Crimson Desert: Tips and Tricks to Start Your Journey in Pywel

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Crimson Desert is here! While we're sure you can't wait to finally dive into Kliff's adventure and explore the vast, open world of Pywel, the world of this game is immense. For some, that's exciting. For others, it's a bit daunting. If you fall into the latter camp, or just want to get some tips as you start your adventure to make those first few hours a little easier, then we've got our starting hints below for new adventurers in Crimson Desert.

Tip #1: Stick with the main quest to start

Whenever you first enter an open-world game, there's the immediate desire to strike off from the main path and go explore the world as you want to see it. For a lot of games, there's a distinct moment where it feels like it lets you off the lead and gives you permission to explore as you wish. When you get out of the mountains in Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, or when you leave the plateau in Breath of the Wild. Crimson Desert is a little different in that regard, as the main quest sticks with you throughout your adventure. It enables your exploration more than it is something to do once you've finished with the openness of the world.

Therefore, we can only recommend that even for the first ten hours, you stick with the main quest so that you can get accustomed to all the mechanics the game throws at you. Crimson Desert is big in every way, and so having this north star to follow helps a lot in making sure you don't feel underprepared and overwhelmed by what's out there in the wilds.

Tip #2: Check your buttons

Seriously. It might sound stupid, but check your buttons, remember the layout of them, and remind yourself constantly that it's the bumper that lets you zoom in and focus on stuff, not the trigger. Take it from a fool who spent hours in the game accidentally shooting people with arrows by holding a trigger instead of a bumper, and then spent an equal amount of time running from the guards. It's not just getting your triggers and bumpers mixed up. With so many powers, attack combinations, and menus at your disposal, it's important to double, perhaps triple check that you're going to do what you're intending to do, especially in a friendly town. Shoot as many people as you want in the enemy camps, but even then you might want to make sure you're attacking the right way, and not clicking right stick to lock on.

Tip #3: Spend early skill points wisely

After you've defeated a lot of enemies in Crimson Desert, you'll earn yourself Abyss Artifacts. Unlike an RPG's levelling system, this game instead gives you skill points based on how many enemies you can fell, meaning early on these can be a bit sparse. You also get a lot of freedom in how you can spend your skill points, right from the beginning, so be sure to spend them wisely. We'd recommend general upgrades for health and stamina to start, as well as upgrading your basic skills. In the spirit tree especially, it's worth spending points upgrading your parry, evade, and other defensive mechanics so that you can face tougher enemies earlier. Don't go for the coolest moves first, even if they're oh so tempting.

Tip #4: Early side quests give resource-gathering equipment

One of the best things about Crimson Desert is that its world is so open, you can find multiple solutions to one problem. If you want to mine an ore, you could probably pick up a pickaxe nearby. However, if you want to just have the tools you need in your inventory all the time, the simplest way is to take on the requests of the townsfolk from when you enter Hernand proper. In these quests, you also learn how to do pretty important things, like upgrade weapons and gear, as well as take part in the activities the game gives you that don't just involve killing baddies. While we're on the topic of upgrades, too, make sure you grab the necessary resources needed to give Kliff's basic sword a polish, too. Upgrading it is the quickest way to feel more powerful in combat early, and the sword and shield combo he's rocking is the way to go until you're stronger with better gear later.

Tip #5: Balance that inventory

For a game that throws loot at you like a dungeon master showering his favourite player at the table with magic items, weirdly Crimson Desert has quite limited options for space. It was much worse before a lovely pre-launch patch started you off with 50 inventory slots, but even then you might find yourself quickly running out of room in Kliff's backpack if you pick up everything in sight. It's therefore important to only grab and keep what you need. Things like alchemy and crafting resources are not priorities, unless they're super rare, and you'll want to be sure to sell off old armours and other bits of gear. Just keep space for new weapons, items, pieces of armour, and meals. Plenty of meals, as they'll be the key to you surviving tough boss fights by letting you heal on the fly.

Tip #6: Your horse isn't broken, they just need a rest

There are loads of ways to travel around the map in Crimson Desert. Kliff is pretty fast on foot, but the game also starts you off with a horse early on to give you that extra bit of speed you need while traversing Hernand. After a while, you might find your horse starts to slow. This isn't a bug, nor is it the game telling you it's time for a new horse. Just return the horse to the stables, and they'll be back to full energy again. It's easy to fast travel to the point near the stables at the top of the Hernand map, call your horse by pressing up on the D-pad, and then bringing him in.

Tip #7: Shops and NPCs don't need sleep

When it gets dark in Crimson Desert, you might expect the NPCs and shopkeepers to turn in for the night, like in RPGs. As we said before, though, this isn't an RPG, and so it doesn't give the NPCs daily cycles they have to follow. Instead, they'll remain at their posts, ready to give you new gear, fresh ingredients, or quest guidance whenever you need. It's a detail you're bound to notice, but one that might stop you from calling it an early night instead of continuing that adventure.

Tip #8: Alternate characters keep their positions

This might not be considered a super early game tip, but it is something we encountered within our first ten hours. When you get to Chapter 3 in Crimson Desert's story, you'll unlock the game's second playable character, Damiane, and be able to switch as you roam around the world. Like in Grand Theft Auto V, Crimson Desert remembers where you left characters off, so if you're say, hunting for a bounty but know that you left Kliff closer than Damiane is right now, you can just swap over, and catch the scumbag you need to bring to justice as another playable character. This may not come in handy all the time, considering Kliff is your guy for the main story missions, but it does have its uses for traversing the open world.

Tip #9: How to make easy money

Something that you might find a bit grating when you begin your Crimson Desert journey is how poor you'll be. Quests don't give money, or much of it, and so turning your coppers to silvers and silvers to gold is quite a task. Here's where side activities come in handy a lot. Archery competitions, arm wrestling, duels with certain weapons, they're all easy ways to get money. The biggest reward early on comes from bounty hunting, but it's important to note you'll get paid more the more hassle a bounty is to collect, so perhaps don't go for the most lucrative contract first.

Tip #10: If the game shows you something before a mission, chances are you need to use it

This might sound super, super obvious, but with a game as wide and tall as Crimson Desert, it might be easy to forget a few mechanics here and there. Luckily, the game often teaches you what you need to know minutes before you'll need to use that knowledge. You learn to slow down time, and lift objects with your mind, moments before having to demonstrate those powers in a puzzle, for example. Later on, you'll plant flags in the ground as part of a battle mission, and then use the same button combinations to slam broken pillars on a boss' head. It's worth keeping a mental note of the new things you learn, to save yourself hassle and time in the very near future.