Crimson Desert has been gradually accumulating hype and buzz for a while now. Originally known to few, and perhaps as little more than “that single player offshoot” of the MMORPG Black Desert, the project evolved and grew in scope and ambition, eventually becoming its own standalone thing, and impressing with multiple showings over the course of years to firmly register itself on the radar for a great many people.
Here at GamingBolt, we have been keeping a keen eye on Crimson Desert, and across multiple past features, not only have we covered plenty of information on Pearl Abyss’ upcoming open world action adventure title, but also spoken at length about why exactly it has caught our eye, and why we believe it has the potential to be one of 2025’s standout releases. Up to this point, Pearl Abyss has shown gameplay footage and trailers for the title quite liberally, offering numerous and extended looks at its world, combat, boss fights, traversal mechanics, and much more, much of which has looked more than a little impressive. Unsurprisingly, amidst this summer season of game announcements, reveals, and updates, Crimson Desert is continuing to show what it’s about in hopes of keeping the flames of excitement surrounding its release well fanned.
Behind the scenes at Summer Game Fest, Pearl Abyss showed off another chunk of gameplay footage for Crimson Desert, and as it may not surprise you to learn at this point, we continue to be delighted by how the game is taking shape. But what exactly was it that Pearl Abyss showed off to media at Summer Game Fest? Well, it wasn’t necessarily the beefiest showing, with only about a couple minutes of new gameplay footage having been publicly released, but what Pearl Abyss is showing off to wider audiences with this newest batch of footage is another varied mix that highlights what are looking like some of the game’s biggest strengths.
Chief among them, unsurprisingly, is combat once again- unsurprisingly, because up to this point, in most (if not all) of Crimson Desert’s showings, it is its combat that has caught the eye above most other aspects of the experience. That continues to be the case with this newest footage emerging from Summer Game Fest. Starting with a tense and hectic scene set amidst a furious battle, then moving on to a more intimate, one on one fight against a boss, the new footage shows different facets of combat, each looking solid.
For starters, movement is looking slick, quick, and agile, which, with the right execution, can make for fast, aggressive, and incredibly satisfying combat. That sort of thing obviously cannot be truly, properly judged until you get your hands on the sticks yourself and get a feel for just how the game plays and reacts and responds to your actions and inputs, but by the looks of it, Crimson Desert is promising combat that will be agile, stylish, and impactful, with an emphasis not only on dealing damage, but also moving about with nimbleness.
The dynamism of fights is also looking intriguing. That is highlighted particularly well in the aforementioned boss fight, in fact. At one particular point, the player unleashes an attack that causes pillars around the arena to come crashing down. Not only is that an excellent environmental destruction effect that adds greatly to the battle, the player then also proceeds to pick up one of the pillars and smack the boss in the face with it with a single, hard hitting attack that destroys a significant chunk of HP.
If that sort of unpredictability and dynamism that Crimson Desert can keep delivering, there’s every reason for players to be excited. Obviously, it’d be unreasonable (to say the very least) to expect the game to keep doing things along those lines in every single combat encounter, but if the game can deliver a healthy amount of that flavour of unpredictability, combat encounters are going to feel that much more exciting.
But it’s not just the combat that is catching the eye, even though it continues to be one of the primary attractions. Crimson Desert is also impressing with its traversal mechanics. Again, this is a part of the game that certainly has stood out in previously gameplay showings as well, with quite a bit of emphasis being placed on fast, fluid, and high flying movement, from quick dashes and dodges to unique gliding mechanics, movement options to add more verticality, and more. The point, it seems, is to add just a greater range of options to provide players with, which they can then use as and when they see fit. Exactly how much versatility and complexity that will add to Crimson Desert’s combat and even exploration overall remains to be seen, but you could certainly see it having significant impact with the right execution.
And, of course, we didn’t even see much (or any) of Crimson Desert’s open world in the new chunk of footage that Pearl Abyss has publicly shared. The vastness and diversity of the game’s world is something that the developer has spoken about on more than a few occasions, and clearly, it is supposed to be one of its bigger selling points. Though we didn’t see too much of it this time, what we have seen before has looked promising, to the point where our expectations have been cautiously raised. With the sort of traversal mechanics, environmental variety, and sheer scale that Crimson Desert is offering, its open world certainly has the elements in place to turn into something truly captivating. The hope is that it can make good on that promise, but even if it cannot entirely live up to the loftiest of expectations, it is looking like it will be an engaging open world experience, especially for those who enjoy that style of design.
On top of that, outside of its core combat and traversal mechanics, Crimson Desert is also continuing to make quite a strong impression with its visuals and tech. Pearl Abyss has been touting its internal proprietary engine, dubbed BlackSpace, for some time now, and looking at how the upcoming action adventure title is shaping up, it’s hard not to be impressed by what the engine seems to be providing a foundation for. From gorgeous and details environments to the dynamic lighting and shadows to the draw distances and more, in more ways than one, Crimson Desert is finding ways to capture and hold attention with its visuals. Obviously, you can spot the odd rough edge here and there, but with launch still not yet upon us, more polish is all but guaranteed.
Which brings us to the big question that those looking forward to Crimson Desert have on their minds right now, and have for a while- when exactly can we expect to play the game? Officially, Crimson Desert has a late 2025 release date, while reports have suggested that the action adventure title could launch in early December, but an official announcement has yet to be made. Hopefully, Pearl Abyss will share more concrete information on that front sooner rather than later, because our anticipation for the game is continuing to grow, so the sooner we learn when we can get our hands on it, the better.
