The Crimson Desert got another update at The Game Awards this year, giving players a diverse taste of the exciting gameplay they can expect in the full release. Being developed by the creators of the popular Black Desert Online, their newest Crimson Desert aims to take all the best aspects of the popular MMO and transform it into a narrative-driven single-player experience. Not only does Crimson Desert take heavy inspiration from the stunning visuals and gameplay mechanics of BDO, but it's even set in the same high fantasy setting fans are already familiar with.

Taking heavy inspiration from popular RPGs like Sekiro and Final Fantasy, Crimson Desert has a focus on gameplay-driven storytelling while featuring climactic boss fights or epic battles that take place in gorgeous and often destructible set pieces. Players will need to make use of their varied combat and magic systems to overcome challenging bosses, adapting to combat situations on the fly by quickly swapping their abilities and gear. While players have a decent wait ahead of them before the full release, there's plenty to be excited about when Crimson Desert makes its way into the hands of players.

Crimson Desert 2025 Release Window Explained

An Estimate Rather Than An Exact Date

Despite no exact date being given during Crimson Desert's release window announcement trailer, players were still teased when they could expect the anticipated game to fully launch. The trailer itself ends with a message saying it will be coming in late 2025, with Crimson Desert most likely releasing in November or December of next year to make a fair estimate. With Crimson Desert still being a whole year away from release, it could still be subject to the potential delays that are so prevalent with triple-A releases nowadays.

Crimson Desert was originally planned for a Q2 release this year before being moved to 2025.

It wouldn't be the first time this actioned-packed RPG had its release date pushed back either, as Crimson Desert was originally planned for a Q2 release this year before being delayed to 2025. While some fans are understandably annoyed over delays for the reimagined Black Desert experience, it ensures the developers have all the time they need to deliver a satisfying product.

Given the large amount of attention that Crimson Desert has on it based on the major gameplay promises from the trailers while living up to the MMO's popularity, they'll need all the development time they can get to make sure it's done right. The best part of a more vague release date is that the developers can shift the current launch window around as much as they need, as long as it's within a few months of each other.

This additional leeway gives the developers much more freedom to move it up or bump it back without damaging their public image with the fanbase, being especially important given its massive departure from the successful formula of the franchise.

All Confirmed Platforms For Crimson Desert

Providing Access To Players From More Systems Than Ever

Thankfully for fans of the series, Crimson Desert is releasing on all modern systems with PC, Mac, PS5, and the Xbox Series X|S, ensuring no player gets left behind. For PC players, Crimson Desert will also be available on Steam rather than a third-party publishing app, being great news for gamers who are tired of installing new launchers for each triple-A title released. Given the funding of a widely successful MMO on its back, Crimson Desert will likely have all the resources needed to ensure a smooth launch for players on all systems when it releases in late 2025.

Crimson Desert will likely have all the resources needed to ensure a smooth launch for players on all systems.

It's clear from the trailer that players will need some pretty powerful systems if they expect to run Crimson Desert at a stable frame rate in all its visual glory, especially at higher resolutions. While this problem has much less of an impact on console players, the developers will still need to make sure that Crimson Desert's optimization is up to the player's standards when it drops.

While it also has no specified release date yet, Crimson Desert might have some serious competition with The Witcher 4's release potentially being close on its heels. This could provide serious competition given the fantastical setting and gameplay similarities.

Crimson Desert TGA 2024 Trailer & Gameplay Details

Plenty To Look Forward To With Its 2025 Release

Crimson Desert's newest release window trailer showcased even more environments and combat spells that haven't been shown before while highlighting a vast number of exploration abilities inspired by other games, such as BOTW's climbing and skydiving mechanics. Each of the short clips shown in the trailer highlights epic battles, from raining down fire atop a gargantuan dragon to fast-paced close-quarters combat. All the exciting action from The Game Awards' trailer was paired with Crimson Desert's stunning visuals display, taking great advantage of the BlackSpace engine's abilities to deliver visuals worthy of a next-generation title.

The trailer also showcased many new locations that can be visited as players can explore the vast continent of Pywel, all the way from thick forests infested with monsters and storming mountaintops, to pirate-filled harbors. While these are great inclusions, they don't stand out as much when compared to the floating islands seen in certain sections of the trailer, likely tying into the main story as players uncover the hidden truths about the world around them. Resource gathering is also a key mechanic of Crimson Desert, with some mechanics like end-game content or crafting carrying over from the BDO.

Throughout Crimson Desert's story, players will control the captain of the Greymanes mercenaries, Klif Macduff, making bonds with new comrades and treacherous enemies during their mission to defend the continent of Pywel against countless catastrophic threats. While not too much has been revealed about the greater workings of Crimson Desert's narrative, it's clear there's more lurking beneath the surface of the action-heavy RPG.

While it's hard to beat the reliability of a sharp sword, magic is going to be a core part of Crimson Desert's combat, with the ability to ride dragons being seen as a prominent feature throughout the game, even as a method of general exploration likely unlocked further into the story. Despite Crimson Desert being many players' first introduction to the high fantasy world first seen in Black Desert Online, its trailer does a great job of teasing just enough to get viewers enticed without giving too much away.

It's clear that Crimson Desert has a wide array of unique gameplay mechanics to offer both returning fans and new players alike.

Based on the trailer alone, it's clear that Crimson Desert has a wide array of unique gameplay mechanics to offer both returning fans and new players alike, while remixing some familiar ones to create a cohesive and immersive gameplay experience. Thankfully, fans of the MMO won't need to be worried about all the developers' focus shifting towards the newest Crimson Desert, as Black Desert Online still has expected and new content in the works for years to come.

Source: Crimson Desert/YouTube