Ahead of Crimson Desert’s March 19 launch, developer Pearl Abyss has shared a 15-minute features-overview video detailing some of what you can expect in the open-world action-adventure game. This includes a grappling hook, a mountable dragon, a pilotable mech to wreak some havoc, and two more playable characters.
The features-overview video went over primary protagonist Kliff’s journey of saving the world of Pywel, a medieval-fantasy continent that is embroiled in conflict from political and supernatural forces. Over the course of 15 minutes, Pearl Abyss showcased just a few elements of the game, like the two additional playable characters that will accompany Kliff on his expedition. We don’t meet them, so we don’t know their names or their lore, but they look rather fascinating, and the studio said each of the playable characters has their own skills, combat styles, and weapons. One is a swift female warrior with a gigantic sword (claymore style) who appears to wield a flintlock pistol. The other is a bruising male tank using some sort of Barret-like arm cannon and a massive axe.
Later in the video, we can see Kliff traversing the massive open-world with multiple mid-air jumps, a grappling hook to latch onto and swing from ledges, a huge dragon to “soar high above” Pywel, and a missile-firing mech so you can blow a bunch of stuff up instead of just swinging your sword and RKO-ing enemies to oblivion.
“In the future, we’ll be highlighting combat, progression, and life in Pywel,” the studio said toward the end of the features-overview video. “So, stay tuned!”
Originally planned as a prequel to Pearl Abyss’ 2016 MMORPG Black Desert Online, Crimson Desert is the South Korean studio’s first single-player title. It’s an ambitious game that features everything from iconic wrestling moves and flashy sword combos to horse drifting and magic slinging. You can fight, cook, fish, craft, hunt, and lend a helping hand in a game that seems to cram every RPG mechanic into one experience. When we previewed it back in March 2025, GameSpot’s Jordan Ramée said it may have “the most realistic in-game physics” they’d ever seen. Well, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out if that is still true.
Crimson Desert arrives on March 19 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.