Everything you need to know about Crimson Desert: The upcoming open-world action RPG from Pearl Abyss

Crimson Desert is an upcoming RPG by the team behind Black Desert Online based in Pywel, a continent filled with betrayal, politics, and intriguing characters. The previous trailers and promo materials showcased some gameplay footage, which detailed in-game visuals, combat, and the activities one can indulge in.

Here's a compilation of everything we know about the upcoming open-world action RPG, Crimson Desert.

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Essential details about Crimson Desert, created by Pearl Abyss

Characters and premise

Crimson Desert takes you through the war-torn continent of Pywel, and you will be placed as a mercenary called Macduff. You and your group will travel throughout the landscape, getting involved in the various political plots.

Pywel is where various factions have been at war since the King fell into a coma. You, the protagonist, are now on a journey to assemble a group of the best fighters across the kingdom and unite them under your banner.

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Release window

The game will come out in 2025 (Image via Pearl Abyss)

Crimson Desert was given a 2024 release window, but the developers pushed it back by one year to Q2 2025.

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Is Crimson Desert a sequel to Black Desert Online?

The game shares no connection with BDO (Image via Pearl Abyss)

The answer is no. It is being developed as a standalone experience and you don't need knowledge of Black Desert to enjoy it. While Pearl Abyss' upcoming open-world action RPG was planned as a prequel to Black Desert Online, the development cycle later took a different turn.

The developers have avoided referencing Black Desert in any promotional material for its upcoming title, but many speculate the games share the same universe.

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Gameplay

AC Brotherhood flashbacks anyone? (Image via Pearl Abyss)

The game takes a typical action hack-and-slash route which you can find in many other medieval fantasy RPGs, like the Middle Earth games or Witcher 3. The trailers featured weapons like swords, shields, axes, and long-ranged bows. You will also have access to magic, which you can use during combat, exploration, and solving puzzles.

The Gamescom ONL 2023 trailer also showcased a variety of features that you can partake in, such as fishing, riding hot air balloons, parkour, and scaling trees and buildings. Moreover, it showed a few boss fights, a giant on whom you can climb during combat, and a Da Vinci tank straight out of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. But the best part is that you can pet dogs and cats.

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Is Crimson Desert an MMO?

Crimson Desert is a solo journey (Image via Pearl Abyss)

Pearl Abyss confirmed its upcoming open-world action RPG will be strictly a single-player experience. While there have been talks regarding implementing online features to the game, the developers have been extremely vague; even the Gamescom 2023 trailer didn't showcase any online features.

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Pearl Abyss recently announced it will offer a playable demo during Gamescom 2024, where you can experience this upcoming Open-world action RPG firsthand.