Crimson Desert might just become the game of 2021 if what the trailer promises becomes reality. PearlAbyss is working hard on what could be their biggest game yet. Here’s everything that we know so far from the trailers about Crimson Desert and its world.
Theoretically, there’s unfortunately not been much info about Crimson Desert other than the trailer. Even if searching through Korean websites, the number of articles that have more to give other than the trailers, are limited.
However, there is another trailer for Crimson Desert, which is essentially the same trailer we already talked about in our last Crimson Desert article, but with the Devs giving us a little more insight into the game. And from this, we can gather several interesting facts about Crimson Desert that we've compiled for you into one article right here.
1. The Hero
The character you will be playing in Crimson Desert is called McDuff. According to Crimson Desert Devs, he is not “your typical hero” and that you will come to “appreciate his human side” that you will see “as he overcomes several hardships affecting him and his mercenaries” throughout the game. These hardships will “mature him as the story progresses”. Whatever backstory that McDuff will have, these little hints make it seem like it will once again be a tragic one - but when does a hero not have a tragic backstory?
As for his mercenaries, there was actually quite a bit revealed. We don't know how many there are - or if you maybe can recruit more. But the mercenaries will include a runaway slave, a mother that left her children, and a non-human that lost his mother. How much of their backstory we’ll be able to explore, is unclear yet.
2. The World
Crimson Desert will be an open-world game, set on a continent with various regions and climates. Mountains, rich plains, snow-ridden lands, and even the desert will be accessible to you. Night-and-Day cycles seem to be included as well. All of these areas interact with the player in one way or another (for example, rocks falling when you pass through a cave), which makes it feel a lot more alive.
The world of Crimson Desert features both human and non-human races that, according to the Devs, “co-exist” with each other. To which extent and whether there is hostility between them, we do not know. It would be nice, however, to see a world in which these races actually all get along for once.
3. Gameplay
The Devs themselves describe Crimson Desert as: “going on an adventure”, “exploring the world”, “engaging in free-for-all-combat” and “solving mysteries”, all elements that a good RPG should have. And to make it even better, they created every NPC, event, and side-quest for a reason. These quests will help you progress as a character and will help you acquire new skills and items to use in-game.
The Devs wanted to create a “unique fantasy setting” for Crimson Desert, so their reference were several myths that they reinterpreted in their own way. And even though the races in the game look like any other races that we’ve already seen in games like Skyrim, the Devs said they made the relations between the races “unique”. This would make a lot of sense when you look at the point above, about different races living and interacting together normally.
As for interesting gameplay features shown in the game: you can build bridges (which seems to be the magic aspect of the game) to go where you need to go (like from one mountain to another) or swing on a rope from one cliff to the next. Become the mother - or in this case, father - of Dragons. Because from what it looks like, you can actually ride these fantastic beasts. If it’s a matter of taming them or maybe even having them as your companions - like Geralt had Roach - is unclear yet (but as you can see on the picture above, you do actually have your own Roach).
4. Combat
Crimson Desert has a “unique combat style” that PearlAbyss specifically created for this game. Just from looking at the trailer, we can see wrestling moves integrated into the fighting. The world also seems to interact with you when fighting. Meaning, when you push someone against an unfinished building, the pillars of it can collapse.
Devs of Crimson Desert continuously mention you fighting against “monsters” in the game. Since the combat in the trailer is extremely fast, it’s hard to make out any of the enemies that McDuff is fighting. There does seem to be a mix between what looks like humans (of different factions) and monsters that the Devs have specifically created for this game from the myths that we mentioned above.
An interesting thing that was also mentioned, is that they tried to make the game as “human as possible”. Meaning, a monster very well could drop its weapon, but instead of it simply respawning, the monster could either continue fighting you with its bare hands, or try to pick up his own, or any weapon lying around to continue the fight.
McDuff is always shown on his own during the trailer, but the Devs said that you could “combine your attacks with those of your mercenaries”, so it seems as if you’ll be able to fight with more people too if that's what you prefer.
Also, forget ship combat. Dragon combat is the new way to go now. This reminds us of Century: Age of Ashes and we can’t say we’re mad about it
5. Weapons
Crimson Desert will let you explore several types of weapons and you’ll be able to pick which you feel most comfortable playing with. Sword and Shield are definitely an option, but you can also see McDuff fight with a sword only, so maybe a Two-Handed Sword option as well?
Additionally, bow and arrow are always on his back, so those archer-players of you will not be disappointed either.
And since Crimson Desert does indeed have magic, the sword that McDuff carries can often be seen with lightning around it. Now that could be a simple enchantment, but with the other scenes in the trailer that hint at magical involvement, it’s also very likely that McDuff can indeed use magical weapons and magic attacks in Crimson Desert too.
6. The Graphics
This one is obvious by just watching the trailer. The game looks stunning and isn’t even fully finished yet. Doesn’t matter if it’s fighting effects or landscapes in the distance, everything looks sharp and clean and it makes you hope that you get that new PlayStation in time to play Crimson Desert on there.
Even when flying with the dragon while being attacked by fireballs and who knows what, the graphics still look fantastic.
Obviously, as Cyberpunk 2077 has shown us, we should not put too much emphasis on what we see in the trailer, but... we can't help it.
The Devs of Crimson Desert said that it was important for them to let you “experience the game in your own way”. That screams CHOICES, PEOPLE!
They themselves said that they wanted to show a lot more, had a lot more footage, actually, but simply couldn’t fit everything they wanted to into the trailer. So we can expect more to come for Crimson Desert in the upcoming months, especially because they said they’re actually preparing to show us more content!
We’ll update you as soon as there is something to tell, so if you don't want to miss out on Crimson Desert content, stick around on EarlyGame. We'll follow the development of this closely!