Digital Foundry reviews the graphics in Crimson Desert

For those who were worried that it would run poorly, the Korean developers have some good news to share...
Text: Jonas Mäki
Published 2026-03-04

It's becoming very clear that Crimson Desert will not only be very extensive, but also technically heavy. The game is powered by the developers' own engine, BlackSpace Engine, and Digital Foundry has now had the opportunity to test a PC version in native 4K with Ultra settings. Although it's still a work in progress, the impressions are nevertheless remarkable.

Alex Battaglia from Digital Foundry says, among other things (transcribed by EGW):

"This is obviously a work-in-progress build at ultra high settings, at native 4K, but it's running pretty darn well. Definitely running quite differently than a lot of Unreal Engine games would run at native 4K."

It remains to be seen how it will hold up all the way to launch, as well as how the console versions will perform. Check out the video below:

<social>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0pxsi7FU9g</social>

Had it not been for a certain Grand Theft Auto VI, this would likely have been the hottest game of the year.

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