Black Desert Review

Black Desert Online is the latest addition to the console MMO roster. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 version of the game, called Black Desert, released earlier this year.

The MMO genre has generally been dominated by PC titles. Those that have been ported over to home consoles often suffer from performance issues. Or they have problems with menus and controls too complicated to navigate with a traditional gamepad.

But MMOs are increasingly making their way to consoles in a working state. The high fantasy sandbox Black Desert is the latest example, putting players into a world they can explore at their whim.

Story

The game starts without much fanfare or explanation of what is going on in the world that you find yourself in. It is possible, however, to piece together a few details about the backstory.

There has been a resource war between the competing nations of Calpheon and Valencia over the preceding years. Each are trying to get their hands on as many black stones as possible thanks to their powerful magic. Don’t get too invested, though, because Black Desert does little in terms of its narrative.

MMOs are intrinsically linked with their story. The very best examples all have an interesting plot to keep players hooked. After all, grinding for gear and taking on the same dungeon bosses would become tedious without some motivation for doing so outside of getting more loot. That is why so many MMO games ensure they have a satisfying endgame narrative. In this case, the plot is at best confusing and at its worst completely absent.

That isn’t to say that Black Desert is a failure. Its developers have clearly just decided to focus on other areas. They aimed to revolutionize the genre and create something more fitting for modern times.