We talk difficulty, scale, and inspirations in Crimson Desert with Pearl Abyss

While it perhaps wasn't as clear in the early stages of its development and public marketing, it's become increasingly clear that Pearl Abyss' upcoming single-player RPG, Crimson Desert, is of a scale we rarely see in games in general.

Regardless of how you approach it, the scale of the world, the amount of intertwining systems running at any one time, the scope of its narrative, and the inherent rules of the world of Pywel, it's an absolutely massive achievement to even get where the team is right now; at the cusp of release.

As the game went gold some time ago, we bounced a few questions to the development team in the hopes of narrowing down the focus of some of the game's disparate systems and areas of focus, so it's easier for you to understand the scope of its ambition. We'd also like to point you in the direction of our official preview from Alex a little while ago, for more first-hand experiences with the game.

When people talk about Crimson Desert, they seem to fixate on scale and on size. Can you put the game's potential length in some real terms? Like; how long is the main story estimated to take in hours played, and how much content have you hidden out there in the world?

"In terms of playtime, the main story is designed to be a substantial single-player experience, but the exact length will vary a lot depending on how you play—whether you focus on the main path or spend time exploring, fighting optional bosses, and engaging with side activities.

"Beyond the main storyline, a significant amount of content is woven into the world itself. We've built Pywel to reward curiosity through exploration, encounters, puzzles, and life activities like cooking, crafting, gathering, and mining. Rather than presenting everything as a checklist up front, many of these opportunities are discovered naturally as you move through the world, so players can choose how deep they want to go. We understand this is a bit vague, but we also want to keep this a mystery for our players to discover after release."

Looking beyond those figures; how has it been following the discourse surrounding the game? How did the game change over the course of development, and are you satisfied with where it is today in terms of the expectations from the gaming public?

"Following the community discussion has been motivating. Over the initial course of development, Crimson Desert did change direction, and today we describe it as an action-adventure experience - cinematic, real-time action, combat, traversal, and world built for exploration.

"The current vision of Crimson Desert aligns with what the team set out to create and represents a clear and cohesive experience. While discourse will always vary, we are excited with what we've created and we do our best to keep in mind what our original vision is and stay faithful to that."

In terms of genre and structure, how has Black Desert Online influenced the game's design, and would you consider Crimson Desert "live-service"-like in spite of it being single-player?

"Our experience developing Black Desert gave us expertise and perspective in designing large open-worlds, combat responsiveness, and technical performance, which evolved further with the development of the BlackSpace Engine that Crimson Desert is created on.

"Unlike Black Desert, Crimson Desert is not designed as a live-service experience. Our vision for Crimson Desert was a different kind of gameplay, which meant a shift in the game's pacing and structure.

"Crimson Desert is a single-player game with a defined beginning and end. While the world is dynamic and systems-driven, that shouldn't be confused with live-service design. Everything is built to serve the player's journey, not a service model."

Going back to fans' expectations, there's a lot of "Souls"-comparisons being thrown around in general. Have you taken in any inspiration from that series, or is this entirely different?

"We understand why those comparisons come up, especially when players see deliberate combat, challenging enemies, and visually striking boss encounters. That said, Crimson Desert is not designed as a Souls-like game.

"Both styles are fun in different ways. Our combat philosophy emphasises combo-based controls, fluid transitions, and player-driven skill expression rather than reliance on narrow dodging windows, rigid positioning, or memorising enemy patterns through repeated failure.

"This experience is meant to feel dynamic and cinematic, rewarding creativity and adaptability as much as precision. Difficulty also comes from the variety of situations, options, and enemies players face. Ultimately, we want combat to feel expressive and empowering, allowing players to develop their own style rather than forcing them into a specific rhythm or formula."

Also; does the game offer distinct difficulty modes, or adjustable difficulty?

"At the moment, Crimson Desert does not offer distinct difficulty modes.

"But at the same time, we want players to be able to enjoy the game's story, world, and combat. It's why we implemented a variety of player choices in preparing for battle or difficult moments, such as discoverable and upgradable equipment choices, buffs from consumables, abilities, etc., that allow players to nudge down the difficulty through empowering themselves."

Going back to inspirations and the scale of the world; you see an almost sci-fi esque mirror world at one point; the crow-like flying ability, the steampunk-inspired dragon. How come there are so many vastly different styles present; is that intentional, and what are the intentions behind it?

"We drew inspiration from our real world. If we go to certain parts of the world, there are areas and places that look very futuristic or unfamiliar to us, and we wanted to implement that feeling into the world.

"So whenever the player goes to a certain region, they would be able to see and experience the unique patterns of people and like that they may have different ways of gathering resources and collecting energy and that would make them distinct from one another.

"A lot of our level designers worked really hard to blend these styles that wouldn't normally go well together."

Crimson Desert finally launches on March 19th, and below you can see the three latest gameplay walkthrough trailers, focusing on different aspects of the world of Pywel.