Crimson Desert Players Have Found a Way to Glide Around the Map Much Faster

Crimson Desert players have been zooming through the skies, aided by a recently discovered gliding feature that’s more likely than not a glitch. This apparent gliding bug in Crimson Desert seems to be the choice of many as the preferred way to travel quickly across the game’s massive world, but a lot of players are anticipating that it may not be around forever.

Having launched on March 19, Crimson Desert had a bit of a rough start with some players, but it’s quickly recovered and has been winning them over in droves ever since. Its medieval fantasy aesthetic, multifaceted combat system, and stunning visuals have all earned a lot of praise from players across its first few weeks of availability. One other big boon is Crimson Desert‘s massive open-world map, which features six distinct regions, each with its own biome, and covers a playable area at least double the size of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

Crimson Desert Trick Lets You Use a Tree as a Catapult

Players of the latest action-adventure game Crimson Desert find an unconventional way to get around by using trees as catapults.

Crimson Desert Gliding Trick Lets Players Get Across The Map Fast

Crimson Desert Bad Story Good Worldbuilding

While fans seem to be loving all that open space, it also presents the problem of actually having to move across dozens of square miles of map, and some fans have been looking for a way to speed up the process. Many seem to have found the answer in the form of a sort of flying or gliding mechanic that most likely wasn’t intended to be part of the game. Multiple posts from fans across social media, including Reddit user DullEstablishment409, have shown this trick in action, displaying Crimson Desert protagonist Kliff making a mighty leap straight up into the air before rocketing forward in a controlled glide that covers a lot more ground than the standard mechanics of the game would usually allow.

Pulling off this aerial feat is a multistep process. First, players will want to get as much height off a jump as they can to maximize the glide’s potential range. At the apex of their leap, they’ll want to unleash their crow wings and enter focus mode, slowing down time in Crimson Desert. At that point, they’ll want to activate an aerial roll while moving forward. The final piece of the puzzle involves leaving focus mode while still in the air, which will cancel out the usual bonuses but provides a surprising amount of propulsion to rocket players forward through the air at impressive speeds.

In order to take advantage of this gliding trick, players will need to pick up a few different prerequisite skills in Crimson Desert. First, players won’t get their crow feather cloak until after they’ve completed the Woman in White quest, which starts at the Ethereal Pathway. After unlocking flight, they’ll also, of course, need to use an Abyss Artifact to get access to the Aerial Roll skill. Additionally, while it’s not a mandatory part of this trick, players will probably want to have at least learned how to double jump in Crimson Desert, since reaching greater heights before any of the other skills used in this trick are activated will maximize the gliding boost maneuver’s range.

One of the most interesting parts about this gliding boost method, which is also a worry to many players who are taking advantage of it, is that it seems like developer Pearl Abyss may not have intended for it to be part of the game at all. Fans are divided on whether this mechanic is a glitch or a feature, with the vast majority falling into the former camp, noting the advanced combination of controller inputs required to get it to work and the slightly off-looking animations. That’s causing some players to not want to get too attached to the boosted glide, as Pearl Abyss has been patching Crimson Desert problems since shortly after its release. Still, if it is a glitch, some are hopeful that the development team will recognize how many players seem to be appreciating it, and that they may decide to just leave it alone.