If you had told me back in 2019 – when Pearl Abyss first announced Crimson Desert as an MMO sequel to its massively popular MMORPG Black Desert – that it would take nearly seven more years to launch, I would not have believed you. I wouldn’t have believed that it would be downgraded to multiplayer and then to singleplayer only, either. Nor would I have believed it would delay the other games Pearl Abyss announced around the same time, like DokeV. I also wouldn’t have believed that the western world would absolutely crawl over glass to get to this game when it finally released.
But that day is now here, and all of those things are true.
“Pearl Abyss today announced the global launch of its open-world action-adventure Crimson Desert, available worldwide starting on March 19 at 3:00PM PDT,” Pearl Abyss declared this morning. That’s 6 p.m. EDT tonight, if you’re wondering.
“Powered by the studio’s proprietary BlackSpace Engine, the game delivers a seamless open world with detailed environments, from sprawling wilderness, bustling cities, ancient ruins, and diverse cultures, that create a living world. Combat is fluid, allowing players to chain combos using swords, axes, spears, ranged weapons, and hand-to-hand combat, kicks, and grapples. Progression is equally flexible, with players shaping their character growth through exploration, and boss encounters. Traversal plays a major role in exploration, with mechanics such as climbing, gliding, and other movement systems enabling players to freely navigate the world.”
The game is 70 buckaroos on Steam, though you can get it on PS5, Xbox X|S, Mac, and EGS too. Do note that there is no cross-save between platforms; it is an offline game. That doesn’t appear to be dissuading gamers, however; Pearl Abyss has counted over 3M wishlists so far, a huge percentage of them from Steam, where it’s currently the fourth most-wishlisted game behind Subnautica 2, Deadlock, and Light No Fire.
