Crimson Desert Actor Pushed for Kliff’s Backstory, Says Recording Began “In Earnest” Two Years In

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While many players enjoy Crimson Desert, and each update seems to improve its popularity, the story is generally considered a weak point – even the CEO of Pearl Abyss admits it. Actor Alec Newman, who voices the character Kliff, recently shared details about the game’s difficult and ever-changing development process.

According to an interview with the Friends Per Second Podcast (as reported by This Week in Video Games), Newman initially believed the project was just a demonstration for the first year and a half. He was surprised when the team announced they were finally starting to record properly, questioning why they were only just beginning after working on it for so long. Newman dedicated five years to the project, which he described as having phases of both quiet and very intense work.

Initially, even after recording began, we focused on reading descriptions of characters from the different groups within Pywel. As the project evolved, the direction shifted somewhat. We started by simply recording details like ‘this character is from this group, and that character is from that group,’ but I kept asking what the actual story or events were.

After about two and a half years of development, Newman says Pearl Abyss became very focused on making the Greymane family story feel meaningful. He believes this theme of family and reconciliation was the central focus of the game, especially at the beginning. While he doesn’t want to say the developers became worried, they strongly emphasized wanting Kliff to show genuine care for his companions. Newman pointed out that this emotional depth was possible, but hadn’t been included in the script.

We introduced humor slowly and whenever possible, trying to highlight any lighthearted moments. Honestly, though, opportunities for that were limited. Ultimately, I wanted a main character who wasn’t emotionally reserved. It’s incredibly difficult to spend 150 hours playing a game with someone who never shows any emotion or vulnerability.

Even though Newman and the other actors worked hard, the characters, particularly Kliff, aren’t very well developed. That said, you can appreciate the effort put in, especially considering how long the project took.

The gameplay in Crimson Desert is steadily improving with the latest update. It includes additions like five permanent mounts, a change to how sprinting works (now requiring a held button), and reduced stamina usage when gliding. You can find a full list of changes here. While there’s still work to be done – I’m still hoping they remove the cooldowns on the dragon mount – Pearl Abyss is doing a good job of listening to player feedback, even as the development team shifts focus to DokeV.

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2026-03-30 22:41