Crimson Desert – 15 Essential Details You Shouldn’t Ignore

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After six years of anticipation, Crimson Desert is almost here! The game launches on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC in just a few days. We’re finally going to be able to explore the world of Pywel, battle enemies, and experience everything the game has to offer. And just before release, the developers shared even more details, including the performance details for consoles. Let’s jump right into the most exciting news…

Jetpacks

Okay, so Crimson Desert is really stepping up its game! They already announced dragon riding and mech piloting, but get this – they’re adding jetpacks! Seriously, I saw it in the new trailer, and I can’t wait to zoom around the world. I’m wondering if using the jetpack will drain stamina like gliding does, or if it’ll be better in some ways. Either way, I’m already planning my Rocketeer cosplay – this is seriously awesome!

Villains Tease

We’ve gotten a good look at the gameplay – the open world, fighting, character progression, and so on – but the developers haven’t revealed much about the story. We know Kliff is trying to reunite the Greymanes after they’re attacked by the Black Bears, but there’s more to it than that. The trailer hints at multiple villains, with a mysterious figure telling Kliff he’s “finally here,” and another enemy acknowledging the Greymanes’ resilience before attacking. It appears Kliff’s quest is about more than just revenge; someone may be orchestrating events from behind the scenes.

Multiple New Bosses

Beyond the stats, the game showcased several new bosses. These include a huge mechanical stag, a massive, surprisingly agile rock creature – much more mobile than the Queen Stoneback Crab from 2024 – a powerful brute who can jump incredibly high, and a giant mechanical warrior reminiscent of the Shadow of the Colossus game. The electric serpent also returns, watching Kliff as he flies by.

New Weapons

Kliff has a huge range of weapons, from spears and swords to hammers—and even a Japanese war fan that expands to create tornadoes! He can also use a large katana to deal fire damage, and while wearing full armor, he can create a ground tremor to knock enemies down. It looks like we’ve only seen a small part of what these weapons are capable of.

Trains

While Crimson Desert likely doesn’t intend to be compared to Grand Theft Auto, especially with GTA 6 coming out soon, the similarities are hard to ignore. Like GTA, the game features trains that the player can even grapple onto – reminiscent of Carl “CJ” Johnson’s actions. This could be a fun way to quickly explore the world and find interesting locations, and it definitely leaves open the possibility of exciting train heist missions.

More Abyss Puzzles

The Abyss is still a big mystery, and we’ll need to explore the story to understand its role. But it looks like it contains some of the game’s most interesting puzzles. For example, Kliff can use his grapple to control laser gates, as shown in the launch trailer. We also see him gliding through rings and falling past a huge floating structure, suggesting there will be plenty of opportunities for vertical gameplay and varied challenges.

Dungeons (and Traps)

We haven’t gotten many details about dungeons yet, but the launch trailer showed glimpses of two. One appears to be filled with large, swinging sawblades, while another has Kliff using a zipline to avoid spikes rising from the floor. These could be just a couple of the dangers hidden within, and there are likely many more traps waiting to be discovered.

Fast-Forwarding Through Cutscenes

During recent test versions of the game, a few features weren’t noticed, but one caused some frustration: the option to speed up cutscenes. It doesn’t let you skip them entirely, but it does play them faster, which some players appreciated as a way to get back to the gameplay. However, this feature also received criticism, with many questioning why anyone would want to rush through the story and dialogue in a role-playing game.

Drill Dozer

Kliff is a powerful fighter, but he also enjoys relaxing activities like walking on the beach, farming, and mining. Luckily, players won’t be limited to just a pickaxe for gathering resources – previews show a drillarm tool will be available as a boss reward. It’s still unknown how much faster the drillarm will be, but it’s a welcome addition to the game.

Mount Skills

Besides character armor, you can also equip your mount, like a horse, with gear to boost its defense. Your mount can also gain levels and learn new abilities. For instance, a horse can drift at level 3 and kick enemies behind it. Reaching level 4 lets it move even faster when you continuously sprint, and at level 5, it can swim more quickly. Since the game features various horse breeds, each one will likely have its own special skills.

PC Requirements

The official PC requirements are out, and they’re not too demanding overall. You’ll need a good amount of storage – around 150 GB on an SSD is recommended. Beyond that, 16 GB of RAM is the minimum and what most players should aim for.

For the lowest settings, you can play in upscaled 1080p at 30 FPS with an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X or Intel Core i5-8500 paired with a Radeon RX 5500 XT or Nvidia GeForce GTX. To achieve native 1080p at 30 FPS on low settings, you’ll need the same processors but with an RTX 6500 XT or GTX 1660. The recommended medium settings allow for 1080p gaming at 60 FPS, or 4K at 30 FPS, and require a Ryzen 5 5600 or Core i5-11600K, along with an RX 6700 XT or RTX 2080.

Okay, so I’ve been testing this game, and here’s what I’ve found for getting good performance. If you want to play on High settings at 1440p with a smooth 60 frames per second, you’re looking at needing at least a Ryzen 5 7600X or an Intel Core i5-12600K, paired with either an RX 7700 XT or an RTX 4070. But if you really want to max it out – Ultra settings at 4K and 60 FPS – you’ll need to step up to a Ryzen 7 7700X or a Core i5-13600K, and a powerful graphics card like an RX 9070 Ti or RTX 5070 Ti. Honestly, it’s pretty impressive that these specs don’t even mention needing an upscaling technology to hit those targets!

Frame Gen Support

Players looking to boost performance can use AMD FSR 3 and 4, or Nvidia DLSS 4 and 4.5. If you want to enhance the game’s ray tracing even more, both FSR Ray Regeneration and DLSS Ray Reconstruction are available to sharpen reflections and lighting effects.

Console Specifications

Here’s a breakdown of how the game will perform on consoles. Both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X offer three graphics modes: Performance, Balanced, and Quality. Performance mode targets 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second (FPS) with Vsync, and can exceed 60 FPS if your monitor supports Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). Quality mode aims for 4K resolution (upscaled from 1440p) at 30 FPS with Vsync. Balanced mode delivers 40 FPS with Vsync on 120 or 240 Hz monitors, using an upscaled 4K resolution from 1280p. Ray tracing is enabled in all three modes, but at lower settings for Performance and Balanced, and higher settings for Quality. On Xbox Series S, you can choose between 720p resolution at 40 FPS with Vsync, or 1080p resolution at 30 FPS with Vsync – ray tracing is not available on the Series S.

PS5 Pro Modes

For console players, Crimson Desert seems to be the clear choice for performance. It offers an upscaled 4K resolution (using a technology called PSSR) at 60 frames per second with Vsync, and includes high-quality ray tracing in Performance Mode (with VRR support for even smoother gameplay above 60 FPS). Players can also choose Quality Mode for native 4K resolution at 30 FPS with the highest ray tracing settings, or Balance Mode for upscaled 4K from 1440p, high ray tracing, and 40 FPS (which can reach over 48 FPS with VRR). Digital Foundry has showcased gameplay, and while the initial version used an older upscaling technology, Crimson Desert will be updated to the latest version for improved visuals. Overall, the game has received positive feedback for its graphics, and Performance Mode does a good job maintaining a stable 60 FPS.

Denuvo

Despite all the excitement surrounding the game, a potential problem has emerged: the inclusion of DRM. Crimson Desert will use Denuvo Anti-tamper technology, which is known to sometimes cause performance problems. The developers have stated to Forbes that the performance shown in released videos and specs is accurate, as it uses the same Denuvo implementation as the final game. They also emphasized that reviews and benchmarks should reflect the experience players will have at launch. While we’ll have to wait for the game to release to be certain, this is a somewhat reassuring sign.

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2026-03-17 21:16