For everything we’ve seen and talked about with Crimson Desert, such as the combat, exploration and ability to commit general crimes, there hasn’t been much about the weather. There’s been footage of varying weather conditions, including rain, but how does it actually work?
Speaking on the Dropped Frames podcast, Pearl Abyss America marketing director Will Powers revealed that it’s “dynamic” and “calculates based on the weather patterns in the world and the temperature.” Elevation, weather cycles for the time of day, wind, and precipitation (in the case of snow or rain) are also crucial.
“It’s all happening in real time,” said Powers. “This is a really cool thing that is possible because of the engine the team has made. So all of these things are just happening and being calculated naturally in real time, which makes this feel like a really alive world that you’re interacting and living in.”
Such is the weather simulation that you may experience completely different conditions during boss fights or cutscenes. Powers talks about how, when demoing the game to multiple people at Summer Game Fest, bad weather could sometimes literally rain on someone’s parade.
“So every demo is different. Yeah. Just like we’re like, ‘Oh, we get good weather, we get bad weather.’ Like, if I wanted to show off the skybox, it’s like, ‘Oh, well, it’s a cloudy day. Crap.’ That’s the beauty, as a player, but it’s annoying, as showing off this game is like… there’s no consistency in the same demo.
“And that’s one thing that I’ve seen online is like…as the internet does, they’ll compare screenshots from the same boss fight or the same thing that we’ve shown off previously and like ‘oh the graphics have changed. It’s like, actually, that’s… all of our cut scenes are rendered in-engine based on time of day. So that’s just lighting.
“So you can have the same boss encounter and…if you do it at night or if you do it during the day, the lighting is completely different. It could be like during the day, totally clear or at night when it’s pouring rain, like completely different vibes in encounters, and that can really influence your perception of that as a player.”
Of course, it may not have gameplay indications (aside from “it might be harder to see at night in certain instances”), but Powers notes that it adds to the atmosphere. Players also don’t have to worry about immersion breaks because the time of day changes to suit a particular fight. And yes, there is a full day/night cycle, though how it’s currently calculated is unknown.
I am somewhat disappointed that a downpour wouldn’t, say, make thievery much easier due to reduced visibility or turn the terrain muddy, thus affecting your footing. That said, there’s something about potentially seeing the sun break through the clouds after a hard-fought castle siege, or even encountering heavy snow while climbing a mountain.
Launching on March 19th, Crimson Desert is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Head here to learn more about its combat, or here for details on the base-building.
