Crimson Desert

Pearl Abyss

Pearl Abyss is moving fast and breaking not all that many things as it adds patch after patch to Crimson Desert, fundamentally changing the game in major ways from its Day One patch until now. But I think it’s now hit its most impressive mark yet, finishing 95% of what was supposed to be a three-month-long roadmap running through June in barely three weeks. It was announced on April 9, and the last huge patch was on May 2, 23 days later.

What was promised that has been added? So much:

• Boss Rematch – Where you can replay bosses either at their old difficulty or to match your power now.
• Enemy Re-Blockade – Refilling the map with more enemies to fight after you kill them all.
• Difficulty Settings – Easy, medium and hard modes for players wanting different levels of challenge.
• New mounts and pets – I believe close to a dozen in total if you’re counting a variety of new cat breeds. You can now have things like a pet phoenix or ride a polar bear.

• New clothing and weapons – A lot of this was added in the last patch, mainly existing outfits that were previously unequippable. There are a few new weapons too.
• New Damiane and Oongka Skills – These were mainly to catch the pair of them up to Kliff in terms of combat and puzzle solving, as they were lacking a lot before.
• Hide Back Weapons – Well, you can now hide back weapons to look cooler.
• New Storage Options – New storage capabilities ranging from a chest for collections to a fridge for food.
• Distant Scenery Improvements – There were some hiccups with this, but I believe it’s fixed now.

I’m at something of a loss as to what didn’t get finished off this roadmap that was supposed to last into June. Maybe some of the control and UI things aren’t finalized? They said they’re going to iterate on the boss and blockade systems more, but those are in the wild, at least. They’ve also added things not even in these categories, like a new God Boar enemy to the game (still need to find him).

We haven’t heard any further additions Pearl Abyss has planned, but of course, there are further additions as at this point, it seems like they’re going to go No Man’s Sky with this thing. I’m not even sure what my requests are at this point 300 hours in, now that re-blockading is there. I imagine New Game Plus will arrive at some point. They need to make photo mode better. In any case, I mean, wow, I still cannot believe what they’ve added and how quickly they’ve added it. A true model for the industry that often wades in molasses.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.