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Crimson Desert Has Gone Gold | Releases March 19, 2026

I'm honestly surprised to see it getting released. It SOUNDS like my perfect kind of game. However, what is it really about? It's been so many videos of random things to do but no real lore... Unless I've missed something
 
Fbh said:
Looks promising, but it's one of those games where I'll definitely wait for reviews and online impressions.
Also have they ever showed the console version?
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The one video that was posted yesterday on YouTube shows Playstation button prompts. Unless it's PC it's the the base PS5 footage. Hard to say but I did notice a ton of frame drops in one of the normal fight scenes. Was jarring to say the least.

I did mention earlier about the Pro Enhanced tag that's for this game so I think it will run better on there for Consoles.
 
It looks good, but also a bit over the top, even though it's fantasy. I would have preferred it to be more... grounded?

I hope the story is good and it's not just one fetch quest after the other with loads of padding. Let's see.
 
GymWolf said:
Hopefully it's not gonna have nothing in common with shitma 2.
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blaspheme_blues_brothers.gif

Dragon's Dogma 1 and 2 both have superb gameplay that R* could only ever dream of delivering. Are they flawed? Yes.. But Itsuno is a gameplay Grandmaster.

Crimson Desert will most certainly have better gameplay than any R* game too, no question.
 
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Still not sure what to make of it, looks like all those project something tech demos that usually don't get released. Something just feels off about it, but we'll know soon enough.
 
Team Skoda said:
blaspheme_blues_brothers.gif

Dragon's Dogma 1 and 2 both have superb gameplay that R* could only ever dream of delivering. Are they flawed? Yes.. But Itsuno is a gameplay Grandmaster.

Crimson Desert will most certainly have better gameplay than any R* game too, no question.
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Lmao literally everyone does melee combat better than rockstar, it is the lowest bar humanly possible.
 
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Ill likely fall to the hype once this gets a bit closer. Im skeptical of Pearl abyss and its storytelling. Black Desert was a skip-a-thon for story.
 
Fbh said:
Looks promising, but it's one of those games where I'll definitely wait for reviews and online impressions.
Also have they ever showed the console version?
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They showed ps5pro footage for the release date trailer, but other than that, not yet. I'm sure we'll get some kind of showcase in February when the review codes get sent out.
 
Gonzito said:
You can say whatever you want about Dragons Dogma 2 but the combat and character animation was absolutely fantastic
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Dogma 2 is a great game and I'm sick of pretending it isn't bc some internet personalities turned on it. It had bad performance at launch and was clearly released early, but it's still a great game. Combat/exploration/world design all great imo.
 
Disciple of MSSP said:
I'm honestly surprised to see it getting released. It SOUNDS like my perfect kind of game. However, what is it really about? It's been so many videos of random things to do but no real lore... Unless I've missed something
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These mofos have been showing nothing but boss fights for a year and a half. Weird.
 
saintjules said:
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Man, I REALLY want to believe® but...I get the feeling that this will be the Asian equivalent of an Ubislop Assassin's Creed open world game with 17489392728900 points of interest/shiny thing collecting/copy pasted dungeons than something like The Witcher 3 + Dragon's Dogma.

Story will be most assuredly shite (It's an Asian game after all) but I hope that at the very least, the combat will be good and meaty and that the 15373173 different systems they implemented are not there purely for show (and also that they're not convoluted).

I've fallen out of love with open world games for years now (last one was RDR2) and this...looks like your typical busy work open world fantasy RPG.

Hope I'm wrong but I'm not exactly holding my breath...
 
Giallo Corsa said:
Man, I REALLY want to believe® but...I get the feeling that this will be the Asian equivalent of an Ubislop Assassin's Creed open world game with 17489392728900 points of interest/shiny thing collecting/copy pasted dungeons than something like The Witcher 3 + Dragon's Dogma.

Story will be most assuredly shite (It's an Asian game after all) but I hope that at the very least, the combat will be good and meaty and that the 15373173 different systems they implemented are not there purely for show (and also that they're not convoluted).

I've fallen out of love with open world games for years now (last one was RDR2) and this...looks like your typical busy work open world fantasy RPG.

Hope I'm wrong but I'm not exactly holding my breath...
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Chuck Berry said:
All this is on PC? Ok, fingers crossed. It looks like a dream game for me personally. Like the kind of game where time melts away and I call out of work to continue my session.
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JTibvD3wAcM6xBjJ.gif
 
Chuck Berry said:
All this is on PC? Ok, fingers crossed. It looks like a dream game for me personally. Like the kind of game where time melts away and I call out of work to continue my session.
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Yeah, I've only seen Playstation face buttons on the commands like this new video has it. But footage is on PC.
 
I can't figure out the game at all. Some things look really cool, like flying and fighting, but then I see the generic world and the buildings. I really need reviews before I make a decision.
 
Chuck Berry said:
All this is on PC? Ok, fingers crossed. It looks like a dream game for me personally. Like the kind of game where time melts away and I call out of work to continue my session.
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They said the game run at 4k60 on mid tier gpus.

What they consider mid tiers gpus is a mistery tho, isn't the ps5 between a 2060 super and a 3060 or something unless my memory went to shit...
 
GymWolf said:
They said the game run at 4k60 on mid tier gpus.

What they consider mid tiers gpus is a mistery tho, isn't the ps5 between a 2060 super and a 3060 or something unless my memory went to shit...
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No idea. You guys know that stuff way better than I do. At least I thought you did :messenger_grinning_smiling:
 
Re-confirming in a recent interview that there's PS5 Pro Enhancement. Would not go into specifics on graphics settings. I guess since they are still in optimizing, they can't comment on the final build's performance.

Also for those wondering, you can turn off the particle effects in settings. That sounded like a big deal breaker for people.

www.ign.com

After Going Gold, Crimson Desert Developer Deep in Optimization Phase 'To Make the Game Run as Good as It Possibly Can' Before Launch - IGN

If you’ve seen Crimson Desert’s impressive 15-minute gameplay video, you might be wincing at the thought of it running smoothly on your console or PC. Well, right now, the developers at Pearl Abyss are focusing on optimization to help ensure a “smooth” experience when the game comes out in March.
www.ign.com www.ign.com

"We have gone gold. Now comes further, further optimization to make the game run as good as it possibly can," Powers said. "And that's as important of a part. So that's the phase we're currently in between now and launch to make sure that the experience when players eventually get their hands on the game, is as smooth as possible."

Powers wouldn't go into specifics on the graphics settings that will be available on consoles, t.but did confirm Crimson Desert has PS5 Pro enhancement. You can also turn off the particle effects in settings, although Powers said they do convey important information during fights.
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Pearl Abyss built a new engine for Crimson Desert, and Powers explained that it's capable of providing a 4K60 native presentation, complete with ray tracing, without the aid of graphics technology such as DLSS or FSR. But of course you'll need powerful hardware to enable it.

"Yeah, we'll show 4K 60 native, sure, with ray tracing on, that's not done through DLSS or FSR, that's done natively in-engine," Powers said. "And then if you want to further optimize then you can tweak all the settings and do all the things, but we want to show that you don't have to… like the game itself should be able to stand on its own."
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And on that decision to go with a proprietary engine:

"I'm not going to say that the game is absolutely perfectly optimized, but within the engine it's using every single thing. So it's as optimized as it can be within that space. That's not possible otherwise. And so rendering thousands of trees within draw distance, it does those things better than an off-the-shelf engine could because of that.

"Off-the-shelf engines weren't able to deliver the uncompromised vision that the developers set forth to create with this game. So, they needed to create their own engine in order to deliver on that vision."
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Crimson Desert's huge open world has been a topic of debate recently. Pywel is divided into five distinct regions: Hernand; Pailune; Demeniss; Delesyia; and the Crimson Desert itself. The main quest revolves around protagonist Kliff's journey, but you're free to explore the world in any order, taking faction-driven quests, large-scale battles, fortress sieges and smaller, character-focused missions.

Pearl Abyss confirmed that as the story progresses, two additional playable characters become available, each with unique combat styles, skills and weapons. Exploration is a big part of the game — you travel on horseback, climb terrain, glide across distances, and later access advanced traversal options such as a missile-firing mech and a dragon. Pearl Abyss said the world is filled with hidden treasures, ancient mechanisms, puzzles and points of interest "designed to reward curiosity and discovery." As for combat, expect to face enemy soldiers, sorcerers, beasts and machines.
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Jesus Christ, at the edges of the screen everything that goes off screen immediately flattens out, painful. But it seems interesting, hoping it's not too many things together, all done badly.
 
I still don't like all the particle effects in combat. That and some animations look jank as hell.

Otherwise this is shaping up to be great.
 
Lambogenie said:
Man, why does it need to be a massive game... please make less massive but equally impressive games for workers/parents/folks who want the same shit without the trudging around a, probably, meh open world.
I'm interested, but you say "open world" and say it's bigger than already big games, that's a turn off. You've already got retention issues in the medium as it is, why make things even bigger and bigger for the sake of it?
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Yes, but to be fair he was just trying to answer honestly to the gaming journo high quality question:

"So, how big is yours?"
 
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