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 that we've seen up until now has been captured on a high end PC, which, understandably, has resulted in growing concerns regarding the console versions.
And while Digital Foundry has only been able to examine the title on PS5 Pro, the impressions are undeniably positive. Thank god for that!
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So, to start with, this build of the game — which is apparently "near final" — is packing all three of the graphical settings that Pearl Abyss previously announced.
We've got:
- Performance - 60 frames-per-second targeting 1080p
- Balanced - 40 frames-per-second targeting 1440p
- Quality - 30 frames-per-second targeting 4K
All of these modes come with ray tracing enabled, which is impressive, since it covers details like reflections. And more importantly, there's no mention of any frame rate disasters.
With Crimson Desert being so heavy on action combat, we're guessing that the 60fps performance mode is going to be the most popular option amongst players — but a resolution of just 1080p isn't ideal in this day and age, especially when games look this good.
Thankfully, the performance mode makes use of PSSR — the PS5 Pro's in-built AI-driven upscaler. Digital Foundry says it works well enough, upscaling the image to 4K, but there is some artefacting to contend with — minor visual anomalies that can distract from the overall experience.
However, Digital Foundry stresses that this is the current version of PSSR — not PSSR2. It's already been confirmed that Crimson Desert will feature the latter, which should clean up any inconsistencies, and enhance the visual clarity even further.
In short, then, it sounds like PS5 Pro players are onto a winner. The analysis makes it clear that Crimson Desert is a stunner on Sony's supercharged system, and again, performance is mostly solid across the board.
We say mostly because Digital Foundry does note that "limitations can be more felt" when it comes to CPU usage; the game can exhibit noticeable frame rate dips in performance mode, when playing through especially busy areas — like cities that house a lot of active NPCs, or across battlefields that are being peppered with visual effects.
Fortunately, though, it's "never enough to feel that the game is poorly optimised", which we think has been the big worry for a lot of onlookers — and these kinds of drops could be mitigated through post-launch support.
What's more, there is a v-sync toggle in the graphics settings. With a display capable of VRR, you can turn v-sync on and enjoy frame rates that rise above 60fps in performance mode, which does help keep gameplay nice and smooth.
This seems to be the go-to option if you own such a display, with the hope being that PSSR 2 does manage to improve performance mode's overall image quality.
The bottom line here is that Pearl Abyss has crafted one hell of an engine, capable of dishing out spectacular visuals alongside technical accomplishments that are pretty mind-blowing when you consider the sheer scale of Crimson Desert's open world.
But of course, we're still waiting to see the game running on a standard PS5. Going by this analysis, it does sound like things might have to be scaled back quite a bit in order to ensure smooth performance. It's probably worth looking out for Digital Foundry's additional coverage in the near future.
Still, the report concludes with a big thumbs up: "The signs are looking good — and certainly for PS5 Pro owners, Crimson Desert delivers a phenomenal experience."
What do you make of this? Are you happy with how Crimson Desert's looking on PS5 Pro? Rub your eyes in the comments section below.