After 130 Hours in Crimson Desert, I Want One Feature More Than Anything

I have now spent roughly 130 hours in Crimson Desert, and I think I could still get hundreds more out of it if I really wanted to. In fact, I absolutely do, and I intend to try. The game has its issues, I’ll admit, but it has honestly been one of the most memorable experiences of my life, simply because I can’t get enough of its world. I’ve played many open-world games in my day, but I’ve never witnessed one quite like Crimson Desert‘s, where I can interact with almost anything I see, and it seems like there is always some new discovery to stumble upon. However, even with all that praise I’m willing to lob at it, there’s still one feature that I think would take the whole experience over the top: transmog.

Transmog is one of those things that, to some, can feel like a pretty insignificant feature, but to others, it’s a game changer. From my perspective, allowing me to change the appearance of my character without forcing me to change my equipment means I can preserve my immersion in the game, particularly during cutscenes, and, as shallow as it sounds, just have a good-looking character. But in Crimson Desert, transmog would go much further than that, as it would at least partially solve one of the game’s biggest problems. In fact, this is one of the first times I think I’ve ever thought transmog would offer more than just customization options to a game and actually target what I consider to be a flaw in its design, so that says something.

Crimson Desert Review: A Remarkable Open World That Often Asks Too Much

Crimson Desert offers one of the most impressive worlds in gaming, but the deeper you go, the more it asks you to meet it on its own terms.

Transmog Would Make One of Crimson Desert’s Biggest Problems Less of One

For starters, there are countless armor sets and pieces in Crimson Desert, which makes sense given the game’s enormous size. They can be earned from boss fights, purchased from vendors, and even acquired as reputation rewards. But what’s more is that each of them has such distinct and detailed features, transmog would certainly complement that variety. The ability to change the appearance of any armor piece to another once it’s looted—similarly to a transmog system like Hogwarts Legacy‘s, for instance—would be nice, especially with Crimson Desert‘s inventory and player storage limitations.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

Abyss Artifacts Are the Real Reason Transmog Would Mean Something

But the real reason transmog is so important to Crimson Desert is because of how much the game relies on Abyss Artifacts for stat, skill, and gear progression. It has been known for a while now that players would need to obtain Abyss Artifacts in order to strengthen their character, but what wasn’t clear (at least for me) until I played it was that they are also necessary to upgrade gear beyond a certain tier. Specifically, once you’ve refined a piece of gear to tier 4, attempting to upgrade it further requires the use of precious Abyss Artifacts that are also necessary for upgrading your character’s stats and skills.

It might not be an issue if, first of all, there weren’t three playable characters in Crimson Desert who don’t share anything but stats and certain basic skills. In other words, if you want to get the most out of any characters in the game other than Kliff, you need to spend a good number of Abyss Artifacts on each one of them just to get them on par with where Kliff will naturally be at, as he is required for the majority of Crimson Desert‘s story content and ultimately has better skills anyway. Because of that, I don’t really want to spend Abyss Artifacts on gear that I won’t use long-term.

The real reason transmog is so important to Crimson Desert is because of how much the game relies on Abyss Artifacts for stat, skill, and gear progression.

And therein lies the other, perhaps more pressing issue. Because there are so many different armor pieces and sets in Crimson Desert, investing valuable Abyss Artifacts to upgrade them beyond a certain point really doesn’t make sense, as you’re inclined to replace them once you find something better. It is possible to make one piece of gear more powerful using Abyss Cores once you’ve unlocked the crafting system for it during the main story, but not only does that only apply to gear that already has closed Abyss Sockets, it also doesn’t help when it comes to making sure your character’s appearance is exactly what you want it to be.

This is something I’ve especially noticed with gear earned through Crimson Desert‘s reputation system, which is actually some of the weakest gear in the game but also some of the best-looking. Earning enough reputation points to spend on that gear already consumes enough time, it almost doesn’t make sense to focus on it or even spend those points once they’re acquired, simply because by that point, you’ve likely found better gear anyway. However, what if I want the appearance of that gear without wearing it? If Crimson Desert had a transmog system, I wouldn’t have a problem with grinding for that gear and eventually purchasing it, just because I like the way most of it looks, but I don’t necessarily want to wear it.

Reputation in Crimson Desert is regional, and can be earned by completing certain parts of the main story, doing side quests for villagers, and even giving money to beggars.

I will say that Abyss Artifacts can be acquired through a variety of means in the game, whether it’s finding them in the open world, solving puzzles to unlock them, randomly acquiring them after defeating a certain number of enemies, or obtaining them as quest rewards. That makes them sound plentiful, and, in all actuality, they are. But skills and stats in Crimson Desert are increasingly expensive to unlock, beginning with requiring only one Abyss Artifact and increasing that requirement up to four and beyond the further you go. That’s ultimately what makes them so valuable, not that they’re scarce, but that they’re so vital to character growth.

At the end of the day, that tension between how valuable Abyss Artifacts are and how temporary most gear feels is what keeps Crimson Desert from fully capitalizing on its own depth. A transmog system wouldn’t overhaul progression or suddenly make every decision easier, but it would remove the hesitation that comes with investing in something that will likely be replaced very soon. It would at least give me a reason to care more about every piece of armor I find, whether for power or for style, and allow Crimson Desert‘s incredible variety to actually matter in the long run.