Crimson Desert Voice Actor Was Confused by the Story, Saying It Was Constantly Changing
Since its release on March 19, Crimson Desert has sold 3 million copies. And while the game received negative reviews at first, it has slowly grown in popularity after more time played. But apparently, a lot of drama happened with the story, creating some chaos. And the Crimson Desert voice actor was confused by the story as well, saying it was constantly changing.
Shortly after the game’s release, a source claimed that the story was changed “right before release,” which could explain why many players find the narrative to be lacking. Now, new information has solidified this, though, with the voice behind Kliff, Alec Newman, saying he was also confused by the narrative.
Newman spoke on the Friends Per Second podcast on March 29, talking about the creative process behind the character, the story, and the journey. The voice actor didn’t shy away from his opinions, saying that he has frustrations while working on the game.
“Nearly two years into recording, they sort of said, ‘Well, we’re going to start recording in earnest now.’ And I went, ‘What the hell do you mean? We’ve been doing this for ages!'”
The Scottish actor voiced Adam Smasher in Cyberpunk 2077 and Cameron ‘Caz’ McLeary in Still Wakes the Deep, meaning he’s no stranger to video game projects.
He continues, saying, “With this project, it was interesting because they kind of… I don’t want to say they kept changing the goalpost, but we started off recording with cards of the different parts of Pywel… you know, various characters and ‘he’s from this faction, and he’s from that faction, he says.’ And I kept just saying, ‘Yes, but what is happening?'”
This appeared to be a constant throughout development. But changes were also made to Kliff throughout the recording. “The whole Greymanes thing – after about two and a half years, they decided they really wanted that to resonate – this idea of family and trying to bring something together,” Newman recalled on the podcast. “I think that’s the main story strand of the game or the only story strand of the game when you begin.”
Interestingly enough, Newman said that he actually fought for some better characterization for Kliff mid-development. The actor claimed that “those moments were fewer than they could have been.”
Not only are Newman and players disappointed in the storyline for the game, but even Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-Young agreed with the feedback. Apparently, in a recent shareholders’ meeting reported by The Gamer, the CEO said, “We also wish we could have done it better. The team tried to fill in the lacking parts within the remaining time, but ultimately, we focused on strengthening the gameplay.”
