I first heard of Black Desert Online in the far off year of 2015. I didn’t know much about it, other than it was pretty, Korean, and had a cool character creator where I could make a black person. Honestly, that was all I needed and cared about really, so I loaded it up! Boy howdy, did it have a character creator. I made a super cute character, took a lot of screenshots that have been lost to time, and promptly closed the game and never thought about it again. Fast forward to 2020, and I found my partner playing the game. Except, I didn’t remember it then, I just saw they had some cool looking characters, and rode on a horse that auto ran. I shrugged and left my partner to it.

Fast forward further to 2024, and my partner is still playing the game. Except it’s not just my partner. I’m hearing about this game somewhat more regularly. Video essayists keep posting clips of cool action scenes and in the corner or on the bottom of the screen, there the name goes: Black Desert Online. And I suddenly realized, this was that cute character creator from all those years ago! I promise, I’ve got a mind like a steel trap. 

So what is Black Desert Online? It’s an action focused, MMORPG where it appears that no one, not even the developers, cares about the plot or the characters. Primary appeal of the game, as near as I can tell, is fluid, cool looking action packed in a very pretty package. The game has over 27 classes, which are both gender-locked, and race-locked. While armor seems available to all classes, it’s the weapons, and therefore attacks, that are class-based. When I tried out the combat felt amazing! Fluid, fast, and boy did it look cool. 

Now, I’m not a massive MMO player, but Black Desert definitely tempted me to dig deeper into the genre.

Have you played Black Desert? Are there other games where you suddenly realized there was more to them than the gimmick you originally assumed was the core mechanic? Let us know down below or on the Boss Rush Discord or Facebook page.

Featured Image: Pearl Abyss (via Steam)

The Boss Rush Podcast – A Podcast About Video Games

The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of The Boss Rush Network and Boss Rush Media. Each week, hosts Corey Dirrig, Stephanie Klimov, LeRon Dawkins, and Pat Klein come together with their friends, colleagues, and fellow creators to talk about their week in video games, discuss industry topics, conduct interviews, answer listener questions, and more. New episodes every Monday. Get each episode one week early and more perks over on the Boss Rush Network Patreon page.

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