It’s Official: Crimson Desert Has Beaten Pokemon Pokopia

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Pearl Abyss’s open-world game, Crimson Desert, now has a higher user rating on Metacritic than Pokemon Pokopia. Players have strongly supported the game since its release, making it one of the highest-rated games of the year on the site.

Both Crimson Desert and Pokopia were major hits in 2026, quickly becoming popular through positive reviews. While they attract different players—Crimson Desert is a large-scale open-world RPG and Pokopia a relaxing life simulation game—their success shows the variety of games thriving right now. This is a promising sign that 2026 will continue to be a great year for new game releases, following a strong start to the year.

Crimson Desert vs. Pokemon Pokopia: Metacritic User Score

Since its release, Crimson Desert has received a lot of attention from players, who have been sharing their opinions on the game’s Metacritic page. Critics gave Crimson Desert a score of 77, which is a bit less enthusiastic than the 89 given to Pokopia. However, players seem to love Crimson Desert more, giving it a user score of 8.8 compared to Pokopia‘s 8.6 – still a great score, but slightly lower. What’s really noteworthy is the number of people sharing their opinions: Crimson Desert has over 10,000 user reviews supporting its 8.8 score, while Pokopia has over 1,300. This large number of reviews clearly shows how positively fans are responding to Pearl Abyss’s new RPG.

With a user score of 8.8 on Metacritic, Crimson Desert is the second highest-rated game of the year so far. Pokopia follows closely in third. Only Resident Evil Requiem, with a score of 9.4, ranks higher. This isn’t surprising considering how well Resident Evil Requiem has been received by critics. The difference in scores is substantial, making it unlikely that Crimson Desert or Pokopia will overtake it, even if they get excellent reviews in the future.

Even though players overwhelmingly love Crimson Desert, critics haven’t been as impressed, making it unlikely to win Game of the Year. If it were nominated for the top prize at The Game Awards 2026, it would be the lowest-scoring game ever to achieve that. The big difference between what critics and players think will definitely spark discussion later this year. Traditionally, critics’ opinions have mattered more when it comes to awards, so it will be interesting to see if Crimson Desert can change that.

What’s really standing out about Crimson Desert is how quickly the developers are addressing problems and adding new features. Pearl Abyss clearly pays attention to what players are saying and is working fast to make the game as good as it can be. This responsiveness should build a strong relationship with the player community and improve the game’s reputation. Currently, there’s no news about whether any downloadable content is planned, but we’ll keep you updated.

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2026-04-01 14:04