Crimson Desert's Damiane is a Big Missed Opportunity

This article contains spoilers for Crimson Desert.Some Crimson Desert players think that playable character Damiane represents a massive missed opportunity in the game. Because many Crimson Desert players aren’t huge fans of the main protagonist, Kliff, some believe that Pearl Abyss missed the chance to expand on Damiane’s gameplay to provide some important variety in the open-world RPG.

Damiane becomes a playable character in Chapter 3 of Crimson Desert. Although gamers can later unlock a third playable character, Oongka, Damiane is the first opportunity to play as someone other than Kliff. And given that plenty of Crimson Desert fans quickly voiced their frustrations with Kliff in the wake of the game’s release, it was an opportunity that many welcomed. Damiane has her own interesting backstory, with unique weapons and a fresh combat style, all of which made her very popular with fans. However, there is still a lot about Damiane’s gameplay that is too restrictive for many players.

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Crimson Desert Players Wish Damiane’s Gameplay Was More Expansive

A recent Reddit thread started by user KryperExpress declared their frustration with Crimson Desert‘s Damiane gameplay, lamenting the fact that she “wasn’t just the ‘Female Kliff’ option.” The player prefers exploring the expansive game world playing as her, but was annoyed that she is locked out of using many of the game’s important abilities, which are reserved exclusively for the main character, Kliff. KryperExpress also raised the issue that she is locked out of a lot of the game’s content. Not only can she not participate in the main story missions, but they also pointed out a bunch of side content that Damiane can’t do, including “her not having the visione, not being able to go to the abyss, not being able to use the tether (or any other ‘powers’) that a lot of puzzles require, and even being locked out of a bunch of mini games.”

Much of the sentiment in the thread was along the same lines, with one player stating that while they “like how different her combat is,” they also think that “she doesn’t have any reason to be in the game” and “could not exist and no one would notice.” Gamers had their own ideas for how they could improve Damiane, from reducing her role to a companion that players could take control of, to instead making her the female equivalent of Kliff and integrating her more into the main story. Regardless, everyone agreed that the character has tons of untapped potential.

Ultimately, the core issue for many was that Crimson Desert‘s multi-protagonist approach feels half-baked. It’s a difficult thing to pull off effectively, with Grand Theft Auto 5 and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 being famous examples of it done right. But when done wrong, the characters can feel shoehorned in, and it’s clear that many Crimson Desert players feel that Pearl Abyss has missed a big opportunity, especially with Damiane.

While some players may have their frustrations Crimson Desert right now, there are a few factors that offer great hope for the future. The community’s willingness to share its concerns with Pearl Abyss and the developer’s enthusiasm to act on feedback is a very strong combination. The studio has already released multiple major Crimson Desert updates, adding new content to the game and quickly resolving existing issues. And while capitalizing on these missed opportunities with Damiane might not be the developer’s number one priority right now, it’s always worth players making their voices heard.