Despite being in development for over five years, almost all of Crimson Desert’s pre-release footage has been from its PC version rather than consoles. Considering that this open-world fantasy is only a few days away from release, players have been understandably wary about that. Now, new console footage of Crimson Desert has been shared, but only from the PlayStation 5 Pro.
Digital Foundry has shared its early impressions of Crimson Desert on PS5 Pro, and for the most part, it sounds very promising. The video notes that the game’s visual modes–optimal, balanced, and quality–all performed well, with only some occasional hiccups including PSSR upscaling artifacts.
Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter told IGN that developer Pearl Abyss offered the PS5 Pro preview without any restrictions. He added his primary concerns about the game have centered on its CPU demands.
“My main concern was not so much about graphics, but on demands on the CPU,” said Leadbetter. “Yes, it can be demanding, but overall performance across the three modes is impressive. But more impressive is really what this game is about–the scale and the scope and the systems-driven open world. The high-end PC experience scales well to PS5 Pro, and we’re looking forward to seeing the other console versions.”
Earlier this month, Pearl Abyss PR and marketing director Will Powers had a very pointed response to accusations that the developer was “hiding” the console versions of Crimson Desert.
“We’re not hiding anything, and I’m sick of having to repeat myself,” wrote Powers. “I’ve repeated 100s of times that we’ll reveal things ahead of launch to give people adequate time to still preorder the game for themselves. We’re saying this openly… Let us cook? Please and thank you. /rant.”
Pearl Abyss has disclosed that Crimson Desert will include Denuvo DRM, a controversial anti-piracy technology that isn’t very popular among players. The company also shared its pre-load date and times for players who want to get a jump on the release.
Crimson Desert will hit Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC on March 19.
