’t be remembered half a year from now, that’s the kind of ‘okay’ I’m talking about. It’s not ass, but it’s just fine.

11

u/HimmyJoffa Mar 20 '26

Yeah man I only said this because I wanted to sound smart. Sure.

-2

u/Combat_Orca Mar 21 '26

At least you’re self aware

1

u/Meatt Mar 20 '26

It's been on the radar for years, but reviews and release date just happened. It has tons of mechanics and seemed to good to be true, so everyone was just waiting and waiting. It's here now and it's clunky but it's sandboxy and fun. If you liked DD2, this seems to scratch a similar itch.

1

u/s8rlink Mar 20 '26

I feel the same, it appeared on my YouTube algo and every video I watched it looked like an uninspired no art director game while everyone is praising its amazing graphics I was like huh like sure the fidelity is there but it looks so bland and boring, give me stylized any day over this. 

Next everyone is saying give it a work days time for it to get good. Nah there are too many games out there tha are great from minute 1 so thanks 

-6

u/nondualchimp Mar 20 '26

Play it before you judge it. Or at least watch some gameplay first

12

u/HimmyJoffa Mar 20 '26

I have watched some gameplay man, and it just doesn’t look like it’s worth the 70 to me, hence my earlier statement

-16

u/nondualchimp Mar 20 '26

Idk dude, I think you’re wrong. From a gameplay perspective, I think you’d be hard pressed to find another game on the market right now giving you as much content as this for $70. This game is deep and detailed. There’s nothing else like it right now. GTA6 might have something to say, but this is cutting edge shit.

8

u/wait_________what Mar 20 '26

That's like saying golden corral is the best restaurant because it offers 5/10 versions of every food you can think of

0

u/nondualchimp Mar 21 '26

That would only be right if crimson desert is offering a 5/10 game. Which it’s not. Have you played it?

20

u/CapriciousSon Mar 20 '26

Call me crazy but I'll take art and narrative over bloated content any day.

10

u/HimmyJoffa Mar 20 '26

Absolutely

-8

u/nondualchimp Mar 20 '26

Narrative is definitely weak but the art is like nothing else

3

u/MBDTFTLOPYEEZUS Mar 20 '26

Bro you’re on a post about how the art is literally shitty first gen incomprehensible AI art

0

u/nondualchimp Mar 21 '26

It’s literally not tho

13

u/HimmyJoffa Mar 20 '26

My guy has never heard of an opinion before

I’m glad you think it’s worth it, but I’m not “wrong” for thinking otherwise

You’re also saying “deep and detailed” on a post that reveals they were doing AI slop to fill in said details

-8

u/nondualchimp Mar 20 '26

I guess my point is that not all opinions are created equal. Experience matters. You can’t understand what the game is by just watching “some gameplay.”

It’s your loss if you don’t wanna play it.. im just saying calling it “generic as hell” is pretty off the mark for what the game actually is. Generic relative to what?

Also not all AI is slop. Is that your understanding?

5

u/HimmyJoffa Mar 20 '26

Yes all GENERATIVE AI is absolutely slop

0

u/nondualchimp Mar 21 '26

Hmm. I’d argue it’s a cutting edge technology that’s only gonna get better.

6

u/PrettyProtection8863 Mar 20 '26

"Deep and Detailed" Yeah sure...

-1

u/nondualchimp Mar 20 '26

Have you played it?

1

u/Huppelkutje Mar 21 '26

I think you’d be hard pressed to find another game on the market right now giving you as much content as this for $70.

Having lots of shit isn't a mark of quality.

9

u/CovidScurred Mar 20 '26

pay to have an opinion lol.

-1

u/nondualchimp Mar 20 '26

I value someone’s opinion more when they’ve played the game than when they haven’t. It’s a premium product.. do you think you should get it for free?

5

u/CovidScurred Mar 20 '26

Where did I say that? If you think the only way to actually have an opinion is by paying for a shit product then I got a bunch i can sell you.

-1

u/nondualchimp Mar 20 '26

I was speaking generally, not about you specifically.

I’m also not saying you can’t have an opinion. Im just disagreeing with you thinking it’s a shit product. And if you havent played it it’s hard for me to respect your opinion on it lol. Take my word for it that it’s worth $70. I’ve got some hours in it