Crimson Desert Reveals PS5 Pro Gameplay Footage and Breakdown

Fans have finally gotten a look at Crimson Desert‘s PS5 Pro performance, and early impressions are a good sign. It’s been over five years since developer Pearl Abyss first announced the RPG, but now, multiple delays and a reworked vision later, the wait is nearly over. With just a week left to go before its March 19 release date, Crimson Desert has just given console fans another reason to get excited about the upcoming launch.

Console versions of the game have become subject to some small controversy as fans have called out Pearl Abyss for only releasing PC footage of the title so far. It reached the point that PR and Marketing Director Will Powers stepped in to defend Crimson Desert‘s lack of console footage, promising players that the studio would release console gameplay before release, but is busy optimizing the game. Now, it seems those fans have finally gotten their wish, as Pearl Abyss has released footage of the PS5 Pro version of Crimson Desert out into the wild.

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Pearl Abyss Shares Crimson Desert PS5 Pro Gameplay

In a cheeky response to the calls for console footage, Powers shared a Digital Foundry deep dive on Crimson Desert‘s PS5 Pro performance. The studio had previously confirmed that Crimson Desert will have PS5 Pro support, but now gamers can see what those enhancements actually look like. Overall, Digital Foundry says it was impressed with the copy provided by Pearl Abyss, praising the proprietary BlackSpace Engine for delivering “nothing short of remarkable” results in its performance, lighting, crowd behavior, and more. Perhaps most importantly, given the recent controversy, the PS5 Pro version reportedly doesn’t “lose that much” compared to how Crimson Desert runs on high-end PCs.

Crimson Desert character holding an artifact.

Ray tracing took center stage in the PS5 Pro performance review, with the feature being enabled across all three graphics modes. Digital Foundry notes that the lighting is not perfect, with the occasional denoising artifacts, but that these imperfections are not prominent. Crimson Desert also takes advantage of Sony’s PSSR upscaling technology, and it will launch with the PS5 Pro’s upgraded PSSR feature first seen in Resident Evil Requiem, though the build provided to Digital Foundry did not have this newer version, so the gameplay footage does not reflect this. Despite that caveat, the game looks great, with an impressive amount of detail and interactions, even in complex, crowded areas.

As outlined in the Crimson Desert console specs Pearl Abyss recently unveiled, the PS5 Pro version ranges between 1080p, 1440p, and 4K at 60, 40, and 30 FPS, respectively, depending on which graphics modes players are using. Turning VRR on can push the game beyond 60 FPS, with Digital Foundry managing to reach 70 FPS in Performance mode in some areas. The deep dive does reveal that Crimson Desert does not always run consistently at 60 FPS on the PS5 Pro, which Digital Foundry chalks up to CPU limitations. However, the 30 and 40 FPS modes are more stable.

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)

For now, there’s no gameplay footage for the vanilla PS5 and Xbox Series X, but that could change at any time, depending on how Pearl Abyss approaches the final days of Crimson Desert‘s marketing. The early look at PS5 Pro performance is promising, though. While there may be some room for improvement, the build tested by Digital Foundry seems impressive, especially if the upgraded PSSR feature holds up. Amid recent controversies with Crimson Desert‘s PC version, it may come as a relief to see console copies of the game running smoothly and delivering stunning visuals. Whatever system fans plan to play on, they won’t need to wait much longer now to experience it for themselves.