If you haven’t heard, Crimson Desert is absurd. Between its detailed world, array of activities, boatload of features, and just the sheer scale of the project, it’s looking to be an all-timer in the open-world genre. So is it at all surprising that even more details have emerged in the past week? Let’s dive into some of the most noteworthy bits here, starting with…
Wind’s Howling
Dynamic weather is something that not only makes the world feel alive, but also dramatically alters your experience from everyone else’s. Heavy snowfall, downpours, gentle breezes – Crimson Desert has it all, along with a day/night cycle, according to marketing and strategic planning expert Will Powers on the Dropped Frames podcast, and it’s calculated in real-time. That means it can affect boss battles and cutscenes, and while it doesn’t directly impact gameplay, it adds to the atmosphere and immersion.
No Cash Shop
Crimson Desert doesn’t have a cash shop. Granted, that doesn’t mean no microtransactions whatsoever, but only because marketing and strategic planning expert Will Powers considers the pre-order bonuses (which are cosmetic-only) to fall under that category. Otherwise, “This is made to be a premium experience that you buy, and you enjoy the world and not something for microtransactions,” says Powers.
Horse Types (and Taming)
In the last Features Overview trailer, we saw Kliff smoothly landing from a glide onto a horse, which would have made for the sickest traversal transition. However, this is no pretty derby, and it doesn’t take kindly to his presence, leading to a small mini-game where you have to tame it. It’s very Breath of the Wild/Red Dead Redemption 2-esque in that sense – just with a lot less starting finesse – but those eagle-eyed enough will have also spotted the sheer variety of horses. One is a lot more muscular, while the other is slimmer and more lithe. Maybe the first is better at trudging through the snow while the second is better equipped for sweeping through the desert?
You Can Call Me Evil
That same trailer confirmed there’s a Wanted system, and that Kliff could earn a bounty if he committed enough mayhem against innocent townfolk. However, that doesn’t mean you can embrace the Dark Side and lean towards an evil playthrough. It’s because the Greymanes aren’t inherently villains, so there’s no long-term story impact. So what’s the point, outside of creating havoc at the risk of jail time and losing standing? As Powers reveals, notoriety can contribute to raising your damage if you have the right gear equipped. I don’t know about you, but the thought of threatening a few villagers just to stand a better chance against a boss sounds hilariously fun.
No Difficulty Settings or Enemy Scaling
What isn’t fun is running around and fighting the same enemies in previous areas, which have now increased in level because of scaling. Thankfully, Crimson Desert doesn’t have that – defeating bosses is purely skill-focused. That said, there are no difficulty settings either. Now, for those seeking a higher challenge, that may be a problem, but…
It Isn’t Easy (or a Soulslike)
Anyone assuming that Crimson Desert is similar to a Soulslike in any fashion, whether it’s dropping currency on death or combat centred around stamina, can rest easy. Powers noted that whenever you encounter a challenging boss, you can “just leave, you can do something else, you can upgrade your weapon, you can do side questing, you can find different things to make that fight easier for you.” That includes farming items that can revive you on death. But is it easy? He
emphatically and definitively says, “Hell no.”
(Un)Broken Sword
Before it became a full-fledged single-player experience, Crimson Desert experimented with weapon durability. Thankfully, weapons in their current state have unlimited durability, so no amount of smacking enemies (or bystanders) will cause them to break. That may not apply to certain resource-gathering tools, including blacksmith hammers, wood-cutting axes, and pickaxes. Thankfully, they’re easy enough to discover and craft, so you won’t be feeling the crunch.
Character-Switching
As you already know, there are two additional characters to unlock – Damiane and Oongka – alongside Kliff, each with unique playstyles, abilities and weapons. Each is individually mocapped, lending a “different feel and personality” to their gameplay, according to Powers. But even more interesting is what he said about character-switching…or rather didn’t. When asked if you could swap between the three characters at any time or go to a hub – like the Greymane’s base – and switch, he responded, “There are some specific things that we are still leaving to be discovered.” Needless to say, we’re excited for what this entails and how it will affect combat.
The Campaign is Only the Beginning
With such a massive world, how long will it take to finish the game? How many hours? One of the most commonly asked questions, and for good reason. The kicker is that the development team – or at least Powers when speaking to Destin Legarie – can’t put a number on it for several reasons, but he did confirm one thing: That campaign revolving around Kliff and the Greymanes? It’s only a “small percentage” of the overall content, so you can choose to mainline it at your leisure.
Attractive Distraction
Good luck doing so, however, because Pywel is designed to be a world of distractions, according to Powers. Why? Because like all great open-world titles, it’s not about building a game but crafting a world. “They want you to get lost in this. They want you to get distracted in this. And most importantly, they want you to have fun in what you’re doing in the variety of content,” says Powers.
Fog of War and Hidden Corners
Maybe it’s because Kliff has never really traversed the greater continent of Pywell, sticking to the Greymanes’ home region of Pailune, but there’s a fog of war on the map. It’ll clear up as you explore, and you still have relative freedom to go anywhere in the world, further incentivizing exploration and seeing what’s out there.
One concern I had was with the flying mounts, like dragons. The War Robot looks as cool as can be, but why stick to the ground when you can easily traverse the land by air? The answer is the presence of “tons of hidden corners,” as Powers described it. You won’t be able to see these from afar, which means actually scouring the land to discover things.
Minigames Galore
Go back to the tail-end of the third Features Overview trailer, and what do you see? A horse race, an arm wrestling contest, and a shooting contest – there’s even a scene where Kliff is playing paper-rock-scissors with some kids. These are all additional side activities that you can discover. That’s what really cements Crimson Desert to me, even with so many weeks to go before launch – no matter how many deep dives or podcasts we get with more information, there is still so much more to uncover.
4K/60 FPS With Ray Tracing (And No Upscaling)
Crimson Desert went gold two months ahead of launch, and the development team has been busy with optimization. It’s still yet to detail frame rates and resolutions on consoles – PS5 Pro support is confirmed at least – but Powers did note to IGN that the title can run at native 4K/60 FPS with ray tracing enabled and no DLSS or FSR thanks to the engine. “And then if you want to further optimize, then you can tweak all the settings and do all the things, but we want to show that you don’t have to… like, the game itself should be able to stand on its own.” Again, this doesn’t mean it will run at those exact settings on PS5 Pro, but PC players will have a field day at the very least.
No Demo
Unfortunately, there won’t be a free demo before launch, despite the presence of demos at events like Gamescom. The reason for this is simple: “If I’m calling this an open world game and we’re doing a boss fight demo, then that’s not representative of the main thing that we’re saying the game is, which is open world,” said Powers. So he understands why people are asking – give me this game now, or I’ll lose my mind – but it’s just not possible.
“The amount of development work to create a standalone demo like…I don’t even know where we would even start with what point, which would be representative of the game,” he said. On the bright side, there will be plenty of information to help players make an informed decision.
Potential Post-Launch Content
No matter how much content is in a game, there will always be those who want more. Will Crimson Desert receive significant post launch support, even if Powers warns completionists have “their work cut out for them”? I mean, all the ingredients are there, whether it’s adding features like New Game Plus (assuming it’s not already available at launch) or more playable characters. The team is focused on launch for now and doesn’t have anything to say about additional content, but “if there’s appetite for something, then we’ll continue to support it post-launch,” says Powers.
