At GDC 2025, Pearl Abyss showcased the capabilities of the BlackSpace Engine that will be powering Crimson Desert. So, below you can find a video that will give you a glimpse at some of the tech features of this new open-world single-player game.
Crimson Desert will have realistic water effects thanks to FFT Ocean simulation and Shallow Water simulation. As the devs noted, these will enable realistic waves, currents, and ripples.
It’s also worth noting that the game will have Ray Tracing effects. From what I can see, we might get RTGI and RT shadows. Or at least that’s what I see in the comparisons that Pearl Abyss included in the video.
Crimson Desert will also have Volumetric Fog with fluid simulation, as well as GPU-based cloth and hair simulation. Players will also be able to interact with the vegetation/grass. Plus, we see some cool wind effects.
With all its bells and whistles enabled, Crimson Desert looks actually pretty great. So, the final PC version may exceed the visuals we saw in its previous trailers and gameplay videos.
Crimson Desert started as an open-world MMORPG. During development, though, Pearl Abyss pivoted and made it a single-player game. And, to be honest, I’m glad it’s no longer an MMORPG.
The biggest feature of Crimson Desert is its combat system. From what I can see, the game is more action-oriented and more forgiving than Dark Souls/Elden Ring. So, this should be good news to those who want something more than a Dark Souls clone.
Pearl Abyss will release Crimson Desert in late 2025. You can also find its preliminary PC system requirements here.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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