Choose Dungeons & Dragons Online®
Choose Dungeons & Dragons Online® if you want a Free To Play experience. On Steam, it's free to play, so the barrier to trying it is zero. 6,036 Steam reviews back the pick.
Dungeons & Dragons Online® vs Black Desert
Dungeons & Dragons Online® and Black Desert both land in Action, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both share Action, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer on Steam. Dungeons & Dragons Online® (2012) is 5 years older than Black Desert (2017). Both sit near 72% positive on Steam (Dungeons & Dragons Online®: 6,036 reviews, Black Desert: 35,523). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Black Desert
Choose Black Desert if you want a Strategy game with Online PvP and Online Co-op. On Steam, it's the newer release (2017) and ships with the modern feature baseline. 35,523 Steam reviews back the pick.
Both Dungeons & Dragons Online® and Black Desert sit in Action, Adventure, and Massively Multiplayer on Steam and both list Multi-player, MMO, and PvP, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Steam reviews are nearly tied (71.8% vs 72.5% positive), so genre fit is the cleanest tiebreaker — scroll the table for the feature-by-feature view.
Side-by-side comparison
 Dungeons & Dragons Online® |  Black Desert | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2012 | 2017 |
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer, RPG, Free To Play | Action, Strategy, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer, RPG |
| Platforms | Windows | Windows |
| Steam Deck | Deck Playable | Deck Unsupported |
| Price | Free to play | 9.99 USD |
| Steam reviews | 71.8% positive (6,036 reviews) | 72.5% positive (35,523 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Multi-player, Co-op | Multi-player, Online Co-op, Co-op |
| Developers | Standing Stone Games | Pearl Abyss |
Side by side
- Both share Action, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer on Steam.
- Dungeons & Dragons Online® (2012) is 5 years older than Black Desert (2017).
- Both sit near 72% positive on Steam (Dungeons & Dragons Online®: 6,036 reviews, Black Desert: 35,523).
- Dungeons & Dragons Online® is free; Black Desert is paid (9.99 USD).
- Both support cooperative play.
- Steam Deck: Dungeons & Dragons Online® is Deck Playable, Black Desert is Deck Unsupported.
Dungeons & Dragons Online® vs Black Desert — FAQ
- Which is better, Dungeons & Dragons Online® or Black Desert?
- On Steam reviews the two are nearly tied: Dungeons & Dragons Online® sits at 71.8% positive (6,036 reviews), Black Desert at 72.5% (35,523). The choice usually comes down to genre fit and the platform features each one supports — see the comparison table above.
- Should I play Dungeons & Dragons Online® or Black Desert first?
- If you want chronology, Dungeons & Dragons Online® (2012) came out before Black Desert (2017). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Dungeons & Dragons Online® and Black Desert similar?
- They overlap on Action, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.
- Do both Dungeons & Dragons Online® and Black Desert have co-op?
- Yes — both list a co-op category on Steam. Specifics differ: Dungeons & Dragons Online® ships Co-op; Black Desert ships Online Co-op, Co-op.
- Is Dungeons & Dragons Online® free?
- Yes — Dungeons & Dragons Online® is a free-to-play Steam title. Black Desert is paid (9.99 USD).