Crimson Desert (PS5) News Articles
YesterdayThu, 9th Apr 2026
Kliff's edge
As you can probably imagine, there's an awful lot of potential for Crimson Desert mods on PC, and there are already several hundred up for grabs on sites like Nexus Mods. But one recent mod in particular is making headlines because plenty of players believe that it should probably have been part of the game to begin with. The mod in...
Wednesday8th Apr 2026
News 'We Had Everything from Crimson Desert': Just Cause Dev Recalls Cancelled Fantasy Game
Dragon it out
Crimson Desert has obviously made a colossal splash recently, and that's prompted Avalanche co-founder Christofer Sundberg speak up on his former studio's old project. Said project was called AionGuard, which you may have heard of back in the day. This thing was in development during the PS3 generation, and Sundberg reckons it had a...
Saturday4th Apr 2026
Private storage gets a huge buff, too
Another meaningful update for Crimson Desert has just dropped, and it features some very welcome improvements. While there's nothing here that we'd deem major, patch 1.02 — which weighs in at around 900MB on PS5 — should still make your life in Pywel more enjoyable. Highlights include a toggle for headgear...
Wednesday1st Apr 2026
News 'No Mode Is Properly Optimised on Base PS5': Crimson Desert's Console Performance a 'Mixed Bag'
Crimson Desertification
Crimson Desert is an incredibly ambitious video game, and one that deserves praise for its attempts to push open world design to impressive limits. However, as we stressed in our Crimson Desert PS5 review, the title suffers from a range of performance woes on PS5 and PS5 Pro. For many players, these problems won't threaten...
Can't argue with that
Pearl Abyss really has a huge hit on its hands. Despite somewhat mixed reviews and many aspects that have divided opinion, Crimson Desert has now sold 4 million copies. It reaches that impressive milestone in a little under two weeks following its launch on 19th March 2026. As mentioned, Crimson Desert hasn't won over...
Monday30th Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert Dev Keeps Its Promise, Replaces AI Art in Latest Patch
Art attack
Sick of seeing those seriously ugly AI-generated paintings in Crimson Desert? If so, we've got good news: they've been officially replaced. As part of the game's latest major update — which dropped over the weekend — developer Pearl Abyss has stripped the title of AI assets. While the change was mentioned in the full patch notes,...
News Crimson Desert Improves Image Quality on Base PS5 with Simple Upscaling
FSR 3 added to Performance Mode
Crimson Desert was not recommended on the PS5 at launch, largely due to its sub-par Performance Mode which launched without any upscaling at all. But in the game’s latest patch, Pearl Abyss has iterated upon the launch day product, adding in FSR 3 upscaling when the game is running in its 60fps format. While this...
Sunday29th Mar 2026
News Major Crimson Desert Patch Out Now on PS5, Makes Countless Gameplay Improvements
Full patch notes released
Crimson Desert patch 1.01.00 is available to download now on PS5, and to say it's packed with improvements would be an understatement. It's honestly hard to pick out highlights from the patch notes because there's just so much stuff. The update includes better load times, better performance, a new 4K graphical toggle on...
Tuesday24th Mar 2026
Red hot
No matter how you feel about the game, it seems Crimson Desert has been a massive hit. The single-player, open world action adventure, from MMO studio Pearl Abyss, launched last week to a fairly mixed critical reception, but in less than a week, it's achieved more than three million copies sold. That figure comes from a recent update...
Monday23rd Mar 2026
Studio said it'd respond quickly
Two major Crimson Desert patches have released in quick succession on the PS5 today, solving critical errors in the open world game. Over the weekend, Korean dev Pearl Abyss promised that it would respond to feedback regarding the release’s “uncomfortable” controls. It also
Sunday22nd Mar 2026
Full internal audit underway
Crimson Desert dev Pearl Abyss has released a groveling apology after generative AI assets were discovered in the enormous PS5 open world game. In a statement posted to X (or Twitter) moments ago, it explained that it used the technology to help “explore tone and atmosphere” but always intended to replace them with...
Saturday21st Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert Dev to Patch PS5 RPG's 'Uncomfortable' Controls
Apologises for launch day issues
There’s a lot to love about PS5 RPG Crimson Desert, but its control scheme is not one of them. It takes cues from the worst of Rockstar’s releases, and is somehow even more cumbersome and complicated than even those. In a message on X (or Twitter), dev Pearl Abyss says it’s been listening to feedback and is...
Friday20th Mar 2026
"We will listen closely to the wide range of feedback"
It only launched a few hours ago, but Crimson Desert has already sold through two million copies worldwide, making it a massive success for dev Pearl Abyss. In a message on social media, the dev acknowledged the support of its fans, and said it’s already paying close attention to feedback and...
Make up your own mind
We’ve finally been able to test Crimson Desert on base PS5. For those who haven’t been keeping tabs on this title, Pearl Abyss didn’t provide us with console review code prior to release. (We have since received codes for Sony’s system.) While we’re working on a full hands on report based on the PS5 Pro version,...
Thursday19th Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert's Mixed Reviews See Dev's Share Price Drop Almost 30%
Abyss
The first batch of reviews have been rolling in for Crimson Desert, and while they're pretty good, they aren't quite as hot as many expected. The open world action game is much anticipated, and is seemingly on track to be a big hit this year. That's likely to still come true, but it seems that there's been a very mixed reception from critics...
Wednesday18th Mar 2026
Site News Where's Our Crimson Desert PS5 Review?
Only the PC version made available
With the release of Crimson Desert now just 24 hours away, you'll soon see the Internet flooded with critic reviews. But, on this occasion, Push Square unfortunately can't join the party. All the verdicts you find online today are based on PC review code. Pearl Abyss, the game's developer and publisher, has not...
Tuesday17th Mar 2026
News Here Is Crimson Desert Gameplay on Base PS5
Courtesy of PlayStation Japan
You demanded it, and here it finally is: Crimson Desert running on a base PS5. Footage comes from PlayStation Japan in its Play! Play! Play! format, so you will have to put up with a lot of talking and on-screen graphics of Japanese text. However, there is still close to 20 minutes of base PS5 gameplay footage to view...
Monday16th Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert PS5 Trophies Leak, and They're Basically Nonsensical
35 Trophies with a Platinum to unlock
Crimson Desert is shrouded in such mystery that even its Trophy list on PS5 will draw attention. However, this particular Trophy list isn't one you can glean many details from. In fact, it's the polar opposite. A leaker with access to the PS5 version of the game has shared the Trophy list with Polish website...
Saturday14th Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert's Mandatory PS5 Update Sparks Debate About Games Which Break Street Date
"Hopefully this becomes the norm"
You won’t be able to play physical copies of Crimson Desert without downloading an update. According to the game’s official FAQ, once you’ve pulled this data from Sony’s servers, the title will be fully playable offline. But it’ll need that initial connection in order to boot. This has sparked lots of...
Friday13th Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert PS5 Concern as Physical Copies Won't Run without Download
But will play offline after initial update
If you’re planning to go physical with upcoming RPG Crimson Desert, then keep in mind you’ll need to connect to the Internet to fully install the game. With wild copies beginning to circulate ahead of the release’s PS5 launch, we can now confirm that the game won’t run off its Blu-ray disc...
Thursday12th Mar 2026
News First Crimson Desert PS5 Pro Analysis Calls It 'A Phenomenal Experience'
Console footage is finally here
It's finally time to take a look at Crimson Desert running on a console. Our friends over at Digital Foundry have been lucky enough to play the game on PS5 Pro, and have delivered a lengthy, in-depth analysis of how the open world adventure performs. As you may know, all of the uncut Crimson Desert gameplay footage...
Wednesday11th Mar 2026
The final countdown
With hype at an all-time high, there’s one key question for Crimson Desert to answer: just how will it run on consoles? Rumour has it there’ll be no console reviews of the wildly ambitious console RPG prior to launch, which has understandably aroused suspicion among PS5 owners. But Korean dev Pearl Abyss has maintained a...
Tuesday10th Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert's PS5, PS5 Pro Modes Revealed, PS5 Pro Offers Substantial Upgrades
Performance, Balanced, and Quality modes detailed
Pearl Abyss has revealed Crimson Desert launches with three different graphical and performance modes on consoles, with base PS5 and PS5 Pro offering different resolutions and target frame rates. At launch, on 19th March 2026, here is what you'll have to choose from, depending on which PS5 console...
Wednesday4th Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert Confirms PSSR 2 on PS5 Pro, But Glowing Previews All Based on PC Version
The wait continues
A bunch of previews for Crimson Desert have just dropped and most are raving about what could be one of the most impressive open world games of the generation — but guess what? We're still waiting on that all-important console footage. PS5 players are currently citing new footage that's taken from the official PlayStation Blog,...
News 'We're Not Hiding Anything': Crimson Desert Dev 'Sick' of Claims Around No PS5 Footage
Fans compare it to Cyberpunk 2077 launch
Developers at Crimson Desert studio Pearl Abyss, and most notably PR and marketing director Will Powers, seem to be at the end of their tethers regarding the concerns around the lack of console footage for the game. With the open world title now just over two weeks away from its console and PC release, the...
Monday2nd Mar 2026
News Crimson Desert Tech Analysis Raises More Questions About PS5 Performance
PC build impresses
Our friends over at Digital Foundry just published an in-depth look at Crimson Desert, the open world adventure that's set release for PS5 in just over a couple of weeks. The aforementioned analysis, however, is all about the game's performance on PC, and the tech that's behind its impressive visuals and physics. In short, Pearl...
Wednesday18th Feb 2026
News Is Crimson Desert an RPG? Weird Online Arguments Erupt as Dev Refuses to Call It One
It's an open world adventure, actually
We're exactly one month away from Crimson Desert releasing on PS5, and for many, it's ended up being one of the most anticipated titles of 2026 so far. But is it an RPG? This is apparently the question that's now plaguing Crimson Desert discourse, with arguments taking place across social media over the last...
Tuesday17th Feb 2026
Crimson alert
It's starting to sound like Crimson Desert will offer up a stern challenge when it launches on PS5 next month. There are still plenty of questions surrounding the hugely ambitious open world title, but developer Pearl Abyss is at least starting to answer some of the bigger ones. Case in point, marketing and PR director Will Powers...
Thursday12th Feb 2026
News Crimson Desert PS5 Is Also a Full-On Life Sim Game, Last Deep Dive Video Reveals
Camps! Farming! Fishing! Mining!
Crimson Desert studio Pearl Abyss has today concluded its deep dive video series on the upcoming open world title by revealing all the life simulator features and elements it has to go alongside the core experience. To keep it short, there's a lot. At the heart of the game will be your base camp, the Greymane Camp...
Thursday5th Feb 2026
News If Crimson Desert Wasn't Ambitious Enough, It Also Has a Mech and Two More Playable Characters
Second deep dive video talks combat and progression
For the vast majority of its Crimson Desert marketing up until now, developer Pearl Abyss has focused on pitching the bearded Kliff as the protagonist. However, did you know there are actually two more playable characters? Oh, and you can control a mech? The second of three deep dive videos...
