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

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  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. AdamM88
    Apr 24, 2016
    0
    If you want a game with 0 story, an awful, empty world, ugly, unimaginative monsters, server side disconnects every 30 minutes that require you to restart the client and log in again, a game where botting is a FEATURE, where the content literally IS grinding the same mobs over and over by the tens of thousands, where your inventory is tailored to be extremely tiny in order to make you buyIf you want a game with 0 story, an awful, empty world, ugly, unimaginative monsters, server side disconnects every 30 minutes that require you to restart the client and log in again, a game where botting is a FEATURE, where the content literally IS grinding the same mobs over and over by the tens of thousands, where your inventory is tailored to be extremely tiny in order to make you buy inventory extensions from the cash shop, then BDO is for you.… Expand
  4. UNlVERSE
    Apr 19, 2016
    3
    This review is coming from someone who thoroughly enjoys PvP/PvE to the fullest. This game is beyond an utter disappointment.

    Leveling in this game takes little to no effort whatsoever, maxing at the soft-cap of 50 quite literally for anyone who simply looks up the correct areas to grind. When you get over the flashy combat, you'll realize this game is completely overrated. Best    This review is coming from someone who thoroughly enjoys PvP/PvE to the fullest. This game is beyond an utter disappointment.

    Leveling in this game takes little to no effort whatsoever, maxing at the soft-cap of 50 quite literally for anyone who simply looks up the correct areas to grind.

    When you get over the flashy combat, you'll realize this game is completely overrated. Best part? You forfeit your right to a refund. "Well you can try it for free from a friend!" Implying you know anyone that plays this game. Simply watching YouTube videos of this game is like any other, watching BF4 trailers and demos made BF4 look great, devs hyped it to all hell. What was the end product? A beyond overhyped and trash game.

    This isn't even counting the fact the character balance in this game is horrid, and to be expected. At-range characters will dominate PvP team-play, hence why a vast number of people who play this are Range/Wizard etc.

    PvE wise this game is obviously lacking. Just another run of the mill "spam spam spam" for your daily fun. Mod grinding is the same as any other game and the quickest way to level.

    For virtually $50 the amount of customization is an abysmal joke. Sure, you can toy around with the physical appearance of your avatar (their physical body), but other than that and dyes, you're left with a extremely lackluster customization for something you just blew $50 on. Lets also mention that you'll be spending another $10-20+ on the cash-shop cosmetics that for the most part look ridiculous.

    As most Korean MMO's are, they utilize gear enhancement. This game doesn't focus on skill, and rather focuses on who can camp and grind PvE for hours upon hours on end to enhance to +15 and above. Achieving such enhancements simply because you have less of a life than most people, and then entering into PvP where your "skill" (gear) will be made apparent is what does it for many people.

    To top it all off, this game has severe connectivity issues on the NA servers. Constant disconnects as well as authentication errors frequently make grinding out in this game that much more annoying when you're constantly having to relaunch your client.

    All in all, the only positive thing about this game are the graphics. Sure, there's some variety in this game, things that have already been done and quite honestly if I wanted to fish, i'd go to RuneScape and grind out a few hundred hours for 99.

    Maybe if their customer support and game-policy wasn't such an utter joke, I would have considered recommending this to a friend.

    Like many Korean MMO's, I really don't see this game lasting as many years as other more successful MMO's.    … Expand
  5. JimbotMeta
    Apr 19, 2016
    4
    Took an almost immediate dislike to this game. Most of the bad stuff has already been said - total lack of guidance on how to do things or why you should/nt, no customisation ofr armor and bad voice acting.

    Combat is really good and that format should be the norm for mmos moving foward but the real problem...the total lack of story, the incredibly bad voice acting and translations and    Took an almost immediate dislike to this game. Most of the bad stuff has already been said - total lack of guidance on how to do things or why you should/nt, no customisation ofr armor and bad voice acting.

    Combat is really good and that format should be the norm for mmos moving foward but the real problem...the total lack of story, the incredibly bad voice acting and translations and the really bad music throughout. It ruins the whole ambiance of the game.

    There might be a lot in it and a ton of depth - but if found myself saying "why should I care" - i dont care about this world at all or any of the characters in it. There is no lore, no history no story its just absolutely awful in terms of creating an atmosphere.

    If you enjoyed Wow or Swtor or any game with story/structure like that - this game is NOT for you.

    That said if you dont care about the things i mentioned and you love PVP and good combat then this would be    … Expand
  6. Lederzwerg
    Apr 17, 2016
    0
    Hello,
    why giving 0 points? It´s a really simple reason - rng. The game was published first in 2014, it´s no real asia grinder cause of its strong restrictions in many parts of core gameplay, like no trading, high ah taxes, NO real multiplayer features. Just uninspired, lazy developers with no ideas. So everyone wanna try this game, be aware it´s more RNG you reach something or get    Hello,
    why giving 0 points? It´s a really simple reason - rng. The game was published first in 2014, it´s no real asia grinder cause of its strong restrictions in many parts of core gameplay, like no trading, high ah taxes, NO real multiplayer features. Just uninspired, lazy developers with no ideas. So everyone wanna try this game, be aware it´s more RNG you reach something or get something than you can effect getting it!    … Expand
  7. Megalon
    Apr 14, 2016
    4
    I have played the game for 500 hours now. I am not sure how i feel about it exactly so I used a random number generator to generate a random number between 1 and 10. The rng said 4 so the game gets a 4/10.
  8. 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
  9. Jaliver
    Apr 11, 2016
    4
    Black Desert Online is one of those MMOs that either makes it or breaks it for gamers, unfortunately for myself, BDO broke it for me. My review will be as unbiased as possible and only discuss the details.

    Pros: 1. Amazing life-like character generator, although I wish you weren't bound to a set appearance by class, BDO provides one of the best character generator systems in the MMO    Black Desert Online is one of those MMOs that either makes it or breaks it for gamers, unfortunately for myself, BDO broke it for me. My review will be as unbiased as possible and only discuss the details.

    Pros:
    1. Amazing life-like character generator, although I wish you weren't bound to a set appearance by class, BDO provides one of the best character generator systems in the MMO market, I've spent more time creating characters on BDO than any mmo before due to how in depth it is.

    2. The game has some realistic traits, due to fast travel not really being a thing, you have to explore the entire map yourself, this may seem tiresome to many but to myself, there is nothing more enjoyable than traveling around a diverse fantasy world rich in graphics and exploration.

    3. Combat in BDO doesn't really go stale, due to many different classes and possibilities in pvp matchups, no fight in BDO is similar to the next unless of course you literally play all day fighting everyone. Even PVE by yourself isn't too bad as BDO isn't a point and click mmo you need to actually fight tough enemies intelligently.

    Cons:

    1. Money Sink, this game is terribly corrupt, for a game that stands strongly with character creation, you'd think there would be more diverse options in what kinds of clothes you wish to wear. Unless you're really balling out of control in life, you'll find it kind of ridiculous to pay 30 dollars for an outfit in game when the game itself cost you 25 dollars. This game has a Free to play model which for a game you have to purchase is pretty ridiculous.

    2. The energy system, energy works exactly like a mobile game function for your phone. Basically in a mobile game you may be given a token that recharges in 6 hours or something after using one and with those tokens you can do various actions and that sadly is exactly how the energy system works.

    3. Very antisocial MMO. BDO has one of the most competitive communities in existence for an MMO and its not good. The game itself doesn't encourage players to talk to each other but instead encourages competition among each other and because of this most players will never be able to play with older players on the game. Everyone keeps trying to climb and climb the competitive ranks on the game so for every day you're not playing BDO other people are and they are passing you. This means you will not be able to get into most guilds, play with your friends who started the game earlier or later than you etc.    … Expand
  10. pythag0ras
    Apr 7, 2016
    4
    Not even sure where to begin with how bad this game is. I think people are starved for mmos so they are willing to put up with all kinds of stuff in a game and still give it good ratings. first of all , any 10 is automatically disregarded and down voted as nothing can be a 10. Nothing. So that makes you a fanboy or an employee if you voted 10. NOW that that's established, on to the game...Not even sure where to begin with how bad this game is. I think people are starved for mmos so they are willing to put up with all kinds of stuff in a game and still give it good ratings. first of all , any 10 is automatically disregarded and down voted as nothing can be a 10. Nothing. So that makes you a fanboy or an employee if you voted 10. NOW that that's established, on to the game...

    -open pvp

    I could stop at that but ill go on.

    -ridiculous learning curve
    -takes forever to do anything
    -everything costs points! you cant just go gathering for a while , unless youve saved up pts from waiting...
    -tons of wait mechanics
    -progression was much too slow for me , not trying to marry a game ... felt more like a job lol

    a 4 from me. Im just not as starved for an mmo as some of these reviewers.    … Expand
  11. Chaosclone
    Apr 6, 2016
    10
    A new groundbreaking MMO that isn't getting the spotlight / recognition it deserves.
    My top 5 Pros:
    -Extremely detailed customization. -An active combat system requiring precise manual aiming, dodging & comboing, unlike the tab-targeting system seen in older MMORPGs. -A dynamic, worldwide weather system which will include large scale events such as typhoons and will influence gameplay.    A new groundbreaking MMO that isn't getting the spotlight / recognition it deserves.
    My top 5 Pros:
    -Extremely detailed customization.
    -An active combat system requiring precise manual aiming, dodging & comboing, unlike the tab-targeting system seen in older MMORPGs.
    -A dynamic, worldwide weather system which will include large scale events such as typhoons and will influence gameplay.
    -Fun crafting systems.
    -Stunning graphics.    … Expand
  12. Tahoenvy
    Apr 5, 2016
    9
    BDO is one of the most beautiful games I have ever played and I've played almost every game of any consequence that has released since EQ in 99. The detail they've included in this game blows my mind everyday, the combat is fun and gets more challenging as you level. You will need to do your research with this game, it's not intuitive but that makes it even MORE fun for me. Also youBDO is one of the most beautiful games I have ever played and I've played almost every game of any consequence that has released since EQ in 99. The detail they've included in this game blows my mind everyday, the combat is fun and gets more challenging as you level. You will need to do your research with this game, it's not intuitive but that makes it even MORE fun for me. Also you tend to get side tracked alot because there is SO much to do, I am NEVER bored. It's incredibly immersive, sometimes when Im playing and a storm starts I actually feel like i'm in it. The bad reviews for this game are most likely by people that have not put in the effort to learn and experience this game. I have and I LOVE this game.… Expand
  13. Alatreon
    Apr 4, 2016
    5
    Extremely average MMO. Initially very exciting, tinkering with workers and nodes etc, but it soon devolves into an insane amount of grinding and **** RNG based gear progression system in a game with a pvp system that purely revolves around gear. Basically there's a massive gap between the "Hardcore" players who grind for 10 hours a day, and the average "casual" player who maybe grinds thatExtremely average MMO. Initially very exciting, tinkering with workers and nodes etc, but it soon devolves into an insane amount of grinding and **** RNG based gear progression system in a game with a pvp system that purely revolves around gear. Basically there's a massive gap between the "Hardcore" players who grind for 10 hours a day, and the average "casual" player who maybe grinds that much in a week. The combat is also initially incredible, fast paced and visually impressive but again, becomes an absolute chore after you've killed your millionth mob in the inevitable grind that comes later.

    Honestly the most fun I've had in this game is AFK fishing. The MMO is a bunch of great ideas poorly executed. On paper it seems to have massive potential but it simply becomes very boring especially after you hit the soft cap of 50. It's extremely grindy, the story is forgettable if not completely irrelevant, voice acting is **** atrocious. Not much here except an excessive amount of grind.

    That being said though, there are definitely some good aspects to the MMO. Exploration and the crafting system is very good. Doing stuff like building a boat and sailing around the Islands, then fishing etc, are all tonnes more fun than gear progression and combat elements of the game.    … Expand
  14. Lumicron
    Apr 3, 2016
    10
    this is the best mmorpg ive ever played, and ive played em all, the only one that comes near black desert online is the lord of the rings online, the rest is crap or almost all of the rest
  15. 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
  16. nextgengameflop
    Mar 30, 2016
    4
    Between the stat boosting cash shop items and the childish community, this game is worth a fat zero.

    I don't care how good the mechanics are when a game is this much of a cash grab with that MTX shop slapped over it. This game is pay to win just like every other MMO to come out recently. On top of the **** cash shop is the horrid pop-in this game suffers from. The game has piss-poor    Between the stat boosting cash shop items and the childish community, this game is worth a fat zero.

    I don't care how good the mechanics are when a game is this much of a cash grab with that MTX shop slapped over it. This game is pay to win just like every other MMO to come out recently. On top of the **** cash shop is the horrid pop-in this game suffers from. The game has piss-poor optimization and a 15 meter render range that cannot be increased.

    Some examples (non-exhaustive):
    - You can spend real money to increase the value of your horse by resetting the death and/or breed counters. This means you can just keep breeding the same higher tier horses with out ever having to worry about breeding the lower tier ones because it failed.

    - All armor and weapons look exactly the same as the starter gear you have in the tutorial. If you expected your appearance to change equipping new items like I did, prepare to be disappointed. You will need to shell out an additional $50 for 1 costume for a single character if you want your armor to look different.

    - You can buy a ghille suit to hide your guild and character name from everyone on the server for PKing and griefing. Go to any town or popular farming zone and you can see someone exploiting this cash shop item.

    - You can instant revive anywhere buy just spending real money.    … Expand
  17. thovader
    Mar 30, 2016
    3
    Since I do not like PvP and gathering stuff like fishing, cooking, mining, housing etc. I will NOT review those aspects. They are supposed to be pretty good though.

    I bought the game for one reason only, the combat system. And I was hoping to get enough PvE content out of it to keep me entertained for around 30-60 hours. I knew from the beginning on that this game's end content    Since I do not like PvP and gathering stuff like fishing, cooking, mining, housing etc. I will NOT review those aspects. They are supposed to be pretty good though.

    I bought the game for one reason only, the combat system.
    And I was hoping to get enough PvE content out of it to keep me entertained for around 30-60 hours. I knew from the beginning on that this game's end content consists of PvP only.

    For every fan of PvE content and challenging (PvE) combat I can now say: "stay away and do not buy this game!!!"

    There's pretty much no PvE content to speak of and the quests are just lame and irritating. For me, this didn't even matter that much since I only wanted to have fun with the awesome combat system. I don't even mind games where you have to grind a lot... and this game is grind in the truest form!

    Don't get me wrong, the combat system is great but enemies are way too weak and the game is way too easy :( ! I played for around 10 hours and the game never ever got even a tiny bit difficult. Those 10 hours I was wondering whether I did something wrong and never left the tutorial area... it seriously is that easy. At first I planned all those special skills and combos and tried to use tactics whenever possible. But very soon you ask yourself "why"? The combat is so easy that you could easily use the standard attack without having to dodge, block or use anything powerful.

    Later on you encounter world bosses that randomly appear and bosses that you can summon using scrolls. Those are more fun and harder to kill but those events occur far to seldom to be of any use for any fan of PvE.

    It's such a shame because I really wanted to like this game.
    Like I said before, I knew that eventually the game wouldn't be for me with its focus on PvP and all that, but I hoped to get at least some fun hours of PvE content out of it. This wasn't the case though.
    The superb combat system cannot shine if there's nothing worth using it for. I wasn't looking for a Dark Souls either, but this difficulty is ridiculous.
    Fortunately I "only" spent 30 € on my sad/bad experience with the game...    … Expand
  18. 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
  19. tuniel
    Mar 28, 2016
    4
    really enjoyed the game at first, but the further along you get the more shallow you realize this game is. the very satisfying combat system is wasted on terrible pve content (grind the same mobs thousands and thousands of times) and seriously unbalanced pvp (gear > skill, absolutely no question). when you can bring yourself to smash your face against the horribly boring pve grind, you'rereally enjoyed the game at first, but the further along you get the more shallow you realize this game is. the very satisfying combat system is wasted on terrible pve content (grind the same mobs thousands and thousands of times) and seriously unbalanced pvp (gear > skill, absolutely no question). when you can bring yourself to smash your face against the horribly boring pve grind, you're likely to be pushed out of your spot by the uber geared no-lifers that plague this game. you can be griefed to no end, and even worse, you can lose 1% exp at end game. this doesn't seem like a lot, but it can take hours to grind just a few percent of a level post50. open world pvp is fun at first, but eventually youll realize it doesnt matter how well you know your class or matchups, all the matters is your luck with loot RNG and upgrade RNG. pvp is also plagued by horrible desync and latency issues, as well as significant bugs with certain class-defining abilities. I will say, the gear upgrade system is the least awful system ive experienced in a korean mmo to date, but it still sucks. I really wanted to like this game, especially because of the hundreds of hours I spent playing it just in its first month, but it really sucks. Is it better than ArcheAge? Hell yes it is, but it's still a shallow, grindy mess. spend your time elsewhere… Expand
  20. SunnieMach
    Mar 27, 2016
    1
    The first several hours are fun...but then once you realize that all the "complexity" of this game is just a mask. Grows very, very boring very quickly. The voices and sounds of this game will annoy you beyond belief. It is not p2w whatsoever, though, so I did offer it a 1 instead of a 0.
  21. 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
  22. CptBadger
    Mar 25, 2016
    9
    Pros:

    Huge open world sandbox(ish) MMORPG. Feels super alive. Best graphics in any MMORPG to date. Great action combat, combo based. World is huge and immersive. Is PvP focused: castle sieges and guild wars. Lots of people playing. Lots of side activities besides combat. Nice player housing system. Good, in-depth crafting. Has boats, mounts, wagons, pets, etc. And... did I mention    Pros:

    Huge open world sandbox(ish) MMORPG. Feels super alive. Best graphics in any MMORPG to date. Great action combat, combo based. World is huge and immersive. Is PvP focused: castle sieges and guild wars. Lots of people playing. Lots of side activities besides combat. Nice player housing system. Good, in-depth crafting. Has boats, mounts, wagons, pets, etc.

    And... did I mention AFK fishing ?

    Cons:

    Cash shop is expensive, classes are gender and age locked (character creator is amazing otherwise though), no player to player trading, no full loot PvP, not for the hardcore open world PvP'ers

    For the price, it's a steal. Go buy it!    … Expand
  23. ThecriticGoD
    Mar 24, 2016
    5
    The combat system is Pretty good and graphically it's a very nice game, but let's face it, this is not a good game. Storyline is way too bad and slow-paced, there's no pvp, there are no dungeons, leveling is so easy and quick, this is definetely not what to expect from an MMORPG, specially if you come from WoW's golden era, and you are seeking a new game that give you the same sentationsThe combat system is Pretty good and graphically it's a very nice game, but let's face it, this is not a good game. Storyline is way too bad and slow-paced, there's no pvp, there are no dungeons, leveling is so easy and quick, this is definetely not what to expect from an MMORPG, specially if you come from WoW's golden era, and you are seeking a new game that give you the same sentations wow once did, this just won't do it, adds very few things to the already over-exploited MMORPG genre and it lacks way too many things that are VERY important for MMORPGS.

    However it's not as bad as some people is suggesting, it's ok to play this game for a few hours, it's funny at the very beginning, but don't expect to get immersed on it unless you have 0 experience with MMORPGs or you have a terrible taste, you'll most likely get tired of it after a week of playing (max). People should really stop making reviews the very first day they try a videogame, almost every game is good the first day.    … Expand
  24. Asashikun
    Mar 22, 2016
    10
    For me is the best MMO in years. Not is a theme park mmo, that is a real MMO sandbox Old School. If u want a fantastic game a very durable... this is your perfect game.
  25. BOXTiger
    Mar 22, 2016
    0
    Looks like this game has stunning graphics, Amazing Combat system
    Unfortunately Graphics are not good at all. Blur has all the way of you can easily find it.
    (Characters, scenery like a Bloodborne.)

    Uncomfortable, also non-intutive UI/Interface

    **** exaggerated FX/Effects NEVER can't be helped ever.
  26. Dubrute
    Mar 19, 2016
    10
    This is a unique MMORPG where you can and have to grind monsters to get experience points and level up.

    Some main quests give some exp, but that's nothing compared to the experience you get from killing monsters. Myself, i hate doing boring go talk to that guy quest or just questing in general. In all MMORPG's that gets stuffed through your throat (With a few exceptions of course).    This is a unique MMORPG where you can and have to grind monsters to get experience points and level up.

    Some main quests give some exp, but that's nothing compared to the experience you get from killing monsters.

    Myself, i hate doing boring go talk to that guy quest or just questing in general.
    In all MMORPG's that gets stuffed through your throat (With a few exceptions of course).

    In Black Desert it's OPTIONAL!
    Game just requires you to finish some main (black spirit) quests which mainly are getting to new cities, killing some monster or killing bosses.

    But they give great rewards and don't feel like a drag.

    Most (bad) reviews came from player who only had a few hours in the game.
    The fun starts when you start understanding how everything works and get stronger.

    The real fun starts when you hit level 50 (Which will require 20-25 hours of gameplay)

    The world just completely opens then,

    So in general.
    The more you play this game, the more you'll like it.    … Expand
  27. Pinkyz
    Mar 18, 2016
    10
    This game does not hold your hand. You will need to do your research. I suggest joining a great guild. The game has so many discoveries. The depth of the game is truly amazing. This game is everything Arch Age was suppose to be and failed. Do not discount this game. It will suck you in and take away your life. ;-)
  28. Yulie
    Mar 18, 2016
    10
    The game looks so alive and amazing. It is completely immersive. The open sandbox feel is wonderful. The game has so many things to do. All these things can be done in any order I want. One day I log in and grind out levels, another day I log in and work on my housing, then another day I log in and work on my professions or maybe trade, or maybe just work on my horse breeding. OfThe game looks so alive and amazing. It is completely immersive. The open sandbox feel is wonderful. The game has so many things to do. All these things can be done in any order I want. One day I log in and grind out levels, another day I log in and work on my housing, then another day I log in and work on my professions or maybe trade, or maybe just work on my horse breeding. Of course, I can't forget the guild could have a PvP event (FUN)! What a breath of fresh air!… Expand
  29. Zarella
    Mar 18, 2016
    10
    BDO is gorgeous, Amazing, and a Blast! There is always something to do. This game is what I been waiting for. I was standing in the forest farming and the scene was surreal. A stream was running through the forest. The way the water flowed over the rocks, the trees gently blowing in the wind. The tufts of wildflowers around the river...And it all sounds like I am really standing in aBDO is gorgeous, Amazing, and a Blast! There is always something to do. This game is what I been waiting for. I was standing in the forest farming and the scene was surreal. A stream was running through the forest. The way the water flowed over the rocks, the trees gently blowing in the wind. The tufts of wildflowers around the river...And it all sounds like I am really standing in a forest listening to all the wildlife. This game has changed how I look at mmo's.… Expand
  30. MagicSquid
    Mar 17, 2016
    1
    I came back to give this game a lower score/review. I had uninstalled it and decided to re-install it. Despite its bugginess, the general lack of enemy AI that I had seen, and all the other issues, I figured I'd give it another chance.

    Well, upon creating a new character, I loaded into the game and found that every single one of my key bindings, including the Escape button to bring up    I came back to give this game a lower score/review. I had uninstalled it and decided to re-install it. Despite its bugginess, the general lack of enemy AI that I had seen, and all the other issues, I figured I'd give it another chance.

    Well, upon creating a new character, I loaded into the game and found that every single one of my key bindings, including the Escape button to bring up the menu to re-bind the keys, as well as the mouse buuttons, had been unbound.

    Currently there's no way within the game to re-bind the keys, so the game is completely unplayable. This game breaking, massive bug, on top of all the other issue I encountered and the utterly lack-luster combat system that I had seen, earn the game a dismal 1/10.    … Expand
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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.
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  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.
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  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.
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