- The Witcher 3 director believes titles like Crimson Desert are bringing back the RPG era of the ’90s.
- Due to the variety of experiences present, the door is once again open for experimentation.
- Unlike a few years ago, gamers can experience fresh and different systems that stand out.
It won’t be wrong to say that Crimson Desert has turned out to be this year’s essential RPG. The Pearl Abyss title has defied all expectations, selling over 5 million copies and setting new standards for the genre, with its massive open world redefining the sense of scale a AAA title should possess.
Despite all of its positives, however, Crimson Desert is a completely different RPG when compared to 2025’s GOTY winner, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. If you ask the Witcher 3 director, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, this is exactly why the golden age of RPGs is coming back.
Why it matters: The role-playing genre has finally evolved out of making every title a Soulslike, and with studios trying to stand out with different ideas, the genre is in a good spot.
While speaking to GamesRadar, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz stated that games like Crimson Desert and Expedition 33 remind him of the RPG golden age from the early ’90s. The developer explained that these contemporary titles are placed in the same genre, but the way you play and experience them is really different.
When we spoke about the games from last year and this year, like Crimson Desert, Dispatch, Clair Obscur, it reminds me of the early ’90s, where every game which appears was sometimes similar in the meaning of genre, but really different in the meaning of how you control this game.
The Witcher 3 director praised smaller studios for this achievement, saying that the door is once again open for experimentation in role-playing titles, as we have seen with Crimson Desert and Expedition 33.
Tomaszkiewicz specifically singled out the Pearl Abyss RPG, praising Crimson Desert for the freedom it provides players and its ability to bring out emotion without putting emphasis on the story. Hence, making the game very different from other RPGs like Dispatch.
With all of these role-playing titles offering such different experiences, The Witcher 3 director believes we are finally out of the climate that existed a few years ago, where every RPG was a similar experience. Developers are going back to crafting fresh systems, as they did in the ’90s, to better stand out.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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