High-octane RPG Crimson Desert has a world twice as big as Skyrim, yet its developer insists that "size doesn't matter"

If you ask me to name the game I’m most excited for this year, there’s a 50/50 chance I’ll say either Slay the Spire 2 or Crimson Desert. I’ve had the opportunity to play the stunning new open-world action RPG from Pearl Abyss several times now, and have always come away desperate for more time to wrap my head around its combat nuances. It’s a big project, feeling rather like The Witcher 3 but with way more high-octane combat. During the New Game+ showcase, director of PR Will Powers from Pearl Abyss revealed just how large its world is, and what we can expect to find.

Even the open-world previews have shown off just “a tiny corner of the map,” Powers notes. “I don’t think numbers really do it justice,” he continues, “but what we can say is that the world’s at least twice as big as the open world, the playable area, of Skyrim. It’s larger than the map of Red Dead Redemption 2.” That’s a pretty vast space to explore – although being able to fly around on a dragon’s back or in a jet-propelled mech should make traversing Crimson Desert’s map much faster than Arthur Morgan’s travels.

Of course, it’s not sheer scale that wins hearts these days. “The continent of Pywel is absolutely massive, but size doesn’t really matter if there’s nothing to do,” Powers remarks. “Open-world games are about doing things, having activities, and having distractions. So we wanted to create a world that’s not only massive, but is also incredibly interactive.”

Powers says the open-ended nature of Crimson Desert means that he can’t give a good estimate of how much of the game is critical-path story versus side content. However, he does say that the main quest is “only a percentage of the experience you will have, and it is not the majority,” and adds, “For me, in my experience with the game, the game really started once I beat it. Because then I could do whatever I wanted. It’s completely open.”

That also means you aren’t forced to stick with an encounter you’re struggling to beat. In my first playtest, I spent a long time bashing my head against White Horn, a ferocious yeti-like beast that feels like the next evolution of Sekiro’s Guardian Ape. It’s capable of snatching you in a paw and dragging you across cliff faces, and it’ll keep swinging through all but the most well-placed and meaty of your strikes.

“If you’re struggling against a boss, then you can just leave that boss fight,” Powers explains. “It’s an open world – you don’t have to continually beat your head against it in order to progress. You can go do something else, get more skills, get better equipment.” Even main-story battles won’t lock you in, meaning you can go and experience some of that vast quantity of side content before coming back later.

Crimson Desert is planned to release on Thursday March 19, priced at $69.99 / £54.99 for the standard edition, and $79.99 / £64.99 for the deluxe edition. You can wishlist it now if you’re as excited as I am.

My one remaining concern is whether Pearl Abyss will manage to tweak its control scheme enough so the uniquely rewarding intricacy of its battle mechanics doesn’t get under your feet when you’re trying to perform simple tasks. That said, I can’t wait to discover what secrets the sprawling lands of Pywel have to offer.