No matter how long you’ve known about it, everyone agrees that Crimson Desert is a huge game. The developers at Pearl Abyss say the world of Pywel is larger than the map in Red Dead Redemption 2, and more than twice the size of the open world in Skyrim.
As a gamer, I’m always hearing about how long a game is – how many hours you’ll get out of it. I was reading an interview with marketing expert Will Powers (reported by Destin Legarie over at WCCF Tech), and while he didn’t give a specific number of hours, he really helped put into perspective just how huge the game actually is.
He politely explained he didn’t like the question about how long it takes to finish the game. He understood why people asked, but pointed out that everyone plays differently. Some rush through the story right away, making it hard to give a single answer. He worried that giving a high time estimate might discourage parents who don’t have a lot of free time from letting their children play.
It’s tricky to say exactly how long the game takes, as players with busy schedules might want it to be shorter, while others would prefer more content. I’ve deliberately avoided giving a specific number because it always feels like an unsatisfying answer. What I can tell you is that there’s a lot to do! One of the best things about it is how adaptable it is – you can play for a few minutes or several hours, depending on how much time you have. Even small tasks feel rewarding and contribute to a constant sense of progress.
I spent an entire week – 50 hours, to be exact – playing the game, and I mostly explored optional activities. I wasn’t focused on the main storyline at all. Instead, I spent my time gathering resources, improving my gear, and just experimenting with how things worked. The game has a fixed difficulty, but you can overcome tough spots simply by playing a lot and leveling up – and that’s by design.
Our goal is to make sure players don’t feel stuck and forced to drastically improve just to continue. We want players to be able to overcome challenges through effort and time, but also allow highly skilled players to progress quickly. The game shouldn’t block you simply because you haven’t mastered a particular skill or system.
It’s hard to say exactly how long open-world games take to complete because most players don’t just follow the main story. The main storyline is actually a relatively small part of everything the game offers. I found the game really opened up after finishing the main story – I realized I’d only begun to explore some of the different groups and their quests. And that’s saying something, given how many different groups there are in the game!
As someone working on the game, I knew how much content there was, but even after completing the story, I discovered I’d missed whole sections – I was too focused on following the main storyline. There’s a ton to go back and explore, with lots of ways to customize your experience and systems that really draw you in. The developers intentionally built an open world to reward curiosity and exploration, and they’re really good at creating immersive worlds players can lose themselves in for hours and hours.
It’s not shocking to learn Pywel has a lot of extra content beyond the main story, but the fact that the main story is actually quite short – making up only a small part of the game – is surprising. Players will be eager to find out how many different weapons and items are hidden throughout the world, what secret bosses they can battle, and if there are any mounts even more impressive than the dwarven mech and dragon we’ve already seen.
Don’t forget that you can play as three different characters, each with their own abilities and weapons, not just Kliff. No matter how long you play, I still believe Crimson Desert has one of the best game worlds I’ve ever seen, and I’m excited to see what comes next.
Good news! The game comes out on March 19th for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. While we don’t yet know all the graphics settings for consoles, it will support the upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro.
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2026-02-02 17:12