Crimson Desert is finally in our hands. After weeks of online hype and many gamers wondering if the massive RPG was “too good to be true,” Pearl Abyss’ single-player open-world epic, set in the world of MMO Black Desert Online, has arrived. Millions of players are now taking their first steps into the fantasy land of Pywel, including yours truly.
Pre-release reviews (including Tom’s Guide’s verdict from my colleague Tony Polanco) gave us an idea of the scale of Crimson Desert, but one of the biggest questions ahead of its March 19 launch was how the RPG would perform on consoles. Before release, critics only had access to the game on PC, with footage of the game running on PS5 and Xbox Series X limited.
Now that Crimson Desert is released to the world, we can finally get our first in-the-wild look at how this gigantic adventure runs on console compared to one of the best gaming PCs.
I’ve dived into the grand quest myself, playing via PS5 Pro, and while I’m barely more than 90 minutes into what I’m sure will be a 100+ hour playthrough, here are my very early impressions.
Crimson Desert is (mostly) a looker on PS5 Pro
Booting up Crimson Desert on PS5 Pro, it’s hard not to be pretty darn impressed with its graphical quality. Early on, after a brief (and somewhat confusingly plotted) prologue, protagonist Kliff is traveling into town on horseback with an NPC. Crossing a large wooden bridge, your companion advises, “take it slow and enjoy the view,” and enjoy the view I certainly did.
Even in this early stage of the game, the vistas are stunning, with white-rock cliffs, rushing rivers, and lush forests stretching beyond the horizon. The first main town is equally impressive, with townsfolk crammed into the streets and towering giants manning guard posts. Texture pop-in is a recurring sight, and green foliage doesn’t look all that great when viewed from up close. But on PS5 Pro, I was quickly marvelling at the visual quality.
Crimson Desert also offers plenty of player choice with “Quality,” “Balanced,” and “Performance” modes. I’m a framerate player above all else, so I sacrificed a little bit of image resolution in favor of a smoother 60 fps, and so far have seen barely a hitch. Granted, I’m still very early, so I haven’t encountered many large-scale skirmishes or intense boss battles, maybe these will cause more noticeable drops, but so far, the framerate isn’t dipping much.
It should be noted that I’m playing on the PS5 Pro. This is a pricey $749 suped-up version of the base PS5 console. I imagine the majority of PlayStation gamers will experience Crimson Desert on a regular PS5. I can’t speak to visuals/performance on base PS5, but according to PushSquare’s reporting, the experience is quite significantly compromised on the regular console.
Still, I’m really looking forward to diving further into the world of Crimson Desert, as there’s clearly a lot to see and do, and at least so far, I’ve been plenty impressed with how everything looks, and most importantly, how everything runs. If you’re fortunate enough to have access to a PS5 Pro, then you can cast aside any pre-release skepticism, as Crimson Desert is really quite a looker.
