As players explore Crimson Desert‘s massive open world called Pywel, a despawning issue is causing all sorts of problems when using boats in particular. It’s been a wild ride for Pearl Abyss, as its massive open world game, Crimson Desert, experienced numerous delays before releasing in full this past March. Although there was plenty of excitement leading up to the game’s release, not even mixed reviews from critics could stop the game from going on to reach massive sales milestones.
Part of the game’s appeal, outside the massive world to explore and impressive visuals, is that Crimson Desert really lets players go off and do what they want. While there’s a story to follow and quests to finish, many players find enjoyment with just exploring the game’s world and utilizing the various abilities to make their own fun. In fact, players have shared all sorts of inventive gameplay or unique discoveries to form an almost collaborative-like experience. However, it’s also worth noting that Crimson Desert isn’t a perfect experience, so in that same vein, players aren’t shy about sharing some pain points they’ve been experiencing, in the hopes that Pearl Abyss might address them in a future update.
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Crimson Desert’s Boats Despawn Pretty Quickly
In a new post on the Crimson Desert subReddit, a user named AppleChiaki shared a screenshot of thier in-game map, though instead of bragging about discovering a far off island from the mainland of Pywel, they had a big gripe to get off their chest. After using a boat to reach the far off island, their boat despawned, effectively trapping them there. While Crimson Desert does have fast travel, players first need to discover and activate Abyss Nexus points. It’s unknown if the island in the post has an Abyss Nexus on it, but this is clearly an issue that players are hoping Pearl Abyss fixes in a future update to fix the annoyance.
Many in the comments agreed with the issue, with some calling it an oversight and others providing their own examples of how despawning has impacted their games as well. Not limited to just boats, some players have seen pets and other animals vanish just by walking a short distance away, making the affinity process with them more difficult than it should have been. ANother user named Piflik shared a similar story, taking on a pirate-specific side mission in Crimson Desert‘s Hernand area and after walking only 5 meters away from the Pirate Ship to battle some enemies, the entire boat despawned. Naturally, considering how big of a game Crimson Desert is, there were plenty of comments surprised that there are boats and far off islands to find.
Thankfully, Pearl Abyss has been very active in the weeks after Crimson Desert launched, staying in touch with its community and releasing new updates. So far, the developer hasn’t commented on this issue directly, but the studio has established a habit of addressing Crimson Desert feedback initiated by players. Since launch, many have called the control scheme of Crimson Desert to be overly complex as well as having issues with input delay. Upon hearing the feedback, Pearl Abyss has released multiple updates to address at least some of the concerns.
Drag weapons to fill the grid
Drag weapons to fill the grid
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Despite the nagging issues that remain in Crimson Desert, it hasn’t slowed the game’s continued rise in popularity. Not only has the game’s rating on Steam continued to rise, Crimson Desert‘s player count remains impressively high, at least on PC platforms like Steam. Thanks to a massive open world and gameplay that lets players figure out solutions for themselves, it appears that Crimson Desert is here to stay.
- Released
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March 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
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Pearl Abyss
- Publisher(s)
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Pearl Abyss








