Crimson Desert was always a tricky title to tackle, with even its release build hiding a frankly overwhelming amount of depth to the experience, flaws and all. I’ve been chipping away at Pywel while drifting into other titles, either professionally or personally, and I’ve been right there alongside all you Greymanes as we marvelled at how each update changed the game for the better.
I beat the final boss of the game’s story, with most of the map complete, after a 200-hour playthrough that’s taken nearly two months. But I’m going to be restarting the game, making the choice to experience it all again in a sort of New Game Plus where I may not have all my gear and skills, but come armed with the knowledge I need to bend Pywel to my will.
Why would I do that, though? It all comes down to the game’s combat, exploration, and economy, and the way they’ve changed since I first picked up the game, and how I’ve learned to use them in a way that makes sense to me. Let’s dive right in!
Fighting The Good Fight
I chuckle to myself when I think about how I was tapping my light attack button to get combos going in a fight when I first started out as Kliff. That was quickly corrected thanks to the Greymane community at large, and a few helpful showcases of the best Abyss Gears let me come to grips with how devastating late-game builds could be.
That’s especially true when you compare them to the humble beginnings of what you can achieve in the early game, and it’s not just about raw power. It’s about how you get to tailor builds to bring so many options to the battlefield, allowing you to control the fight against massive crowds and deadly bosses without breaking a sweat.
My dual blades now tear through enemies, my parries raise a small earthquake to knock them off balance, while my gloves bring down orbs of ice to impede their counterattacks. My armor confers a host of other attacks depending on which move I’m using, while my helm fires off laser bullets that shred posture bars. Of course, I’ve also got a couple of helpful bots that hang out in my Kuku pack that can turn the tide in case things don’t go my way.
That sounds like a lot of fun, and it is, but there’s a catch. I’m too set in my ways and have been putting off a visit to the nearest witch to switch things up. But then again, what if I reset the board entirely?
A new playthrough would make combat very interesting thanks to how the game takes you in directions you never planned on going, and can sometimes even derail you, even if you’re determined to complete a certain set of objectives. I’m pretty certain I can’t track down all the stuff I’m currently using purely based on my memory, and I think the chance to find an entirely new playstyle is something that’s pretty appealing, and a detail that often gets overlooked when New Game Plus lets you retain all your hard-earned weapons, gear, and abilities.
I could try a harder difficulty, which would be another layer of challenge, experimenting more boldly thanks to a better grip on potential outcomes for each character. I’ve already thought of a build for Damiane that makes use of all the crow-related attacks I’ve found, while there’s that purely ranged build for Kliff that everyone’s been raving about. I’ve also thought of a spirit and health-stealing build for Oongka that I’m darn curious to try out.
A new playthrough would probably let me get to more of each character’s skill trees faster if I set the now re-blockade feature to its War setting and let enemies constantly battle for control of Pywel with the Greymanes’ finest fighters. The new extraction feature is definitely going to have me very entertained, as I now see a viable way to have two builds per character on hand, ready to go with some deft clicking on my weapon and armor wheels.
Lastly, having prior knowledge of skills that unlock via observation is a definite way to cheese a few free Artifacts. You could argue that all of this is possible on my current playthrough, and you’d be right.
But I would say that the rest of the game, and how I plan to play it, would justify starting from scratch. Because fighting pitched battles is only one part of life as a Greymane. There’s also the matter of peeling back Pywel’s layers and learning its secrets to consider.
Building The Greymane Legacy
Being a good Greymane is about leaving the world better than you found it, and Kliff’s unique role in that grand scheme of things is definitely going to let me see his story with a more understanding pair of eyes. But I can’t help but wonder how I could have saved so much grief for myself if I’d gone after elemental powers before I discovered that they weren’t a part of the story at around the 100-hour mark.
The same goes for important vendors, where I learned that gaining trust with them allows access to a special Supply Contract that unlocks their wares back at the corresponding store in the Greymane camp. Getting all of that done early in a playthrough is going to make the Greymane camp all the more effective as my HQ, new storage options, and everything else considered.
The new inventory management systems are another reason I want to see what a new playthrough feels like. I feel like the new storage options were shoehorned into my playthrough, given where I was when they dropped, but having them as options from the early parts of the game is going to make my approach to resource management quite different this time around.
Of course, I can’t get over the relief that Skystreakers actually work now, and a bit of research into ways to reduce cooldown times can let you use them quite frequently if you’re clever about it. I’d probably finish the story as early as I can instead of delaying it in favor of exploring the world this time around, and that’s just to gain access to the ATAG suit and Blackstar as soon as possible.
That would once again make traversal feel altogether new, and probably make exploring the world go very differently, too.
Of course, my Greymanes and the missions they can do for me are also going to be put to better use in a new playthrough. I wish I’d known about missions where they set out to bring back a free Abyss Artifact from some ruins every fourth day, along with missions that generated equally valuable resources.
The same goes for the Kuku crafting system and all the cool stuff I haven’t yet tried out from it. Using my Greymane camp as the means to generate a solid cash flow is also a great way to ensure all of the research projects from the game’s factions are completed fairly quickly, another reason to blaze through the story on a second playthrough.
Picking up supply contracts for the camp eliminates the need to visit multiple stores for items like food and upgrade materials, bringing them all together in one convenient location. If you’re still at Howling Hill, that is. I’m still not sold on the Pailune camp. Of course, I’m going to be holding on to my pouches and using them as gifts instead of a paltry income stream this time around.
It’s probably my first time seeing a game change so much that it’s not only so different from its release build, but it’s also making me change the way I play it when diving back into it. But that’s exactly where Crimson Desert delivers an experience unique enough that playing it again for hours on end sounds like a blast instead of tedious repetition.
An Adventure All Over Again
I’m not going to dwell too long on the fact that Crimson Desert can entertain me once again based on the pure unpredictability that’s baked into its very design. Pywel’s a constantly evolving place, and is now one that actively responds to your role in it. And while it may lose a part of its mystery and opaque charm, it’s still a very attractive place thanks to how it looks when the fog of ignorance is lifted.
A new playthrough is just my way of playing it the way it was always meant to be played, my first 200 hours in it a way to ensure that it remains as enjoyable to me now as it has been all these days. Crimson Desert’s a rare title where a new playthrough sounds like even more fun than a New Game Plus run.
Now all that’s left is to wait for Friday night, and to take on Myurdin and the Black Bears all over again.
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.
