Black Desert Online

 PC
  • Publisher: GameOn
  • Release Date: Mar 3, 2016
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1667 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,021 out of 1667
  2. Mixed: 105 out of 1667
  3. Negative: 541 out of 1667

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Gu5
    Nov 3, 2019
    7
    After 3 months of inactivity and actively returning into the game (with more content opened - Valencia) I'd say say that the major downsides are: "Korean typical heavy RNG" and the possible amount of power gap caused by a gear level...

    If there was an MMO like BDO with purely skill-based combat - i'd call it the best MMO out there...

    BDO is not perfect, but still it is enjoyable.
  2. Shperax
    Mar 13, 2019
    7
    The game has the most potential to be the best MMO ever created. You will have a wonderful time your 1st time from level 1-50. Sadly that doesn't take long and the gear enhancement system totally destroys the rest of the game. You really can't progress against PVE without getting at least a full set of +17 TRI which is super RNG
  3. ShodanSpectre
    Mar 29, 2016
    7
    This is a review of the North American server, a couple weeks after it's launch in March 2016. Other servers may provide a somewhat different experience.

    I used to play L2 in its early years, and have been waiting for a game that could be L2's successor. BDO showed some promise, so as soon as it was released I gave it a go. Pros: Obviously - the graphics are very good, I'll give it    This is a review of the North American server, a couple weeks after it's launch in March 2016. Other servers may provide a somewhat different experience.

    I used to play L2 in its early years, and have been waiting for a game that could be L2's successor. BDO showed some promise, so as soon as it was released I gave it a go.

    Pros:
    Obviously - the graphics are very good, I'll give it that.

    Character creating as well.

    The physics - are quite good for an MMO too - jumping and climbing onto things. There may be some things that you walk through but at least if something looks like you can jump/climb onto it - you probably can. There aren't that many MMOs where you can climb onto very tall and thin towers, and then sit atop some pillar to meet the sunrise (which indeed looks beautiful).

    It's possible to use the environment to gain tactical advantage - if you're good at parkour you can jump/climb up something and start shooting from there, and kick back enemies that try to reach you through the one narrow ladder/stone that allows access to your "sniping position". That said, the range of attack isn't REALLY sniper-level.

    Goes along with the fact that the open world is indeed open. Not even like in L2 where you had invisible walls - here the highest mountains are climbable, if you find a way. The view from the top... Well, you gotta see for yourself :-)

    Combat is dynamic. Non-target, kind of (although there is some kind if "sticky" reticle for the Ranger/Archer). It's not an advanced melee slasher game nor a full-scale shooter, but there is real-time evasion that depends on the player's skill, which is good. The game combat does depend on player skill, not just the character skill.

    The main quest (Black Spirit) is kind of fun. Not on high-end single RPG kinda level, but for an MMO intro main line - rather fun. The Black Spirit is somewhat repetitive but has a simple, cynic sense of humor.

    Cons:
    General PvE is meh strategy-wise. But I guess most MMOs have rather simple mobs, which aren't intended to be interesting enemies. The monsters are on a VERY short leash (follow you for like 20m if you run away) - after which they "reset" - become invincible and run to their spawn point. And reset to full HP. So - no luring them away, no picking one by one, leave alone anything interesting like luring a boss or a train of mobs into a village (like was possible in L2 and early WoW).

    PvP is locked till lvl 45 or so.That's -2 points for me 'cause of that alone. Granted, one can reach 45 in about 20 hours of play, or less if they just grind hardcore, but... "what the hell, man???" (c)

    Swimming is time-limited, you start losing HP after about a minute in the water (on the surface!). And no diving at all.

    The quests you find in the world are your typical MMORPG quests... Go there kill that go there find that bring me 'cause I can't walk over 200ft... Here BDO didn't make any revolution :-D

    The dialogues with NPCs are rather disconnected. Maybe it's the Western translation but NPCs say totally random things at times.
    The looping of their animations and idle dialogues is very short and obvious.
    Some NPCs can be found in different locations at the same time.

    The storyline quest was kinda OK. I previously posted that it broke after lvl 13 - but no, it resumed later, by some combination of gaining a couple levels, taking a seemingly random quest from an NPC and visiting a certain location. I bumped the review from 6 to 8 due to this and due to discovering that some NPCs actually do substantial damage and have a running speed greater than my Ranger's strafing speed. The difficulty went from super trivial to "fairly-easy-but-don't-fall-asleep" around lvl 14.

    Gender locked characters... Ok let's say there are no male sorcerers because of the lore, similar to the Witcher world, but why, o why can't I play as a male archer?

    The mechanics are pretty good, I can see a great amount of tactical combat emerging with such a combat system: positioning, exploiting 3D obstacles, movement, combos, quick fingers - all that would matter a lot in a game with non-target, fast-paced mechanics and rather advanced physics.

    It seems Pearl Abyss created a good PvP-oriented game, which has a prerequisite of grinding through a single-player RPG aka tutorial, before it lets you start the game for real.    … Expand
  4. Rohaldos
    Mar 9, 2016
    7
    I will keep it short.

    The game has a brilliant character creation tool, it could have been perfect if the game was not gender/age lock. 8 out 10 The game offers a very good if not one of the best crafting and trading system that you could ever find in a mmo game. The AH and the player 2 player trade seems designed to keep prices fair with no exploits The combat is more like an    I will keep it short.

    The game has a brilliant character creation tool, it could have been perfect if the game was not gender/age lock. 8 out 10

    The game offers a very good if not one of the best crafting and trading system that you could ever find in a mmo game. The AH and the player 2 player trade seems designed to keep prices fair with no exploits

    The combat is more like an action game which I find fantastic, very similar to vindictus. 9 out 10

    There tons of quests and things to do. 9 out of 10

    At the moment the only complain that I have is the pearl shop, the items are way overpriced for a B2P game. For example if you want to purchase a full set armor(including weapons), an armor for your horse and a pet this will probably cost you over $50. 0 out of 10

    I like the game and I want to support it but I am not so foolish to pay for "skin" all that money.    … Expand
  5. hijackk
    Aug 20, 2018
    7
    This is a great MMO game, but only if:
    - you want to make this game your only mmo game for many years,
    - you have some monthly source of money you can spend every month on BDO. There is no official subscription whatsoever, but if you want to play seriously, you will be forced to pay an unofficial subscription by many free account restrictions - You have a lot of free time. Bcs u will    This is a great MMO game, but only if:
    - you want to make this game your only mmo game for many years,
    - you have some monthly source of money you can spend every month on BDO. There is no official subscription whatsoever, but if you want to play seriously, you will be forced to pay an unofficial subscription by many free account restrictions
    - You have a lot of free time. Bcs u will need it if you want to achive something before you get old.

    If you are not affraid of those things, BDO will give you best MMO fighting system u ever seen, huge amount of things to do, many development paths, best graphic and great community to share your hobby with. This is a life-time MMO, so prepare to progress slowly!    … Expand
  6. Moriwenne
    Apr 2, 2016
    7
    I am a fan of mmorpgs. I am also a fan of beautiful graphics which makes exploring a treat. I don't shy away from action combat games either so, I picked up this game and played it for some 50 hours.

    The game has many different systems in play. Housing, workers, nodes, crafting, trading, transport of goods, npc minigames, questing, etc. I first tried to play the game just by going    I am a fan of mmorpgs. I am also a fan of beautiful graphics which makes exploring a treat. I don't shy away from action combat games either so, I picked up this game and played it for some 50 hours.

    The game has many different systems in play. Housing, workers, nodes, crafting, trading, transport of goods, npc minigames, questing, etc. I first tried to play the game just by going through the motions, trying to experience a bit of everything. I am experienced with such games and usually figure things out. I failed with black desert in this regard. I believe the game does a very poor job of explaining itself to you. I had to find a bunch of guides and videos elsewhere to get me going.

    I am not a crafting freak. I mean, I like crafting. I like the option of creating my own items and the ability to participate in the market and earn a bit more money and I don't mind some mild gathering. But this is a means to an end. What I really want is the money and the items that will improve my character. Some might enjoy a fishing minigame and I don't mind doing it a couple of times, any mini is ok if only repeated 2 or 3 times but after that? No thank you.

    I am not a housing freak. I don't mind building a house and decorating the outside like you could do with Archeage. It's something that will exist in the game, serves an aesthetic purpose and that's ok. But putting furniture on an instanced house, that no one will see, takes time and effort that is just not fun FOR ME.
    Transporting goods, fixed warehouses, these things add a bit of a real feel to the game's towns but honestly, it's a limitation I could do without. I have to transport things myself, do some actions to move things around and I don't get any fun out of it. I remember doing trade runs in archeage and basically having to walk things over long distances. The goal there as well, was the money at the end and the trip itself gave me no pleasure. In fact, I often just played another game like hearthstone on another screen whilst my character walked. I did enjoy the aspect of danger associated with the trade runs though.

    The towns and cities never felt distinct to me. I like feeling that a place is special and has interesting characters. The towns and cities felt a bit too overcrowded with npcs that don't matter. You can talk to too many people which serves no purpose. There are these minigames that you can perform with too many npcs forcing you to spend time and literally energy so that you can get a discount on some goods and this is true for so many npcs, it's just unnecessary.

    I enjoy some pvp. In my 50 hours of play, the game didn't create any opportunities for me to pvp. Low lvl pvp is as fun as high lvl pvp as everyone learns the game and it offers different challenges. In BD i didn't find any. In comparison to say GW2, there was an arena that I could join at any time to improve my fighting skills and learn how to fight other classes. There was an entire pvp map where only pvp mattered (solo and grouped), with objectives, which is fun too, and you could do that from level 1. I like having these different options as they offer variety to one's tasks and stop boredom from setting in.

    I like solo play but I also enjoy grouping. I like it when a game throws a grouped area in your path as you progress through the leveling. Maybe even, have a dungeon area that offers a map with specific gameplay that a group of people must figure out. Again, this offers variation from the usual grind or 'go kill x' quests. In my 50h of game I found no real group options with the exception of a couple of gathering guild quests.

    I like visuals. I like to change the looks of my character as the game progresses. You see someone's armor and you know their strength. You see someone wielding a specific weapon and you recognise his power and also, it just looks good. This progression should exist in the early levels and not just when you reach max level. After 50h my wizard still looks like gandalf and all wizards around me also look like gandalf. Also, I like to play females and the game not allowing me to create females with every class...in a modern mmorpg....it boggles the mind. The game's graphics are quite nice though and the character creation is a treat.

    In conclusion, the game accomplishes many of the things it sets out to do and fails on some others. The stuff that fails at like the interface, creating some sort of story, having good localization, cash shop, some combat stuff…some of these things I could tolerate. But as a whole, given my tastes, the game doesn’t offer enough to keep me engaged.

    PS: The point of reviews in my opinion is not to complain. The idea is to explain the game to others whilst inserting your own tastes into it so that people with similar tastes might take something out of it. If this helped someone then hey, quest completed!    … Expand
  7. cableguy3333
    Apr 30, 2019
    7
    This is an xbox review as there is no review page for xbox on this game. It's kind of world of warcraft during the vanilla years with much better graphics. Combat is fun and fast or that's what it seems at first but after a while it's just button bashing. Why I haven't scored it higher and that's because of it's pay to win system once PVP becomes involved
  8. Merggy
    Feb 2, 2020
    7
    Quite a fun game that doesn't require a monthly payment like many MMORPG's. It's annoying how every character will end up doing the exact same quests over and over and how some classes are male or female only. This alongside the "Kakao Cash" lowers my score down to a 7. Despite this, it's quite a fun game with spot on outstanding fights and moves. 7/10 game I'd say - it's good.
  9. Vitalick
    Sep 2, 2022
    7
    Típico mmorpg koreano muy vistoso y con un gameplay un tanto peculiar . El juego es un poco kaótico pero está entrtenido y es muy bonito visualmente
  10. SweetTato
    Dec 8, 2021
    7
    Black Desert Online has the best combat in any MMORPG I have played or seen. It is also a gorgeous game to look at too. Although the game is extremely grindy. Sometimes I felt like I spent more time leaving my character AFK than actually playing the game, and that's what got old for me.
  11. demigod_
    Aug 21, 2023
    7
    This game has come a long way, and the p2w stigma is really not true anymore, outside of a remote repair/buff access campsite. The mob density is really engaging and i enjoy blasting through big groups of enemies.

    The main complaint I have is it's hard to know what's going on, what to do, etc. There are tons and tons of different questlines and your log will quickly fill. There are also    This game has come a long way, and the p2w stigma is really not true anymore, outside of a remote repair/buff access campsite. The mob density is really engaging and i enjoy blasting through big groups of enemies.

    The main complaint I have is it's hard to know what's going on, what to do, etc. There are tons and tons of different questlines and your log will quickly fill. There are also way too many items, these two things lead to a very confusing new player experience.    … Expand
  12. Halfmad
    Mar 5, 2016
    6
    I desperately wanted to like this, it looks fantastic but at it's core it's a run of the mill average MMO. At least in English the dialogue is laughable the interface is average, the game mechanic is average there's so much outside the character creation which is down right average.

    I'm happy some are loving it, genuinely I am but it's not for me. A bad game? No not at all, but just    I desperately wanted to like this, it looks fantastic but at it's core it's a run of the mill average MMO. At least in English the dialogue is laughable the interface is average, the game mechanic is average there's so much outside the character creation which is down right average.

    I'm happy some are loving it, genuinely I am but it's not for me. A bad game? No not at all, but just nothing new to me here after playing MMOs since Ultima online in the late 1990s, seen this all before and usually done better. Damn it's pretty though.    … Expand
  13. crnppscls
    Mar 26, 2016
    6
    Hina beauty sim, or Black desert online in the new mmo by Daum.
    Yes that first statement is a slight but a justified one.
    Actually, it is really hard to review a mmo because the experience you expect is subject to what is delivered and what you are used to, or the mmo you just came from. Let's crack on with the positives: Character creator is very good, if you're the type that    Hina beauty sim, or Black desert online in the new mmo by Daum.
    Yes that first statement is a slight but a justified one.

    Actually, it is really hard to review a mmo because the experience you expect is subject to what is delivered and what you are used to, or the mmo you just came from.

    Let's crack on with the positives:
    Character creator is very good, if you're the type that spends hours on dolly dressup on newgrounds, you will love it.
    Combat is dynamic and fluid, i thought i would hate it but actually it works really well, the combo system is intuitive and you feel you are rewarded by choosing the right skills.
    Fishing and crafting are fun, no really. It's a good time waster.
    The world is beautifully rendered.

    What i didn't like:
    The pve is generic and dire, everyone knows what i mean by this , so don't make me elaborate on it. We've all done these quests.
    There is no endgame. Which in turn means nothing to aim for, nothing to gain kudos from your peers, that you have endured good content, just that inane banter that you wonder what plum or blader will be like, and whether it will be premium or free.

    This is intentional of course because data mining shows that on average, a gamer spends 6 months on an mmo (average) and also for the ones that stay longer, the same mining shows that the longer duration gamers are more likely to spend money in the first 6 months of play. This is the ethos by which titles are sold, some do it differently but in the boardroom is not a flowchart showing improvements and ways to improve the game, there's just a graph with a proposed generated income that the programmers have as gospel and work around it.

    Cash shop and content are the bugbears of this game. It's worth pointing out that this is ftp in korea but not so for us and maybe they forgot this in their cosmetic pricing.

    Is a major fundamental cosmetic pricing in a game that uses aethetics as a selling point ?
    Of course it is, anyone coming from gw2 would give testement to the fact that there are better and cheaper ways to deal with costumes and dyes. Daum don't have the resources of Ncsoft but still, the game does smak of having a ftp store in a btp game.

    The game isn't bad, it's not great either but you have to be aware that the company just wants you there in the short term, maybe after you've bought plum and ninja from the cash shop.

    Just for the truthful record, i got a refund yesterday from Paypal because it just wasn't for me.    … Expand
  14. armchairjerk
    May 22, 2016
    6
    If you thought you knew what a grind was, you really dont till you play this game. Its not that its just an insane grind, its the fact that none of it is fun. Be prepared to use the same 3 move rotations over and over again for 50+ hours.
  15. yesterdayatnoon
    Mar 1, 2018
    6
    This is an alright game with a mix of really strong negatives and positives. The game looks great and runs great. The combat is entertaining focusing more on target control than damage. The non-combat activities such as crafting and gathering are handled in a phenomenal way and are really worth looking at on their own. The game also offers lots of idle play. You can leave the gameThis is an alright game with a mix of really strong negatives and positives. The game looks great and runs great. The combat is entertaining focusing more on target control than damage. The non-combat activities such as crafting and gathering are handled in a phenomenal way and are really worth looking at on their own. The game also offers lots of idle play. You can leave the game running and fish or process or craft, but you end up with a strong incentive to leave your PC cooking all day and night to keep up your progress.

    The game also doesn't offer much for endgame. There's gear that's harder to upgrade that is mildly better than what's easily obtainable, but you can do most of your improvement at the auction house. The game is tedious to play if you don't spend another forty or so dollars buying pets to loot monsters for you. And you are forced into PVP after a day or two of leveling, and the pvp is not balanced either between classes or levels.

    The game is still enjoyable and worth looking at. Again, the gathering and crafting portion of the game is really interesting and worth emulating in future games. All in all, I like it and I think I'm even playing it at the moment in another tab. Yep... still processing.    … Expand
  16. RafiGinat
    Jun 13, 2022
    6
    PVE great
    PVP clunky

    Nothing much to elaborate just need to fill in the 75 required chars to complete this review.
  17. Gades
    Apr 29, 2016
    6
    Lot of expectaction for a game that only partialy meet them.
    The game has a lot of ideas (mostly coming from archeage) but poorly implemented.
    You can see it as an opposition to Guild Wars 2. GW2 is quite a standard and "casual" mmo but it's really good on that. Black Desert has some good innovations but the implementations of these innovative things are quite far from perfection. (a    Lot of expectaction for a game that only partialy meet them.
    The game has a lot of ideas (mostly coming from archeage) but poorly implemented.
    You can see it as an opposition to Guild Wars 2. GW2 is quite a standard and "casual" mmo but it's really good on that. Black Desert has some good innovations but the implementations of these innovative things are quite far from perfection. (a bit too far i think).
    I give it a 6.    … Expand
  18. Crackfarmer
    Mar 3, 2016
    6
    Am i the only one who isn't hyped for this Game? It's pretty much the same MMO **** as every MMO just with better graphics, but they don't help you if the Gameplay is trash at all. But still it's way better than Blade and Soul - by far. For me it's an okay-ish Game, play it if you're bored as fck and about to hang yourself.
  19. Poopmaster
    Mar 26, 2017
    6
    Pluses and minuses i can point after over 150hours of gameplay.

    OPENING SENTENCE. Boring and heavily time consuming to be anywhere near competitive level/gear to play any kind of PvP. NOT P2W There is nothing at cashshop at all i would call P2W there is no items that directly upgrade your characters level or dmg/gear score. Onyly exception is item that allows you to repair    Pluses and minuses i can point after over 150hours of gameplay.

    OPENING SENTENCE.
    Boring and heavily time consuming to be anywhere near competitive level/gear to play any kind of PvP.

    NOT P2W
    There is nothing at cashshop at all i would call P2W there is no items that directly upgrade your characters level or dmg/gear score.
    Onyly exception is item that allows you to repair armor/weapon 3x faster, you need to spend 100s of $ to make it worth though.

    BORING GAMEPLAY
    Game is all about killing mobs like asians mmos from early 2000s, not even quests just look at map, go to mob camp for your level and mash buttons until you have level high enough to go to the next camp.

    TIME CONSUMING
    After over 150 hours i wasnt even close to top tier of players.
    I had to find on internet best spots to farm money to be even able to level my gear above +15.
    If you wont farm special places for cash you will end up undergeared on high "competitive" character level.
    I advice you to spend atleast 8hours per day if you want to be top tier before 2019, when all nolifes will die out from the game community.

    ENCHANTING IS ****
    Enchanting system in BDO made me quit the game, most players in game praise it as entertaining and highly rewarding.I disagree with their opinion, one unlucky roll and your DUO weapon that you spend over 70milion gold on goes back to PRI. looses 50 milion value and sends you down by 10-20 AP points, wich is alot in this game.
    I wont even start writing about trinkets, job costumes and boss weapon/armor enchanting.

    VERY BAD SOUNDTRACK
    No music at all, soundtrack gets boring and repetitive very fast with how gameplay is made.

    GORGEUS GRAPHICS
    One of the best graphics i have ever seen in video games, even now it can compete with newest games in that matter.

    FRIENDSHIP
    Game heavily depends on having friends who are willing to play it with you.
    Not gameplay wise you can do almost everything alone but it gets really boring really fast.

    6/10
    +no p2w at all
    +good graphics
    +good combat mechanics
    +good pvp when you finnaly are at strong enough gear level to compete

    -bad soundtrack
    -boring main story
    -boring gameplay after 1 to 50 hours depends from player obviously
    -enchanting system that artificialy longers gameplay by throwing you down constantly
    **** costumes design that costs 30euro per 1    … Expand
  20. Jeoul
    Mar 9, 2016
    6
    I have currently played this game roughly about 6 days so far, overall i have to say I am enjoying it. In my opinion you have to approach this game slowly - learn how to buy properties, nodes, workers, basic cooking, gathering, crafting, fishing then probably trading. I made a mistake of following my friend grinding the 'main' quest on launch and that just burnt me out.

    The game does    I have currently played this game roughly about 6 days so far, overall i have to say I am enjoying it. In my opinion you have to approach this game slowly - learn how to buy properties, nodes, workers, basic cooking, gathering, crafting, fishing then probably trading. I made a mistake of following my friend grinding the 'main' quest on launch and that just burnt me out.

    The game does feel overwhelming at first but as always you will learn and become efficient. I even managed to convince my friend to stop doing main mob quests and actually explore the game and now hes enjoying it more. I built my first raft and we just went exploring islands for nodes then went fishing (good money maker). The game is what you make of it, you go at your own pace, if you want to max level and thats your thing then do it.

    Combat is good, no alt-tabbing, pretty fluid, flashy moves, and what i appreciate the most (9 out of 10 times) is if the mob doesnt hit you as you dodge or run, it simply doesnt hit you, i know quite afew mmos where once the mob has locked on and was in range despite dodging it will still end up hitting you.

    I haven't touched on PvP yet (i'm only lvl23) which is somewhat important to me (as i aim to do epic castle sieges one day, in hopes to bring back the Lineage2 memories). I have read about the harsh karma system which is not ideal at all, you cannot gank people and steal their trade packs, if open-world PVP is consensual the initiator will still be penalized . Despite what Archeage turned out to be (total trash from a poisonous company Trion) the PvP was FUN.

    This game does require you grind (not just leveling), Strength, Stamina will require you to do certain actions, altho it doesnt 100% hinder you, it will require AFK-ing.

    But yeh overall i have to say i am enjoying this, crafting doesnt feel tedious to a point where i was forced to do it to remain relevant, the scroll bosses actually requires timing and dodging, beautiful world and graphics, fun combat.

    Enough waffling heres a break down:

    Pros
    - As everyone states good face customization.
    - Nice graphics, beautiful world, NPCs actually removing around makes the world feel more alive.
    - Combat system is quite exciting with flashy moves
    - Gathering and crafting is not tedious and i dont feel forced to do it.
    - It is giving me a little Lineage2 nostalgia (which is a huge bonus for me)
    - It feels like im on an adventure, especially when you stop questing and just explore.
    - Castle sieges
    - Mini games are present
    - In other MMos, once you reach a near peak of a mountain you will slide back down, in this game, you can climb

    Cons
    - There is practically no armor variation in the game, they all look the same, dyes will only change the color, i want to see fresh sets.
    - Therefore this leads me to this - as many arguments there are, the cash shop is BS for a b2p game. Pets should be obtainable via ingame, a costume costs nearly the same price as the game?! The ghillie suit is the only p2w element for me, i wouldnt call the cash shop p2w tho (luckily enough).
    - Inventory and warehouse (altho expandable in game) is very tedious for a b2p game.
    - Karma system is too harsh, enough of carebear players, let the players fight (i dont mean grieving for the sake of it but when you're farming, having to look around incase of a PK adds alil excitement)
    > especially if its consensual NOONE should be losing karma from that.
    > PvPing will bring more drama and 'emotion(?)' to guild wars
    - One thing i slightly miss from later MMOs is open world events, this one doesnt exclusively have any (might be wrong, so far it doesnt)?

    probably missed afew points but you get the overall message
    -    … Expand
  21. cardosy
    Mar 10, 2016
    6
    Good systems and great potential spoiled by cheap korean MMO stuff. The monetization method is awful, and some of the UI and mechanics are dubious at best.
  22. guided_fate
    Apr 11, 2016
    6
    This is going to be my first review since I started using Metacritic, but after seeing the high praise and flat zero's I had to write something as objective as possible. This game is not for everyone, it's a classical Korean MMO, and what I mean by that, is that there is no definitive endgame. In fact, The entire world is open, and there isn't much that you can't do as soon as you finishThis is going to be my first review since I started using Metacritic, but after seeing the high praise and flat zero's I had to write something as objective as possible. This game is not for everyone, it's a classical Korean MMO, and what I mean by that, is that there is no definitive endgame. In fact, The entire world is open, and there isn't much that you can't do as soon as you finish the first little tutorial tidbit. There is a metric **** of things you can do, aside from classical MMORPG raiding. This game is not meant for the old school raiders of the Everquest and Vanilla World of Warcraft days; it is, however, perfect for people who enjoy crafting, fishing, player housing, and grinding.

    To whoever said this game is not a grind, you should delete your Metacritic account effective immediately. If you want to be a crafter, you have to grind. Fishing? You have to grind. Any aspect of income regarding the game's highly intuitive economy requires some kind of grind. Yes, the game requires you to work for the "endgame" gear and items, but none of it revolves around endgame content.

    There are a lot of problems with the game on a technical level. Game optimization is lackluster, the user interface can very easily clutter your screen and it is very counterproductive for speedy recovery of items, settings, and other important gameplay aspects. The text and the voice do not match at all and the translation from Korean to English is very shoddy. It's these issues that tank the score to about a 6 or 7. You shouldn't have to pay for ANY product and have to wait for immersion-breaking bugs to be fixed.

    The combat in this game, what can I say, it's mindblowing. If there was actually a large variety of enemies to fight, raiding, or any hardcore endgame pve content, this game would be more deserving of an 8. The problem, for me, is the lack of all of these features. My opinion here doesn't effect the score as this game is not advertised as such, so it would be wrong to grade it subjectively. It is first and foremost a sandbox game with some PvP and PvE elements, though they are not as prevalent as the in-depth economy. Will I ever play this game again? Probably not, I'm not into this style of MMO, but for those looking for an excellent economy-based sandbox MMO, this is a must buy. I'd say to wait a bit until the bugs have been patched, though.    … Expand
  23. Chilissy
    Apr 26, 2016
    6
    Yeah, the trailers was awesome as always in rpg fantasy games. I thought this game would be really enjoyable. I was dreaming about pro mechanics stuff, also with additional plot. I've played it for first time at my friends home. I was really grateful to myself, i didn't bought that game. Its not as crap as some others "mainstream" rpg's, but uhmm... it's far behind top rpg's. Well, butYeah, the trailers was awesome as always in rpg fantasy games. I thought this game would be really enjoyable. I was dreaming about pro mechanics stuff, also with additional plot. I've played it for first time at my friends home. I was really grateful to myself, i didn't bought that game. Its not as crap as some others "mainstream" rpg's, but uhmm... it's far behind top rpg's. Well, but its playable.… Expand
  24. arostislavna
    Feb 29, 2020
    6
    Pretty good game, but vote brigading is a scummy practice to get the sheeple to purchase it and eliminate truthful, diverse opinions of the game.
  25. Nothv13
    Jul 16, 2016
    6
    As someone who had put in more than 1000 hours into this game between the KR version and the Western release, Black Desert had/possibly still has the chance to shake up the stale western MMORPG market.

    A possible great game with some inherent design flaws. The knowledge system (you get more energy from gaining more knowledge in game), contribution system (allows you to buy workshops,    As someone who had put in more than 1000 hours into this game between the KR version and the Western release, Black Desert had/possibly still has the chance to shake up the stale western MMORPG market.

    A possible great game with some inherent design flaws. The knowledge system (you get more energy from gaining more knowledge in game), contribution system (allows you to buy workshops, houses, stables, farms, etc) are marvelous features that I'd love to see in future games. You can even go out and lasso horses to tray and tame them, and then breed them to get better horses. Great siege system where you have to build forts and simultaneously defend it while attacking the enemies'. Fun Guild Wars where you can make wagers on who will win or not. There is also the smaller things such as small hidden caves, sailing, whale hunting, and the upcoming Naval content.

    What brings it down in the western market is the Korean aspects. An over reliance on RNG for one. Normally rng is ok. Item drop rng and variable damage from rng is just part of RPGs, even action heavy ones. this game however takes it to the next level. Drop RNG, RNG to enchant your gear, rng to get fail stacks to lessen the rng to enchant. RNG on whether you lose expensive crystals on death. RNG on whether you get CC'd or not. They even have RNG on the auction house.

    The drop rng is also bad, I'm talking sub 1% chance to get items. Spending 1000s of energy to get 5-10 of a rare needed item only to see someone spending half that and getting upwards of 10x what you got is just ridiculous. What makes this worse is that those needed items are only found during gathering. People who are trying to progress are barely playing the game. They are mainly digging in one spot for hours upon hours in the day, while those that had rng on their side are actually playing the game.

    This get even worse as these items are needed to upgrade your gear, and at the level you need them gear gap gets larger making you skill in the action combat system mean less and less. In the end, your performance will come down how blessed you are in rng, then time, then level, and finally how skillful you actually are. If you have horrible results with the RNG, you could fall weeks to months behind in the span of a few days, at which point you should just give trying to PvP.

    I love this game overall, and really hoped that they would have properly adopted it to the west as both the publisher and developer flat out stated the west market was different than the Korean market and would need special changes to be a success there. Daum even stated (as a decently successful launch) to want 1 million active players within a year. With as much negative feedback they have gotten recently about things such as RNG, gear gap and the currently very restrictive way to progress, I do not see Daum meeting that goal, or even getting close to it.

    Couple alternate title for this game: Digging Desert Online (since you will spend most your time digging to progress), and Casino Desert Online (since your progression and thus effectiveness relies mainly on RNG, along with how many parts of the game are actually ruled by RNG).    … Expand
  26. ORevisor
    Mar 30, 2018
    6
    Criação de personagem divertida vc pode passar horas nele, um sistema de combate fluido com muita ação, graficamente um dos melhores do estilo. Pontos negativos: * sistema de arma e armadura simplório, como não há lv lock para usar qualquer arma e armadura (exceto as despertadas) raramente você troca de equipamento seu char vai ter sempre a mesma aparência caso não queira gastar dinheiroCriação de personagem divertida vc pode passar horas nele, um sistema de combate fluido com muita ação, graficamente um dos melhores do estilo. Pontos negativos: * sistema de arma e armadura simplório, como não há lv lock para usar qualquer arma e armadura (exceto as despertadas) raramente você troca de equipamento seu char vai ter sempre a mesma aparência caso não queira gastar dinheiro de verdade no cash shop; * Qualquer coisa no cash shop é muito caro; * O jogo tem tanta coisa para se fazer e treinar que fica confuso e um pouco entediante especialmente para novos jogadores… Expand
  27. Rinfeer
    Aug 12, 2017
    6
    I'm playing this game about one year and i will try to be short.

    Pros: +Graphics. +Character creator. +Big open world. Cons: -Very expensive cash shop , if u wanna play in comfort , get top gear , u definitely need donate about 400 euros , and it's not a joke , just deal with it. Pets, weight , inventory slots , trousers etc. -No dungeons . To be clear social system in BDO is    I'm playing this game about one year and i will try to be short.

    Pros:
    +Graphics.
    +Character creator.
    +Big open world.

    Cons:
    -Very expensive cash shop , if u wanna play in comfort , get top gear , u definitely need donate about 400 euros , and it's not a joke , just deal with it. Pets, weight , inventory slots , trousers etc.
    -No dungeons . To be clear social system in BDO is pretty weak. No point to play in group so far.
    -Grinding. Too much of it. Actually problems starts when on your favourite spot comes dude with + 20 gear in round and takes your spot.
    -No equipment system. This is something that bores me a lot. There is no changes when you upgrade your gear.
    -End game is too boring. U just grind mobs 24/7 and kill field bosses. Trying to get tet or pen. And this is your end game.
    -This game is hell for newcomers. It's too hard to get top gear , when u start from nothing . Let's say if u wanna play this game better buy an account . U will save money and your nerves at some point.

    Summing things up . I just wanna say , this game is basically pay to win. I beg u, if you're new please avoid of playing this game. Just w8 for another better MMO.    … Expand
  28. Zhiend
    Apr 22, 2021
    6
    Здравствуйте! Я поиграл в BDO 4 дня, набил 33 лвл и знаете всё шло слишком гладко. Но вскоре, столкнулся с большим количеством багов и ошибок самой игры. Да, сдесь классная графика, очень много режимов оформления персонажа, но про игровой процесс помоэму совсем забыли. Во-первых много багов с автопутем,когда персонаж просто идёт в стену и эму все рано. Во-вторых некоторые квесты невозможноЗдравствуйте! Я поиграл в BDO 4 дня, набил 33 лвл и знаете всё шло слишком гладко. Но вскоре, столкнулся с большим количеством багов и ошибок самой игры. Да, сдесь классная графика, очень много режимов оформления персонажа, но про игровой процесс помоэму совсем забыли. Во-первых много багов с автопутем,когда персонаж просто идёт в стену и эму все рано. Во-вторых некоторые квесты невозможно пройти по причине багов карты. Например: Есть начальное задание с приручением лошади, когда доходит до тренеровки на маникене, игра отказывается засчитывать попадание. Я посмотрел даже гайды(ничего не помогло). Также много багов с картой , когда показывает неправильное направление к квесту . Очень много не интересных квестов, которые напоминают: прийди, убей,отдай . Да, сдесь крутые анимации атаки, а если выбрать мага, то тут вообще прям фейерверк сплошной, но скучно понимаете. Честно, я удалил игру ибо перестал получать хоть какой-то интерес. Но, мне понравилась данная игра . Забыл сказать :ОНА АБСОЛЮТНО БЕСПЛАТНАЯ и все мои минусы можно перечеркнуть одним аргументом. Кому не хватает денег на подписку в ВОВ можете спокойно играть в BDO… Expand
  29. Acevi6
    Jan 6, 2023
    6
    Overall an okay game. The combat is fluid, graphics are amazing, and the depth is crazy. You can do almost anything in this game. But thats the thing, since you can do anything, newer players will get confused and move on to another game.
  30. TheGvH
    Aug 21, 2023
    6
    Black Desert Online brings an impressive combat system that truly shines. However, the rest of the game can feel overwhelming with its excessive content. It undoubtedly offers a vast amount to keep players occupied for an extended duration. The combat mechanics stand out as a highlight, offering a captivating experience that captures attention. Nevertheless, the sheer volume of contentBlack Desert Online brings an impressive combat system that truly shines. However, the rest of the game can feel overwhelming with its excessive content. It undoubtedly offers a vast amount to keep players occupied for an extended duration. The combat mechanics stand out as a highlight, offering a captivating experience that captures attention. Nevertheless, the sheer volume of content might be too much for some, potentially detracting from the overall enjoyment. If you're prepared for a substantial commitment, Black Desert Online has the potential to provide long-lasting engagement and a memorable combat experience.… Expand
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
4
#4 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. Merlin'in Kazanı (Turkey)
    Jan 1, 2018
    80
    With it's massive and unique open world, Black Desert Online is inviting you to a great adventure.
    Read full review
  2. Digital Chumps
    Jul 27, 2017
    50
    Overall, Black Desert Online is a typical MMO in every single way. While I disagree with their claim that it’s the “next generation” of MMOs, I did find the character creation to be the most robust of any MMO out there. Unfortunately, the character customization is the game’s biggest highlight, and many of the other elements of Black Desert Online can be found in many other MMOs.
    Read full review
  3. The Overpowered Noobs
    Jun 11, 2017
    70
    Black Desert Online comes to the table with an intricate character sculpting tool, gorgeous graphical presentation, and a nuanced, exciting combat system overlying a less immediately apparent, but very unique, sandbox-style resource management simulation. Those looking for a rich narrative, complex or groundbreaking PvE questing, or highly unique monster design may be disappointed, but those seeking a mechanically rich, visually striking MMO will find themselves at home.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »