Crimson Desert – 15 New Details That Have Us Excited

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With the release of Crimson Desert potentially just around the corner – maybe within two weeks – the anticipation is really starting to build. Fortunately, recent previews have given us a lot of new details to explore. Several publications and content creators have now played the first five hours of the game, and the amount of information they’ve shared, combined with what the developers have already shown, is impressive. Let’s take a closer look, starting with…

Gifts and Gaining NPC Trust

While helping Kliff liberate areas offers rewards, building relationships with NPCs through simple interactions like greetings and gifts is also important. The game lets you greet many different characters, gradually earning their Trust. Giving gifts also boosts Trust, and having a high level of Trust with someone can lead to discounts at shops and potentially unlock new quests.

The Skill Tree

Skills are central to combat in Crimson Desert, and the game has a deep system to explore. Kliff’s skill tree is built around three main areas – Health (Red), Stamina (Blue), and Spirit (Green) – but these aren’t simple stat boosts. For instance, improving Stamina unlocks new unarmed combat moves, like combos and even a headscissors takedown. Boosting Spirit can grant abilities like parrying, precise dodging, and the ability to counterattack before an enemy strikes. The Health section lets you add elemental damage to your charged arrows. There’s a lot to unlock and master in the skill system.

Where in the World (of Skills)

While improving your skills is key, paying attention to enemies and how they fight is just as important. If you’re looking for a particular skill and haven’t found the right items to unlock it, you can find skill locations on the map’s Skills tab. Be warned, though – you won’t know exactly what you’ll find until you get there! This is another great reason to explore the world of Pywel.

Soft and Hard Target Lock Options

You can attack however you like in Crimson Desert, but the game offers two targeting options. Holding the L1 button enables a soft lock-on, which automatically targets the nearest enemy – perfect for dealing with groups that move around a lot. If you press down on the D-pad, you’ll lock onto a single enemy, focusing all your attacks on them. This system strikes a good balance, letting you handle multiple enemies easily while still giving you the option to focus on a single, powerful opponent like a boss.

Cooking, Recipes and Experimentation

Cooking is a fantastic way to regain health and energy. You can find ingredients by hunting, gathering plants at your camp, buying them, or simply finding them in the world. Don’t worry about following recipes perfectly – feel free to experiment and see what delicious (and hopefully edible!) creations you can come up with.

Crimes and Punishments

I’m really enjoying the way this game lets me be a bit of a rogue, even though my character, Kliff, is generally a good guy! You can get away with things like stealing or intimidating people, which is cool. The best part is, you don’t always get caught right away – you can actually slip away from the scene and ditch witnesses. But mess up, and suddenly there’s a price on your head! If you ignore it for too long and the bounty gets too high, the guards will start actively hunting you, and they’ll automatically take the bounty amount if they catch you and throw you in jail. And to top it off, some of the bigger crimes actually force you to go full outlaw, like in Red Dead Redemption 2, and you have to wear a mask to avoid getting recognized!

Animal Husbandry

Cooking and dealing with outlaws naturally lead into another interesting aspect of the game: raising animals. As FightinCowboy pointed out, you’ll be able to steal livestock and bring it back to your camp, where you can breed, sell, or slaughter them. This raises the exciting possibility of even taming and selling horses for profit. It’s just one more of the many features the game has to offer.

Precise Jumping

Kliff has a lot of ways to move around – he can use a grappling hook, glide, and even use a Force Palm-like ability to push off surfaces. But for tricky platforming sections, especially in the Abyss, you can now aim precisely where you want to jump. Just hold L1 to aim, then press Square. You can still jump normally with Square, but this new aiming option is helpful if you prefer a more controlled approach.

Digging for Treasure

Want to try your luck finding hidden treasures? Grab a shovel and start digging! Like with axes and pickaxes, you can now dig in the game. Will you find something interesting everywhere you dig? It’s hard to know, but that’s part of the fun!

Ghost of Pywel

Pywel is full of opportunities, so it’s no surprise there are also bounties available! You’ll discover wanted posters scattered around, each showing a target’s picture, their crimes, and what you need to do to collect the reward. The poster gives you a general location, but you’ll have to search to find the target’s exact hiding place – a great reason to explore everything the world has to offer.

Supports Upgraded PSSR

Okay, so if you’ve got a PS5 Pro, I’ve got some awesome news about Crimson Desert! It’s going to take full advantage of the new PSSR tech, which basically means the graphics are going to look even better. They’ve confirmed it can run at 4K with ray tracing turned on, which is huge. We’re still waiting to hear exactly how it’ll perform – what the frame rates and resolutions will be – on the regular PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, but so far it’s looking really promising!

Ray Tracing Feats

Digital Foundry recently published a detailed analysis of the game’s ray tracing, using impressive 4K footage from the developers. The results are stunning – ray tracing beautifully simulates how light bounces around, affecting everything from sunlight to torches. Considering the realistic reflections, particle effects, and how far you can see in the game, it’s already shaping up to be one of the best-looking games in years.

Gorgeous Water Physics

One of the game’s most impressive, yet overlooked, features is how realistic the water looks. Digital Foundry notes it appears to use a sophisticated 3D system, giving the water a natural way of interacting with the environment. The way it splashes and flows is truly captivating.

And Then the Darkness

Okay, so everyone playing the early versions is saying the darkness is really dark – like, you genuinely can’t see anything at night or in caves without a light source. It makes exploring way more intense because you’re never quite sure what’s around the corner. And when it’s raining and lightning strikes? Forget about it – super tense, because you only get these quick flashes to see where you are!

Action-Adventure or RPG?

There’s been discussion about whether Crimson Desert is a role-playing game or an action-adventure game. Will Powers, the game’s marketing director, explained that while they already have an RPG with the features players expect, Crimson Desert is best described as an “open-world action-adventure” game. He stated this genre accurately reflects the game’s focus on combat, exploration, and storytelling, and everything shown so far supports that. Players will still have a lot of freedom in how they experience the game.

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2026-03-12 23:13