Role-playing fans have been getting plenty of love lately, and for those who are in the USA, there is some exciting news regarding Pearl Abyss‘ Crimson Desert. Be sure to make your way to PAX East 2025 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center from May 8 to 11, where the game is having its first-ever public hands-on.
Attendees at PAX East will get access to PAX-exclusive giveaways and a firsthand look at the open-world action-adventure game, and get a taste of the dynamic combat that can unfold in encounters across its detailed world that blends lifelike physics, responsive environments, and cinematic realism.
This comes after more details about the engine powering Crimson Desert were revealed at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC). Using the proprietary BlackSpace Engine, it is how the Pearl Abyss team has been able to create the high visual fidelity, detailed environments, and the fast-flowing combat.
At PAX East, players can take the chance to hopefully check out these features that Pearl Abyss is working on:
- Seamless Open-World Exploration: The BlackSpace Engine renders vast, far-reaching open worlds in great detail and allows for a continuous exploration experience with its seamless loading. Players can traverse various landscapes, including forests, medieval cities, snowy mountains, and vast deserts, with the world around them rendered in real time.
- Detailed Physics and Environmental Interactions: The engine’s simulations enhance environmental realism, with trees, grass, cloth and hair swaying naturally in response to wind and movement, enhancing the world’s believability. Destructible environments, real-time physics interactions, and details like volumetric fog create a dynamic, living world where objects and surroundings respond intuitively to the player’s actions.
- Dynamic and Realistic Combat: The BlackSpace Engine brings weight and impact to every combat encounter. Detailed hit reactions and physics-driven interactions create part of the foundation for Crimson Desert’s deeply engaging combat system. Object destruction can vary depending on the force applied, and enemies can collide with the environment dynamically, adding depth to battles.
- Real-Time Lighting and Atmospheric Effects: The engine calculates lighting in real-time, replicating detailed light behavior for increased realism, even with ray tracing disabled. Detailed atmospheric scattering effects, dynamic weather such as rain, snow, and fog, and the engine’s real-time lighting calculations all enhance the world’s graphical quality and immersion.
- Realistic Water and Fluid Simulation: The BlackSpace Engine produces highly realistic water effects using FFT ocean simulation and shallow water simulation. The simulated water creates realistic waves, flow, and ripples, adding to the game’s immersive and graphical quality.
Crimson Desert is set in the vast and rugged continent of Pywel. It follows protagonist Kliff and his Greymane comrades as they navigate a world filled with peril and intrigue. Combining storytelling with intense combat and exploration, the open-world action adventure is scheduled for release in late 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Mac.
