Seamless Looting

One of my biggest annoyances while reviewing Crimson Desert is having to pick up multiple items. Looking at each and then pressing the button every time was a fate worse than death, especially after huge skirmishes, but you don’t need to. Hold down the corresponding button – Square on PS5 – while walking around, and Kliff will automatically pick up the loot.

Seamless Rescue

Holding down the “loot” button isn’t the only function it serves, however. Ever wanted to quickly rescue any hostages, like those Pailunese refugees strewn about bandit camps? Instead of trying to untie them all separately, hold down Square and walk into them. This will seamlessly remove their restraints without even needing to glance at them, and can be done even while sprinting around.

Focus Flying

Focus serves many functions, from regenerating Spirit to activating abilities like Nature’s Snare for knocking back multiple enemies (even if you haven’t ensnared multiple projectiles). However, it can also play a part while gliding. Activate Focus immediately after entering the gliding animation, and you’ll find that Kliff kind of retains the same altitude throughout. It’s pretty useful right after using Force Palm to propel him upwards, and though using Aerial Roll will cause him to move faster while slowly descending, you can hit Unleash for this crazy burst of speed at any time.

The Importance of Grindstones and Anvils

Since recent patches made grindstones and anvils much easier to spot on the minimap, there’s no excuse not to use them. Liberation missions, boss fights, minor scraps where someone probably insulted your pet – it’s all fair game, because the weapon and defense buffs that they provide can be pretty absurd, even if they’re temporary.

Turning Slash to Destroy Archer Towers

Annoyed with the archers constantly raining arrows down when you just want to clear out a fort or quarry full of enemies? Don’t want to climb those ladders and toss them out? Just use Turning Slash. It’s very good at breaking these towers, bringing said archers down to the ground to finish them off (assuming they survive the fall) and ensuring others don’t get any bright ideas.

Save Duplicate Weapons

If you enter a new region and face multiple enemies with the same weapons, pick them all up. Sure, they may not be special on their own, but at the blacksmith, you can consume duplicates to refine one of them without needing additional resources. This particular strategy was great when the game felt too stingy, and refining every piece of gear became tedious. Recent changes alleviate both, but if you want to save those Refinement Tokens, then this is still a solid method. Note that the same process also applies to Abyss Gears and will become especially important when trying to obtain one of the best Cores in the game.

Vaulting With Banner Pikes

On the surface, banner pikes seem like more decorative spears and something you’ll sell post-skirmish. However, they can be used to pole vault. When equipped, double-tap jump, and Kliff will vault with it, getting some serious air. It’s more consistent than the actual double-jump and doesn’t even require any Spirit.

Force Palm for Mobility

Whenever you have to climb in the Abyss, especially after narrowly avoiding a fall, there may be times when Kliff can’t surmount a lip in the architecture. Instead of attempting to do so, thus costing more stamina, use Force Palm to push him back. You can then chain together two more to propel him upwards, and then glide over. This method also works for regular climbing if you need that extra boost upwards.

Memories of Abundance

Discovered near Howling Hill Camp, the Dragon’s Stone Chamber can seem fairly tedious, since it requires going to three separate locations to discern the correct orientations of each mural. And while it doesn’t hide a weapon as the Memory Fragment seemingly teased, it does provide something even better – Memories of Abundance. When consumed, it “unlocks knowledge of hidden places” in Hernand, which sounds exactly like what you think it does. Now you can traipse through the region, locating all the hidden goodies (and powerful loot).

Let There Be Light

Clearing out ground forces during the Sanctum cleansing quests for the witches is pretty easy. The only real annoyance is the magic wielders, who float around and out of range of your weapon strikes. Instead of shooting them with arrows to bring them down, use Blinding Flash and Focused Light instead. It will immediately burn them out of existence.

Infinite Arrows

One of the best builds in the game currently is to equip Infinite Arrow Cores to your bow, which grants a chance to not consume arrows, and then spam Explosive Arrows to absolutely wreck bosses. While each core on its own has a percentage chance, you can stack multiple to hit 100 percent and effectively never run out. The downside is that the best way to get these is by using Abyss Gear Fusion at the witches, with Tier 2s being the most desired result. Obviously, save-scumming is best if your luck isn’t great, but you should also beware of the Greater Infinite Arrows Core because it has a durability limit. Once broken, you need to farm it again, so stick to hitting 100 percent by rolling for other tiered Abyss Gears instead.

Fast Forward Through Conversations

While you can fast forward through cutscenes, there’s no option to do so during dialogue exchanges…at least, none that are seemingly intended. If you activate Focus by pressing L3 and R3 on the DualSense, the conversation speeds up significantly, letting you avoid a healthy amount of yapping. Again, this only applies to dialogue exchanges and could be patched, but it’s fantastic.

Hollow Visage

If you’re not in the mood to farm enemies to refine a basic weapon, why not go after one of the best early swords in the game? Hollow Visage can be obtained in Hernand to the west of Vellua. You’ll find an innocuous-looking waterfall, but use Stab to rush through it (which works with just about every other waterfall). You’ll find Dawn Cave and a chest containing the weapon, which comes equipped with three Abyss Gears – Critical Rate 1, Attack 1 and Attack Speed 1. Not a bad way to start and gain an advantage on the early bosses.

Refinement Information

Have you ever wandered back to the Blacksmith to continuously check which materials are required to refine gear further (or, like me, just hoped you had enough after exploring for hours)? Well, there’s a stupidly easier way to check. Go to the gear piece or weapon in your inventory and select Details. It reveals the weapon’s stats, skill (if applicable) and whatnot. However, if you check Refinement Information, it will display all the materials necessary to upgrade it, that too on a per-stage basis.

Cancel Freesword Missions Anywhere

We’ve all seen that notification about our Freeswords returning from a mission and then restarting it. If only we cared enough to return to camp and tell them not to, but there’s a much easier way, especially thanks to the new patch. Go to the Notifications tab in your Journal and select the pop-up about the mission’s completion/restarting. This will immediately examine the location where it’s taking place, and you can tab over to Missions. Select “Cancel Mission” and voila. While you could already do this anywhere before from the map, it’s much easier through the Notifications menu.

None of them says that the story was bad, but a common undercurrent is that it could have been better, which is especially true when it’s measured against the rest of the experience that the developer has brought to the table. That includes its side content, with the faction-related missions being a particular highlight that we found very compelling. The main story felt less focused than these quests, often jumping between the Greymanes and The Abyss without enough cohesion between the two distinct narrative threads.

But does that mean it’s a bad story? Well, it does have its moments, some of them being quite memorable. Newman’s comments on a project that kept shifting its goalposts are perhaps the best explanation for a narrative that seems as disjointed as it is. Why is that so? Let’s break things down together and look at why an open world that’s as compelling as Pywel didn’t manage to give us the emotional weight to Kliff’s adventures that it should have had.

Back To The Beginning

Let’s start with what Crimson Desert was originally intended to be, as it’s an important part of the ever-changing goalposts that Newman mentioned when discussing its weak story. It began as a project that quickly snowballed into the idea of an open-world action adventure centred on Macduff, a mercenary leader struggling to find his place in the world as he grappled with a tragic past.

But that evolved into the more recent framing around Kliff, the Greymanes, and their ill-fated conflict with the Black Bears that led to the effort to rebuild the company to its former glory. It’s easy to see how things changed as the game’s concept began to evolve. Kliff is still the de facto leader of the Greymanes, although the reasons for the respect they show him remain somewhat blurry. It’s a showcase of how Macduff became Kliff, a sort of evolution that unfortunately left his story feeling like it was bearing the weight of older priorities instead of taking the character in a direction that was altogether his own.

We do feel like that’s kind of a wasted opportunity in Crimson Desert. Let’s take a look at why that’s the case.

The Dark Side of Ambition

We’ve made no secret of the fact that Crimson Desert is a very ambitious title, but that has seemingly come at a hefty price. While its open world has oodles of space for all of its ideas to be executed with abandon, the story’s premise doesn’t afford the same kind of luxury. Its opening moments are strong enough to be fair. Kliff and the Greymanes are set upon by the Black Bears in an ambush that leaves them scattered across Pywel, while Kliff is mercilessly killed by Myurdin.

And while we do see the need to introduce The Abyss as the reason for Kliff’s miraculous resurrection, it didn’t feel as organic as it should have been. That’s further compounded by a long quest chain that thrusts him deep into the mysteries of Pywel’s mythology, while factional conflicts plaguing Hernand also compete for his attention even as he attempts to track down more of his former comrades.

We’re never shown why Kliff, a character whose backstory we didn’t fully get to see, would care about The Abyss and the interplay between the various houses of Hernand. Kliff is certainly a strong focal point for the story, but that potential gets diffused when his attention is pulled in one direction after another in the pursuit of a broader destiny that we had no reason to get invested in at such an early point in the narrative.

That’s rather disappointing, especially when we think about what a lovely time we’ve had with Hernand’s houses, and the amazing stories that they sent us towards.

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

Let’s start with one of the early requests Kliff agrees to look into for one of Hernand’s noble houses. A quarry under occupation by the Bleed Bandits, one of the game’s umpteen factions, needs liberation, and Kliff is the man for the job. Getting things done would mean a safe haven for the Greymanes he is yet to locate, which is a solid narrative framing for the action that follows.

The mission becomes an incredible fight against a literal army of Bleed Bandits, ending with a fight against an enemy that we’re not going to spoil if you’re yet to tackle that particular piece of the pie. It also serves as a great way to link The Abyss to Pywel’s daily life in a way that feels natural. Further requests from the same house work in tandem with ones from other houses to take Kliff all around Hernand in a way that not only helps the game sell its open-world trappings, but is a clear showcase of how the writers of Crimson Desert could tell solid stories when they weren’t trying to cram too many ideas into a single quest chain.

The factions knew exactly what they wanted, and it showed. Kliff, by extension, also had clear goals in mind as a result. The conflicts that he got into as a result then felt authored rather than assembled, each mission feeding into the next in a way that had us very curious to find out what happens next, a facet made even better by the fact that it was leading us to an entirely new area of the map. The side quests in Crimson Desert benefit greatly from a focused approach that blends well with its scale and scope.

But even the side content has its weak points, and Kliff’s fellow protagonists are a great showcase of that.

The Fleeing Swordswoman And The Loyal Warrior

Damiane and Oongka are perhaps the best examples of how Crimson Desert’s approach to its narrative was too disjointed for it to land effectively. Beginning with Damiane, we see her in the game’s early hours, and are quickly given access to her as a playable character when Kliff secures Howling Hill for the Greymanes. We’re told that she’s on the run from Demeniss, with the reasons why being withheld for the moment.

Her abilities were immediately engaging as a more elegant contrast to Kliff’s own moves, and she quickly became a character we kept switching to GTA-style. That was even before we discovered that we could summon her to help out in battles where our foes had the numerical advantage. But as we progressed through the story, she suddenly vanished, and our efforts to switch to her were met with a message that she was off on an important mission. It also didn’t help that many quests forced us to play as Kliff.

Why couldn’t we play through her missions? Why not give us more of a character whose potential to be as engaging as Kliff was quite obvious? Your guess is as good as ours, and Damiane feels like there was more to her presence in Pywel than what the writers allowed us to see. Her diminished role feels like a structural problem, and the same goes for Oongka.

He was possibly the first character many of you spoke to in the game, before he was neatly tucked away behind story progression that required you to get to Calphade before reuniting with him. As a close confidante of Kliff’s, we expected to see more of him in the story itself, but he was relegated to being an interesting side character whose presence in cutscenes involving him only made us eager to finally get to playing as him.

But by then, our Abyss Artifacts were limited, and we didn’t have too many to spare on unlocking his unique skills – a problem that he shared with Damiane. That seriously limited both characters’ playability, and we were left to default to Kliff for a major part of the mid-game, as it simply made more sense to control him over his equally engaging cast mates. Crimson Desert could have woven its storylines into a series of quests just like it did with Hernand’s nobility.

Instead, Damiane and Oongka felt like afterthoughts tacked on to present the illusion of a protagonist trio but without the narrative consistency to justify their inclusion. Once again, it felt like the game’s ambition to be everything it could be came at the cost of its story. It had the makings of a great ensemble of characters, but its narrative never fully earned it in our book.

Why not have one customisable protagonist instead of an effort to bring back fond memories of GTA 5, or perhaps include more fleshed-out content to make a trio of protagonists actually feel like they were working together as allies, and potentially friends? That second part is still doable via patches, but it’s going to be an uphill climb. Once again, we’re baffled at how Crimson Desert took a direction that even its own studio has since lamented.

That brings us to what Newman and the developer had to say about the story.

Learning Through Hindsight

The developer’s assertion that they could have done better with the story showcases how they have kept track of things in the aftermath of the game’s launch. And while it has been able to act with blinding speed and some admirable intensity to address other issues, the narrative isn’t on its list of priorities. That makes sense, as gameplay is easier to speedily fix than the process of trying to piece together more narrative content, which would require significantly more effort.

Newman’s thoughts on the story’s confused direction come into play here, and we’re especially focused on the fact that he spent two years recording lines before he was told that recording would “begin in earnest” along with his assertion that Kliff didn’t feel like he had enough scenes that lent him the emotional heft needed to make his character feel rooted in the narrative and relatable to boot.

The rather strange lack of cohesion makes sense when looked at from this perspective. The game changed too many times, and the constantly shifting goalposts that served as the basis for its ambition put too much weight on the story, leaving it unable to take a direction that brought Kliff, Damiane, and Oongka along for the ride in a manner that made sense. What we were then left with is what we now see in the game, a story that flits between disparate threads that’s still interesting, but never comes together well enough to make it memorable.

There is narrative strength in Crimson Desert. It’s just sadly a part of its side content instead of its main story. The game’s focus shifted one too many times for its main narrative to keep up, and the inclusion of two other playable protagonists is probably the best way to showcase that it was never fully locked into place right up until the final phase of the game’s development.

It’s a pity that an open world this interesting cannot give us the highs and lows that the characters we play as are clearly capable of. It’s still enjoyable, no doubt about that, but that only makes us think wistfully of the fact that it could have been so much more. And that’s a facet of our time in Pywel that we continue to feel a tad melancholy about, even as we continue to travel to every corner of the fascinating world it has given us.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

The ancient civilization that existed before Pywel, or perhaps parallel to it, seems to have been a society that challenged the intellect of its members to extreme degrees. Some of the game’s puzzles are consequently so convoluted that it feels like each one brings a different idea or concept to the table, and it’s up to us to adapt on the fly as the best Greymanes often do. That can feel like a refreshing departure from traditional open-world fare that’s largely more accessible, but it’s a double-edged sword thanks to the friction it causes. You’re never told what you need to do, and that showcases a bold approach in which the game assumes its players are smart enough to figure it out.

But has it been considered if they’re patient enough? The Greymanes are a volatile bunch, after all, and as the ones helping them along, so are we. Join us as we take a look at how this one’s puzzles challenge existing traditions, and its players as a result.

Trembling With Frustration

Let’s begin with an example of how Crimson Desert can have you staring at your screen blankly until you realize the solution was right in front of you all along. Exploring a set of ancient ruins in the Trembling Woods led us to a puzzle in which three rotating pillars controlled sections of a mural on the wall. We managed to get two sections in place fairly quickly, but the third pillar was missing its handle. We looked high and low for it, a tedious process that took the better part of an hour, only to find that shining our lantern on the pillar itself showed us that we needed to stab the pillar with our sword and move it along.

That’s just one example of the game giving you the tools you need to finish the job, but stoutly refusing to nudge you along to a solution it knows you’re going to stumble upon eventually. Does it add to the immersion of it all? Hell yeah. But does it tack on a layer of difficulty for players who might not have the luxury of time to ponder on potential courses of action? Unfortunately, yes again. Many of the game’s puzzles are hard, not because they involve thinking out of the box, but because they actually encourage shaking off assumptions that other games have trained in us in over the years. Allow us to explain.

Missing Pieces

We have another instance of hilarity at our expense for you. We came across a certain Sanctum, an important-looking place that housed a ton of very hostile members of a cult who lined up to die at our hands (we did position ourselves pretty well in that fight, though). With the sanctum now liberated, we explored it with elation, finding a remnant of the Abyss that sure looked like it was meant to power something up. We carefully maneuvered it through the ruins, a tedious process that we didn’t know we could avoid at the time. We found the device it was meant to slot into, but nothing would force it to stay in place. We’re quite annoyed that we’d forgotten about the Force Palm ability at that point.

But then, we found that we hadn’t even met the person we were supposed to do this for, a certain Witch who would reveal herself to us only in Chapter 3. We were yet to get there, and that was another hour that was a lot of fun, but ultimately pointless. While the ruins in the woods had us thinking we were missing an important piece, this one had us thinking that we had everything we needed until the rug was pulled out from under us by the revelation that we were missing a whole chunk of content.

Another puzzle, another revelation that the game’s puzzles were not just challenging, but needed to be considered within the context of the faction that sent us their way. But then the game goes and gives you everything you need in other instances before making you realize that you’re the problem, and we mean that literally this time.

Demanding Attention

Our next stop is the Scholastone Institute, a place that immediately grabbed our attention when we visited it in the story, complete with our very own uniform. Of course, we were quite enthusiastic to be humble students and dutifully took on a quest to help find out who stole a forbidden book from our fellow scholars. Well, long story short, we lost another chunk of time since we weren’t paying attention to the second mission of a side chain, only to come up short when our teachers questioned us about what we’d just learned.

We quickly found that the whodunit we were investigating stopped being a puzzle and more of an attention test, as the previous quest had us interrogating potential suspects, a process whose lines of dialogue we unfortunately didn’t pay attention to fully as we were marveling at the beauty of the institute’s elaborate architecture. If you haven’t been there, know that it can get quite tempting to let your mind wander, but do pay attention in Crimson Desert class!

While the institute’s brightest minds were also gracious enough to afford us another chance to get things right, this one was such a surprise, as it challenged an entirely different set of skills than the other puzzles we’ve talked about. This one didn’t have us figuring out complex machinery, choosing an objective that you might even consider trivial. But it turned out to be a test that forced us to adopt an entirely different way of thinking. We’ve been keeping our phones away when we play Crimson Desert thanks to it.

Perhaps that was the point? Well, we’re diving into why that’s the case next.

Ambition Versus Accessibility

Were we frustrated at discovering the different ways that each of these puzzles, along with so many more, pulled the wool over our eyes? Definitely. But do we think that it’s a refreshing change of pace from other open worlds in which puzzles generally devolve into missions where you just recover a missing item or two, or perhaps turn a few knobs to get past them? Also yes.

The fact that these puzzles are linked so closely to the Abyss, whose artifacts you need to use if you’re going to get your skill set and gear ramped up enough to deal with the incredible bosses and battles you face, makes them all the more risky, but in a good way. They aren’t obstacles to your progress but are rather stepping stones to getting better with the many systems, skills, and mechanics that the game hides away in order to give you the pleasure of finding them for the first time. And let’s not forget that they also often reward us with a fast-travel point and maybe even some cool loot!

The game’s ambitions blend well with its unpredictability to craft experiences that stay with you even as you move on to umpteen other distractions as you make your way through Pywel. It gives its players a world that’s layered beyond sticking things with the pointy end of your preferred weapon. But that strength can also be a weakness.

Don’t get us wrong, we love a good puzzle. But there is a certain awkwardness to interacting with important items, with the game’s controls often refusing to cooperate with us as we try to piece together a solution that it hides away so darn well. That many complaints about the game’s movements come from the way they interfere with puzzle solving is a showcase of how players might be willing to flex their mental muscles, but come away with their patience tested instead. That isn’t a great combo in our book.

The lack of communication with its players as far as its puzzles are concerned is another sore spot. Yes, it makes solving tough puzzles all the more satisfying, but the price of that satisfaction is a lot of frustration and wondering if you’re even prepared to solve this one or if you should return to the main campaign for a while. Or perhaps move on to building up the Greymane camp, only to return to the puzzle a long time after that, if you come back at all. There are other ways of picking up Abyss Artifacts, after all.

But has Crimson Desert managed to strike a balance that can be quite, er, puzzling, to achieve?

Trains Of Thought

The answer is more nuanced than you might imagine. Crimson Desert’s puzzles aren’t rocket science for the most part, and the fact that we’ve been managing just fine on our own as we enjoy them all is a testament to that. But that has come with a learning curve involving slowing down and paying attention to even the tiniest details. It’s involved accepting that sometimes, what seems to be obvious is another cleverly hidden red herring meant to throw you off the scent of the solution that’s right there for the taking.

It’s honestly a pleasure to get past all of that and actually come up with creative solutions, but the process is maddening enough to tempt us to reach for our phones and just look up solutions. But is that really a bad thing? We pieced together all of the steps for Elden Ring’s Goldmask ending after all, and that one was straight up insane on a first playthrough. Think about it that way, and it’s easy to see that Crimson Desert has dared to go against the grain.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

One of the core ways Pearl Abyss achieved this, he noted, was by getting players used to the “gameyness” of Crimson Desert quite early on. This includes aspects such as its control scheme, gameplay systems, and even other games that may have inspired it. The “magic” of the open world only starts kicking in after players have already spent a few hours with the game.

“Interesting how Crimson Desert functions opposite to most games of this type: generally the beginning is magical, and after a while you start to see the strings ‘ah this is close to this game, oh this is going to be repeated etc,” he wrote on social media. “You start with the gameyness front-loaded: the inspirations, the controls, the systems: it’s almost all you see. But after a while, all this takes the back seat: magic kicks in and doesn’t disappear because you have already accepted the rules/constitutive elements.”

“It’s almost like the specific type of immersion of a board game where at first all you see is the board/rules, but then you enter the magic circle properly, and the real fun begins. And where it excels is at this point, the game hasn’t thrown everything it has in store at you.”

Bakaba went on to praise the fact that Crimson Desert likes to introduce new aspects of its open world to players at a steady pace. He also noted that gameplay systems introduced in this way also happen to be quite “meaty” and fit into the larger world quite well. This helps players have more fun in their journeys, since they’re also constantly rewarded for the time they spend with the game.

“It keeps on introducing new things, giving more significance to systems and making them interact with each other,” he wrote. “It doesn’t hurt that most of them are ‘meaty’ and realized diegetically, and that there is also some tonal liberties with some (smartly engineered) stupid fun.”

“This coalesces in a singular player journey from game to magic to discovery that might be why so many find investing time in it rewarding and “personal”. In a time of fast consumption, a game that is sticky because it has friction, and not because it’s smiley feels amazing.”

Crimson Desert was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S in mid-March and has since become quite a hit with players. Pearl Abyss recently confirmed that it had sold 4 million copies of the game. The fact that the studio has offered consistent post-launch support by releasing updates that address some of its biggest pain points, as noted by players, has also certainly helped. Check out our review for more details. And while you’re at it, take a look at our own thoughts about why calling the game’s early parts “boring” misses the entire point.

However, before it was even released, it reportedly generated over $20 million in revenue from pre-orders alone, according to Alinea Analytics. The firm is now claiming that it earned over $200 million in revenue across all platforms, with the PlayStation 5 version seemingly leading the pack at nearly $75 million.

It also alleged overlap with another big open-world sandbox title – Dragon’s Dogma 2. Apparently, 38 percent of Crimson Desert players on PS5 have also played Capcom’s action RPG (once again, despite the lackluster story). Other notable game they’ve apparently also experienced include Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, so make of that what you will.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the game performs well on PS5 (and PS5 Pro). Check out our review for more details. Crimson Desert is also available on PC and Xbox Series X/S. You can read our review of the PC version here, which we also praised for its optimization and fidelity.

While its reputation has managed to regain some of the momentum it lost, I’ve been seeing a lot of discourse around the game that raises interesting questions about how modern open worlds are being judged. Specifically, the argument that the game holds nothing interesting in its opening hours, and continues to remain as interesting even after spending upwards of twenty hours in Pywel. While I disagree, I can see where those complaints are coming from, which brings me to the questions that came up as I thought about why people would feel that way about it.

I began to wonder if we’re actually looking at the game objectively enough, and considering the bigger picture that Pywel aims to paint. Should big-budget releases aim to be so front-loaded that they throw all their ideas at their players right off the bat? Yes, your first few hours in Pywel might be spent trying to wrap your head around a multitude of systems that all compete for your time and attention, and not all of it is as amazing as what’s on offer in other titles. But are they really “interesting”, or is a slow burn that delays its payoff by a significant margin being confused with a lack of identity?

That’s what I’m aiming to clarify as I dive into some fond memories I’ve managed to create during my time with Pywel. Let’s get to it!

Pacing Problems

It’s important to think about the assumption that underlines criticisms of Crimson Desert’s early hours. Twenty hours or so should usually give you a good picture of whether a game is going to have you invested in it right until the very end, and that’s a fair take. But when I think about my own time with Kliff, and the numerous other accounts of the game that describe it as a slow burn that could test your patience when you first load into Pywel, things become a little murkier.

Yes, the game’s prologue did have some weird writing, and Kliff’s miraculous recovery from the Black Bears’ assault was not the best way to introduce the Abyss and the narrative’s main premise. But does that automatically mean that there was nothing interesting about it? Does a game have to be an instant hit for it to be judged fairly on its merits?

Going into Hernand immediately opens up so many avenues for players to pursue, after all. And while that can be confusing, I would argue that that confusion was a part of what makes Crimson Desert an entertaining open-world title. Slowly discovering various ways to engage with the game’s many systems was among my favorite parts of it, a gradual progression into a Greymane to be feared being a very organic way to get me invested in the kind of experience that the game attempted to sell.

To say that it isn’t interesting in those first twenty hours just because it doesn’t have you hooked right off the bat does it a disservice, and is perhaps missing the point of a title that wants you to learn how to get the most out of your time with it before it truly becomes engaging to play. Could the pacing have been better? Of course. But that doesn’t mean that Crimson Desert isn’t intriguing at all in its early hours.

Which brings me to my next argument in its favor: the assumption that an “interesting” game must have so much spectacle packed into its opening hours for it to get players invested in its gameplay loop.

First Impressions

A lot of modern games, and the discussions around them, assume that to be interesting, a game’s early hours should include big set pieces that bring out their innovations and novelties as early as they can. That’s a great way to ensure an early dopamine hit, and, if a game manages to sustain that momentum, it creates a sort of constant escalation of the wow factor that comes with that kind of presentation. There are tons of games that do this, and there isn’t anything inherently wrong with that.

After all, any studio wants its titles to click with its intended audiences, and should aim to capture their attention to the best of its ability. But some games, like Crimson Desert, are built for a slower kind of intrigue that relies on a consistent tone, a great atmosphere and mood, a narrative that slowly builds up to a grand finale, and tension created via the sense that all of its systems are building towards something.

In Crimson Desert’s case, that buildup is towards a sense of adventure that deliberately makes you feel like a very small part of Pywel’s world, gradually getting you to come to grips with what life in that grand fantasy is going to feel like. It relies on the sentiment that you live in that world every time you pick up your controller, and discover something new or cool about it consistently enough to make it grow on you.

I can’t help but wonder if that sentiment is what has led to the game drawing fire for its slow-burn gameplay loop, though.

Risky Design Choices

I’ve already mentioned how I found Crimson Desert’s opening to be a tad too clunky for my taste, and it’s easy to see how it could put off a few players who prefer a more coherent start to an adventure as grand as this one aims to be. That’s fair, and I must concede that the early sections, where you’re left to learn the ropes on your own aside from a few well-placed tutorials, are definitely a risky choice from the developers. But does that really mean that the game is artistically empty in the way that it’s being described?

I wouldn’t agree with that sentiment, as I think that the lack of onboarding for players looking to have the game tell them exactly what to do and where to go until they’re ready to be let loose into the open world doesn’t necessarily mean that a game is creatively bankrupt. I’d argue that Crimson Desert respects its players enough to let them figure things out at their own pace, while doing things that they want to be doing.

A great instance is how I came across a puzzle quite early into my adventure once I decided to ignore the story and run amok in Hernand for a bit. I struggled to heave a cube across a crumbling ruin, carefully manoeuvring it with precision onto the device it was meant to power. That took me a while, but I was then met with a disembodied voice telling me that I wasn’t yet ready for this portion of the game. I’m yet to discover what that entire deal was about, but I’m as determined as ever to get to the bottom of it.

However, it’s easy to see how somebody might choose to bounce off from such a design choice, the investment of their time and the lack of an immediate payoff being an annoyance they can’t look past. Crimson Desert is chock full of such occurrences and does demand patience from its players. But that shouldn’t be confused with the game having nothing to give you in its first twenty hours.

Which brings me to how those among you who’ve spent enough time with it are beginning to appreciate the beauty it hides away in its world.

Rising From The Ashes

I must say it was heartening to see how the game’s reviews moved from ‘Mixed’ to ‘Very Positive’ on Steam, although that alone isn’t an indicator of its overall quality. But it’s in the way that the discourse around it has changed that shows it gets better as you keep going, and that there are enough players appreciating it to demonstrate that twenty hours with it brings enough entertainment for the game to have them invested.

The negative sentiments around the game and the rapid-fire patching of glaring issues are important components of that shift. It showcased how fixing mechanical problems led to more people being able to better appreciate the kind of experience that Crimson Desert was trying to encourage, and that its appeal comes from more people joining in on its madness.

It’s brought a whole community of players together, bringing a lot of nifty tricks to the surface that others then jump to try out, and a whole lot of conversations, many of which still talk about issues with it, but with an acceptance that it’s a game that’s good, and could be better. It’s then odd that a game that has so many people warming up to it earned complaints that it isn’t interesting enough. But that might be a result of a change in how we’ve been looking at games as they evolve.

Like every other part of popular culture, modern gaming and conversations around it do come with a reliance on great first impressions. They become instant verdicts of a game’s quality, putting pressure on critics and players alike to identify a title’s hook as early as possible in order to deem it worthy of the time and effort it would take to see more of it. But that’s a sure-fire way to miss out on the best parts of games like Crimson Desert. The way it’s structured flies in the face of hasty judgments, and the discourse around it lacking interesting things to do reflects that.

It isn’t a mismatch between the game and its players, but rather one that pits its rhythm directly against modern evaluatory benchmarks that aren’t designed to account for its unique approach. It’s a title whose ambition is unpacked rather awkwardly, but that only serves to show how modern titles have become quite reliant on immediate readability.

I began to think about how the criticism could be reshaped to better reflect the game’s ambitions and approach, which is where we’re going next.

Playing It Cool

I’d say that Crimson Desert plays things too close to the chest for too long before it truly lets Kliff and company become lethal killing machines who are also quite adept at existing within Pywel’s framework. It buries the Greymanes and their unique talents under story progression that could take too long, thanks to how the open world calls to you at almost every turn. It’s through them, and your camp, that you begin to see just how much there is to do in Pywel, and how you begin to influence the world around you as a result.

That’s a payoff that might have been all the more rewarding if it had been given to me earlier than it was, and I’d guess that many of you might agree. It takes too long to show off what’s made it special, but that’s a far cry from the notion that it doesn’t have anything worth showing in the first place. The former is a more precise summation of what’s wrong, and that matters because it points to some shoddy execution without being dismissive of the game’s artistic value.

Crimson Desert holds itself back for too long, and that’s perhaps why it’s given some players the impression that it doesn’t have too much going for it. But to say it isn’t interesting enough to hold your attention for more than twenty hours is merely a refusal to meet it on its own terms, and to understand that it isn’t trying to be a title that appeals to every type of player as quickly as other open-world games. Instead, it’s one that’s built to gradually draw you into Pywel’s nuanced world-building, and then have you thinking about it almost constantly when you’re away from your console.

That’s definitely a bold design choice, but it’s ultimately one that’s paid off for those among us who’ve given it the chance it’s needed to shine. I just wish it didn’t take as long as it does to get there, only so that players who have dropped off get to join the rest of us in enjoying what is a truly enjoyable open world experience.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Aside from cool weapons, complete storylines, and exciting new places to discover, Crimson Desert’s excellent open world also has a few mechanics that remain obscure unless you actually attempt to pull them off. If you’re worried that you’ve missed out on a few useful ones, we’re here to sort you out.

Let’s dive right into some of the things you might not have discovered during your time in Pywel.

1. Armor For Your Pets

You probably already found that you can amass a collection of loyal companions who accompany you on your travels and even pick up loot on the battlefield, leaving you free to tear through enemy ranks. But did you know you can get them dressed up for the occasion?

To do that, you’re going to want to prioritize the Shai missions and gain access to Pororin Village by obtaining a relic from a very interesting NPC. Once there, look for a shop that sells hats, armor, and some adorable outfits for your furry friends! There’s another one in Demeniss if that’s more convenient, and it’s located in the southeast corner of the city.

2. Make Fast Travel Even Faster

The game’s loading scenes can be frustrating. Whether you’re booting it up or fast-travelling between spawn points, you often have to sit through flashy transition animations that are basically just fancy loading screens. Strangely enough, the game doesn’t actually seem to need all that time to load in new areas. In fact, if you stand on a fast travel point and teleport directly to another one, the transition is almost instantaneous, meaning you’ll be zipping between locations far faster than the game initially suggests. It’s an impressive workaround, and it also gives hope that these awkward animations could eventually be patched out in the future.

3. Use Axiom Force For Some Insane Moves

See an area you’d like to explore that’s closed off by a pesky spiked fence? Finding a path around it is so yesterday, as you can simply use Axiom Force on a nearby tree to launch yourself high into the air and scale obstacles with style. Simply attach to a tree, pull back as hard as you can, and release to launch yourself into a spinning ball before you spread your wings and glide right into enemy camps or new areas.

Pair that up with a body slam or any other moves to give yourself an edge at the start of a battle. Considering the sheer number of enemies that can come at you, that’s an advantage you want to abuse as much as you can.

4. The Axiom Swing

If there aren’t any trees around, you can use Axiom Force to latch on to a nearby surface and swing to build up momentum before you detach and launch yourself into the air, and then drown in a nearby lake or sea. That’s a nifty way to gain access to hard-to-reach areas and is also a great way to start off a combat encounter with a distinct advantage. And, for some odd reason, so satisfying.

5. Call In Backup

Damiane and Oongka are not just characters you switch to from time to time, but can be valuable as backup in intense fights. Just pull up the character switching menu and hit the summon button to have them meet you at a nearby assembly point. Do note that this is not seamless, and it requires a loading page to pop up, but from then on, the character you summoned is going to follow you around, and they even come with their own mounts.

Don’t worry if you get too far ahead of them, as they merely teleport to your location after a while. Just be careful not to let them take too many hits in a fight, as reviving them is a slow process, and your enemies aren’t going to be waiting around for you to get them back on their feet.

6. Make Mining Easier

Are you as tired of chipping away at ore deposits with a pickaxe and drill as we are? Well, Axiom Force and Force Push are going to solve that problem. Simply latch on to the ore deposit you want to mine and hit the Force Push input to collect valuable resources with ease. Know that you’ll need the Force Current move unlocked to do this, but considering how useful that one is in various other situations, we’d call it a win-win.

It also frees up valuable inventory slots as you can leave your pickaxes behind!

7. Take In The View

Every warrior needs a breather from time to time, and we’d argue that the fights Kliff gets into need some real rest and relaxation. Well, Crimson Desert lets him take things easy for a while and just admire Pywel’s beauty from high up above. Just approach a cliff and tap your analog stick to have him sit down and enjoy the sights for as long as you please!

8. Efficient Bounty Hunting

While we found it odd that Kliff chooses to sling a bounty over his shoulder instead of his horse when he has them tied up and ready to face justice, we decided to just roll with it. But we then found out that a second bounty is indeed laid out on the back of his horse, allowing you to take in two of them at once.

Considering that they’re an efficient way to quickly rack up some coin, this one’s going to save you a lot of time.

9. Steal Gold Bars From Nobles

Remember the pickpocket mechanic from Assassin’s Creed? It’s here in Crimson Desert, and it’s a great way to make tons of money fairly quickly. All you need to do is find places that nobles frequent, and simply bump into them to bring up the pickpocket prompt. You can check which ones are carrying something to steal using your lantern by shining it on them and looking for a yellow glow around their hip.

Do know that you’re going to need a mask equipped before you begin your stealing spree, and that you want to run as soon as you complete the theft, as a red circle pops up, marking the area in which your victims look for you. While there’s no guarantee that the noble you’re stealing from is carrying a gold bar, they’re still your best bet to find one with a bit of luck and patience.

10. Heed The Game’s Warnings

We always like to see how open-world titles restrict your attempts to go beyond the boundaries of their maps, and Crimson Desert has a rather nasty surprise for you if you decide to ignore its warnings to turn around. Kliff’s going to find himself a new home in a giant whale’s belly if you go too far out of Pywel’s purview. But that’s probably not necessary considering just how much the world has to offer you, right?

11. Hoods And Visors Can Be Toggled

If your outfit comes with a hood or a visor, you can pull up the armor menu and tap the prompt to either pull up your hood or open/close your visor. That’s a useful addition for you fashion-conscious Greymanes out there, and a showcase of how the developers have paid attention to as many details as they could when making this ambitious title.

12. Your Sword Is Not Just For Killing

You can use your Sword to locate Abyss Nexus and Cressets using the Blinding Flash from anywhere in the world. It’s best to get to a solid vantage point before you do that, as the blue glows that show you where they are can be easy to miss from the ground.

Aside from that, you can also use Blinding Flash for some quick cooking in a pinch. Simply drop your stuff on the ground and focus sunlight on them using your Sword, just as you would do with those pesky vines.

13. Don’t Wait For Your Horse

We spent way too long whistling for our horse and then waiting for it to saunter up to us before we mounted up. Instead, whistle and begin jogging in the direction you want to go to have your horse trot up to Kliff before he mounts it in one smooth motion. That’s a great way to start a long trek to a faraway point of interest that has caught your fancy, and it’s stylish to boot.

14. Save Money On Healing Supplies For Your Horse

Your Force Palm isn’t just a way to send your foes flying, but is also a way to heal your horse if it takes damage in a fight. Just charge up the move and give your horse a good tap. You’re going to see all its injuries vanish as if they never existed, and your coin purse is going to have more than a few extra coppers as you don’t have to buy supplies for that purpose anymore.

15. Sneak Around In Style

Aside from pickpocketing, Kliff also has some more moves that might be familiar to some popular stealth games. He can hide in haystacks, in trees, and even under carts! Moreover, you can look for dark edges on your screen to ensure that your foes can’t see you, a boon in areas where you’re trying to go unnoticed.

And that’s about it for our list of hidden mechanics and things in Crimson Desert. We hope that they’re as helpful to you as they were to us! All that remains now is to visit Pywel and try them all out for yourself!

However, the newest patch goes far above and beyond, not only addressing a number of my complaints but also creating a smoother game. Let’s jump into some of the most noteworthy, starting with one of the biggest grievances among players: Mounts.

Mount and Blade

Before release, Crimson Desert teased us with a variety of mounts, including a dire wolf, bear, and whatnot. One believed they would function a lot like the horse – find it, tame it (or steal it from an enemy), and then it’s yours to wield as you see fit. That wasn’t the case, and fans rightfully complained, but the developer has answered in short order.

Three Legendary animals (out of two dozen) that you can slay in Pywel – the White Bear, Silver Fang Wolf and Snowwhite Deer – can now become permanent mounts. Pre-patch, that would have been it, but you can take their materials to a witch and obtain sigils to summon them as mounts whenever you like. The same goes for the Rock Tusk Warthog and Icicle Edge Alpine Ibex – two mounts obtained from boss fights. You’ll even receive the materials needed for any Legendary Animals slain pre-patch via the Extra Rewards List, so all you need to do is visit the witch for crafting the sigil and voila.

Say what you will about their speed, especially compared to the horse, but there’s something about wandering through towns on a frigging bear that feeds into the ridiculous power fantasy all the more. And while all of this doesn’t address one of my biggest complaints – namely the dragon mount usage time and cooldown – it gives me hope that the developers are aware of it, and working towards a solution.

Movement Gains

I didn’t personally find any issue with mashing the sprint button like in Grand Theft Auto to get around, but providing an option to hold it down wouldn’t hurt. That’s exactly what the new update does. Instead of tapping multiple times to sprint, and then several more times continuously for an increased burst in speed, you simply hold it once to start running. Tapping it once, on foot or horseback, will grant that increased burst of speed. You still need to press the button occasionally to renew the burst, but otherwise, after holding the button to sprint, you can release it. It’s seamless and feels far better overall.

Then there’s gliding, which always felt annoying outside of the Abyss due to the stamina consumption. Lo and behold, it now requires less stamina than before, and you can now use certain equipment while airborne. The Aerial Stab bug that allowed for infinite flying has been patched, but there is a nice compromise – on top of improving the animation of the attack, each successive use consumes more stamina. You can still sort of fly around to an extent if you have the stamina. Oh, and did I mention that the stamina requirements for Aerial Maneuver and Aerial Swing have been reduced?

Reducing Friction

As nice as it is to learn all the nuances of the game’s many systems, sometimes the friction could be overbearing. This was especially the case when upgrading new loot – the amount of resources required discouraged you from trying new things, even more so when they were for Damiane and Oongka. To address this, we have Refinement Tokens. Awarded from select main and faction quests (awarded retroactively if you’ve already completed them), these can be used to upgrade equipment to Tier 4 without using any additional resources. You’ll still need to mine and whatnot for going beyond that (which has also become easier, more on that shortly). Now you can immediately try any new gear without feeling like it’s a massive drop in damage or defense, especially in the early to mid-game.

While mining can still be a drag, the Mining Knuckledrill has been changed so that it will auto-collect ores obtained from drilling. The same goes for the Demenissian Chainsaw with trees. Chests with “various materials” can also be discovered throughout Pywel, and any inventory bags obtained after maxing out your overall slots (which is 240) will now instead grant crafting resources.

UI Polishing

The developer promised improvements with its UI, and quite frankly, I’m shocked at just how many it stuffed with this update. First off, any new quests will now be clearly earmarked in your Journal, making them easier to distinguish. The Notifications menu now holds up to 2,000 of them, and displays progress on challenges and quests alongside details on rewards. Anvils and keys are helpfully indicated on the minimap, which can now have a North direction affixed to the top for better orienting oneself while exploring. Even cooking and crafting menus of the same type will be showcased as a single group rather than spread out. And no more having to constantly select “Use All” when opening pouches. It’s now the default, making it that much quicker to rip open for that sweet, sweet 50 Copper.

Visual Improvements

Another unexpected addition for those on consoles: Fixed 4K Output, which sets the game resolution to 4K, whether your monitor supports it or not. When used in Performance Mode on the base PS5, FSR is applied for upscaling. For PC players, hair, fur, and clothing, among other translucent materials, have improved rendering when FSR-RR or DLSS-RR is applied. In fact, DLSS-RR now offers improved visual quality overall, with bugs like waterfall animations suddenly stopping having been resolved. If that wasn’t enough, low-resolution environments sport improved quality and rendering stability when you’re using upscaling. This is in addition to various stability and performance improvements alongside reduced loading times when respawning or venturing between Abyss Traces.

The Little Things

Then you have all the small things that have been added based on player feedback. Remember how awkward it was to reach the storage chest in Howling Hill Camp? It’s now been moved to your tent, making it easier to access. Instead of having to constantly confirm which ingredients you want to use for a recipe, there’s a “Make Now” function for quicker cooking. All items can be stored at once; locked doors now have a button to confirm if you want to use a key to open them; and yes, those AI-generated assets that were “accidentally” left in have been replaced. When upgrading stats, you’ll actually see how much the next level increases Spirit, Health and Stamina by.

Heck, even things like bosses and enemies no longer ganging up on you immediately after reviving, double-clicking to use items, and crimes no longer reducing your Contribution in the event of no witnesses are great changes. Should these have all been present on day one? Sure, but the fact that they’re here now is a big win.

And that’s seemingly reflected in the player numbers, with the Steam concurrent peaking at 276,261 yesterday. There’s still much work to be done and grievances to resolve, but suffice to say that Crimson Desert is on the right track with these updates. Here’s to seeing how much more it can improve in the coming months.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

“Crimson Desert has sold through 4 million copies worldwide,” wrote the studio. “Thank you to all the Greymanes who have been a part of this journey with us and for all of your incredible love and support.”

Interestingly, CEO Heo Jin-young had confirmed just last week that Crimson Desert was close to hitting the 5 million copies sold milestone, and that the studio is looking to “quickly share the news” when it happens. “Next, we aim to quickly share news of reaching 5 million copies sold with our shareholders, and all employees will work hard to achieve the best possible results by the end of the year,” he said.

Jin-young went on to note that Pearl Abyss has also begun investigating a potential Nintendo Switch 2 port of Crimson Desert. However, this might be a challenge, since “Compared to other consoles, the Switch still has lower specifications, so there are things we would have to give up.” However, the studio has “begun R&D with interest.”

Since its release last month, Pearl Abyss has continued to support Crimson Desert with a host of post-launch updates addressing many of the biggest criticisms that players have leveled against the title.

One of the more recent updates, for example, aimed at players complaining about the lack of mount variety in the game, brought in five permanent mounts. Along with this, the update also brought in other fixes, like reduced stamina costs for flying. The five new mounts include three legendary animals: White Bear, Silver Fang, and Snowwhite Deer, along with two boss mounts – Rock Tusk Warthog and Icicle Edge Alpine Ibex.

Another early patch for the game gave players access to a private storage chest, allowing them easier ways to manage their inventories. The update also brought in more fast travel points throughout the world of Pywel, making traveling around the world much simpler.

These updates have had a positive impact on the game, with the release of the last one pushing Crimson Desert‘s concurrent player record on Steam to over 270,000 over the weekend.

However, there are some problems with Crimson Desert that can’t simply be fixed with an update. Among these is the lacklustre story, which Jin-young has acknowledged, “to an extent.” In a Q&A session, he spoke about the “lacking” main story of the game and took responsibility for the fact that it wasn’t improved over the course of development.

“The disappointment regarding the lack of story is something the development team feels just as strongly as the users do. The fact that we could not improve it is due to our shortcomings,” he said, before going on to note that the studio instead “focused on strengthening the gameplay aspects that we are good at, and we hope to better complement this part in our next project.”

Crimson Desert is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review for more.

“Crimson Desert is fun to play, but it is such a cynical amalgamation of borrowed mechanics. It is Now That’s What I Call Gaming plucked off a gas station shelf, for better & worse. Expect a lot more of this in premium and free-to-play. There is less risk in it.”

However, he followed by asking, “Is it more cynical than any other big AAA open world game that borrows from its own past? Probably not. At least it’s adding spice to the stew, rather than removing it.” Douse also thought it would be “sick” if Crimson Desert had a similar moment as Dragon’s Dogma when it received the Dark Arisen expansion, since its “momentum points toward it.”

Granted, it’s easy to get offended by the word “cynical” or call out Larian for its ample number of inspirations over the years. However, when you look at upcoming titles like Ananta, which is a free-to-play action RPG that also crams so many elements from Marvel’s Spider-Man, Sleeping Dogs, and whatnot, there is some merit to what Douse is saying. And besides, as noted at the start, he is having fun with it.

Regardless of which side you’re on (I’m something of a Now That’s What I Call Music enjoyer myself), Crimson Desert is a success, and the response has only improved since its latest patch. Between the five new permanent mounts, removal of AI-generated assets, improved performance and much more. Check out all the major details here. You can also learn more about Alec Newman’s struggles with voicing Kliff and how the story changed significantly over the years.