Crimson Desert is going to get significant updates soon that are bringing some big features to the game such as the ability to replay boss fights, new difficulty levels, respawning enemy outposts, and new outfits.
Developer Pearl Abyss outlined these upcoming changes – which are due to roll out from April throughout June – in a dev update posted yesterday: “It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly three weeks since we first welcomed you to Pywel. Over that time, we’ve been closely following your adventures, discussions, and feedback, while working to make Crimson Desert an even more enjoyable experience for everyone,” the company said.
Boss encounters, which have caused some division among reviewers and players, will get a ‘rematch’ option that allows players to test their progress and refine their tactics against the game’s biggest foes. Another similar addition will be a system which allows enemy remnants to retake liberated locations like in other open-world games. This arrives just as some players were starting to complain about the game world feeling too peaceful after tens of hours of adventuring.
An extra challenge will also arrive through more traditional difficulty settings (easy, normal, and hard) that weren’t present at launch. According to the developer, this may add extra spice to new combat-oriented content which the team isn’t ready to reveal yet.
When it comes to character improvements, playable characters Damiane and Oongka are getting skills comparable to Force Palm and Axiom Force so they don’t feel neutered compared to Kliff when tackling some parts of the game’s exploration and puzzle-oriented content. Everyone is getting new outfits as well, including some that are already in the game but previously couldn’t be worn. Weapons on the player characters’ backs will be an optional visual in a future patch too.
Other aspects of the game getting attention are pets and mounts – new ones are coming – and storage, which is getting further improvements with dedicated tabs for different types of items. It all will be stacked on top of smaller tweaks and fixes like better controls, UI changes, and distant scenery quality on more powerful hardware.
Last but not least, Pearl Abyss has also announced the full Crimson Desert original soundtrack will soon be available for free on Steam and via streaming platforms.
Crimson Desert had a divisive but financially successful launch. In Eurogamer’s Crimson Desert review, Lewis Gordon wrote that the game constantly oscillates “between whoop-inducing bombast and utter brain-smoothing banality”. Though substantial official patches have been arriving in quick succession, modders are also hard at work, giving PC players even the option to create their own female characters.
