Crimson Desert Is Better Than Before, Yet These 15 Issues Still Hurt It

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Currently, Crimson Desert has a “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam, with 71% of players enjoying it. While there’s a lot to like – even with some issues like the story and the main character, Kliff – the game still needs work. Here are 15 areas that need improvement, starting with the biggest reason players asked for refunds…

Controller Remapping

It’s particularly noticeable on consoles that the game demands a lot from your hands due to the many functions and attack commands – and it can be tiring. The developers are aware of this and are working on a fix, but they should also consider offering more customizable control schemes in addition to letting players fully remap the controls. Thankfully, the latest patch is a positive move, adding keyboard and mouse shortcuts to access menus. Being able to open your inventory with a single press of the ‘I’ key feels like a significant improvement.

Colliding Actions

Have you ever accidentally jumped instead of opening a treasure chest? Or failed to call your horse because the button prompt was unclear? Maybe you tried to grapple, but ended up hanging from a ledge or sitting down instead? If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone! It would be really helpful to have a dedicated button for interacting with objects, or at least simplify what the interact button does in different situations.

Mask Off

It’s logical to wear a mask when stealing where people might see you – it helps avoid witnesses and prevents accurate identification. But it seems odd to need a mask when there’s no one around. Also, taking items from an abandoned bandit camp shouldn’t really be considered stealing. The game needs to adjust what it defines as something you can actually steal.

UI Overhaul

The recent update includes some welcome UI improvements, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. For example, it would be much smoother if Kliff could simply look at letters and documents in his inventory—triggering the ‘Learning’ animation—instead of having to physically pull them out and then hold a button to read them. Navigating the inventory feels unnecessarily complicated, and the inconsistent item slotting—some items get dedicated space, others don’t—adds to the frustration. On a positive note, food now automatically goes to quick slots, which is a nice quality-of-life improvement.

More Camera Options and Improved Lock-On

While the game offers four different camera angles, one isn’t very useful – it’s only good for looking at things up close. Adding even more camera options would be nice, but the biggest improvement needed is the lock-on system. It’s strange that it often locks onto regular enemies instead of the boss, and the hard lock-on isn’t fast enough to keep up when the boss moves quickly. It would also be great if objects in the environment didn’t block the view during boss fights.

Skipping Cutscenes

There was a lot of discussion before the game launched about the ability to fast-forward cutscenes, with many questioning why anyone would want to do that in a role-playing game. It quickly became clear that players wanted to skip cutscenes they’d already seen, especially after repeatedly fighting the same boss. A recent update improved the fast-forward feature, but now it’s time to add a button to skip cutscenes entirely.

Objective Distance in the Journal

Many games, including Cyberpunk 2077, do a great job of showing how far away missions are right in the game interface. Crimson Desert really needs this feature. It’s frustrating to start a mission, then find out it’s all the way across the map, forcing you to open your journal and pick a closer one instead.

Press/Hold Toggles for Controls

I really like the look of my DualSense controller, especially the unique metallic grey color. However, I find some of the gameplay controls frustrating. It’s annoying to constantly rotate the right stick for high jumps or repeatedly press a button to speed up actions like using special abilities or interacting with objects. It would be great if we could just hold the sprint button to gradually increase speed, similar to how stamina currently works. Also, simplifying those quick-time events so you don’t get overwhelmed by enemies would be a huge improvement, even though the game’s difficulty has already been adjusted twice.

Better HUD Scaling and Readability Options

The game’s user interface needs significant improvements to accessibility. Currently, players can only make the on-screen elements smaller, not larger, which is a strange limitation. To make the game easier to read and use, it also needs better contrast settings and the ability to adjust text size, especially given how much information is displayed at once.

Fast Travel Woes

At first, I didn’t mind the mysterious question marks – they encouraged exploration and often led to useful fast travel points called Abyss Nexuses. However, some of them also lead to Abyss Cressets, which are puzzles you have to solve before you can fast travel. This was frustrating if there wasn’t a Nexus nearby, though a recent update added more of those. It’s also annoying that you can’t fast travel while on a mount or falling. It would be great if they removed those restrictions, or at least made Kliff automatically dismount when you try to fast travel on horseback.

Mount Permanence

Before its release, Crimson Desert showed off various mounts like dire wolves, raptors, and bears. However, not all of these are mounts you can keep permanently. You can temporarily ride certain creatures after defeating them, but they aren’t registered as usable mounts like horses. While this might be acceptable for a few specific creatures, the fact that it applies to so many feels misleading.

Dragon Cooldown

The game also features a dragon mount called Blackstar, earned through the story. It’s a satisfying reward after spending so much time on horseback… but the feeling doesn’t last. Blackstar has a limited 15-minute ride time and a long 50-minute cooldown. Annoyingly, you can’t speed up the cooldown by resting, unlike most other game mechanics. Hopefully, this limitation won’t break the main story, where the dragon feels underpowered and forces you to replay sections – but unfortunately, it does. It’s strange to see design choices from multiplayer games appearing in this single-player experience, and honestly, this system should have been removed a long time ago.

Skill Tree Improvements

I’m really loving how the game lets you learn whatever skills you want, without having to worry about things like stamina! It’s awesome. But it’s a little frustrating when you unlock something like the High Jump, and then realize you need a certain stamina level to actually use it. A warning about that would be super helpful, or even temporarily locking the skill until you’re strong enough. And honestly, navigating the skill tree could be a bit smoother – it’s a little clunky to move around.

Boss Invincibility Windows

I’ve seen the changes – enemies and bosses now have less health and deal less damage, and blocking uses less stamina. They also tweaked Kearush the Slayer, which is great. But what about those moments when you dodge perfectly, find an opening, and then your attack doesn’t register because the boss is invincible during their ultimate move? It’s frustrating! If bosses need to be invincible at some point, could that invincibility be limited to the actual attack animation, instead of including the beginning or end of it?

Artifacts for Damiane and Oongka

I still find it frustrating that Damiane and Oongka need their own special items, called Abyss Artifacts, to improve their abilities. It’s annoying because you’re already using these Artifacts to upgrade your gear and to keep Kliff strong – and Kliff is essential for much of the game, so you can’t ignore him. Ideally, Damiane and Oongka should start with a few free Artifacts – maybe around ten – when you unlock them. That way, players who want to use them have more options and aren’t forced to spend everything on Kliff or other things.

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2026-03-24 17:14