Crimson Desert is finally here! While you’re undoubtedly eager to dive into Kliff’s adventure and explore the vast open world of Pywel, the sheer scale of the game can be daunting for some. If you find yourself in the latter camp, or simply want a few early pointers to make those initial hours smoother, we’ve compiled our essential starting tips for new adventurers in Crimson Desert below.
Tip 1: Stick to the Main Quest Initially
When you first enter an open-world game, there’s often an immediate urge to stray from the main path and explore at your leisure. In many games, there’s a specific moment where you feel “unleashed,” given permission to explore as you wish—like leaving the mountains in Red Dead Redemption 2 or the plateau in Breath of the Wild. Crimson Desert is a bit different; its main quest line acts as a guiding star throughout your journey, facilitating your exploration rather than being something to complete before the world truly opens up.
Therefore, we highly recommend sticking with the main quest, even for the first ten hours, to familiarize yourself with all the mechanics the game offers. Crimson Desert is expansive in every sense, and having this constant objective helps tremendously in preventing you from feeling unprepared or overwhelmed by the vast wilderness.
Tip 2: Double-Check Your Controls
Seriously, this might sound trivial, but familiarize yourself with the button layout and constantly remind yourself which button does what. For instance, remembering that the bumper, not the trigger, lets you zoom and focus on objects. Speaking from personal experience, it’s easy to spend hours accidentally performing unintended actions due to muscle memory from other games. With numerous powers, attack combinations, and menus at your disposal, it’s crucial to double-check, or even triple-check, that you’re about to execute your intended action, especially in a friendly town. Feel free to unleash attacks in enemy camps, but even there, ensure you’re attacking correctly and not, for example, accidentally locking on by clicking the right stick.
Tip 3: Spend Early Skill Points Wisely
After defeating numerous enemies in Crimson Desert, you’ll earn Abyss Artifacts. Unlike a traditional RPG leveling system, this game grants skill points based on the number of foes you vanquish, meaning these points can be somewhat scarce in the early game. You also have considerable freedom in how you spend your skill points right from the start, so make sure to invest them prudently. Initially, we recommend upgrading your health, stamina, and fundamental skills. Within the Spirit Tree, it’s particularly worthwhile to spend points on enhancing your parry, evasion, and other defensive mechanics, allowing you to tackle tougher enemies sooner. Resist the temptation to unlock the flashiest moves first.
Tip 4: Early Side Quests Provide Resource Gathering Gear
One of the great aspects of Crimson Desert is its open-ended world, often allowing multiple solutions to a single problem. If you need to mine ore, you’ll likely find a pickaxe nearby. However, to consistently have the necessary tools in your inventory, the easiest approach is to accept requests from townsfolk as soon as you enter Hernand proper. These quests will also teach you important skills, such as upgrading your weapons and gear, and introduce you to activities beyond just slaying enemies. While on the topic of upgrades, be sure to gather the resources to enhance Kliff’s basic sword. Upgrading it is the quickest way to feel more powerful in early combat, and his sword-and-shield combo remains your best bet until you acquire stronger gear later on.
Tip 5: Balance Your Inventory
For a game that showers you with loot like a dungeon master spoiling their favorite player, Crimson Desert surprisingly offers rather limited inventory space. It was significantly worse before a pre-launch patch provided 50 inventory slots, but even so, you’ll quickly run out of room in Kliff’s backpack if you pick up everything. Therefore, it’s essential to only take and keep what you truly need. Alchemy and crafting resources aren’t priorities unless they’re super rare, and you’ll need to make sure to sell your old armor and other obsolete equipment. Save space for new weapons, items, armor, and meals. Lots of meals, as they’ll be crucial for surviving challenging boss fights by allowing you to heal on the fly.
Tip 6: Your Horse Isn’t Broken, It Just Needs Rest
There are many ways to traverse the map in Crimson Desert. Kliff is quite agile on foot, but the game also provides you with a horse early on to give you that extra speed needed to cross Hernand. After a while, your horse might start to slow down. This isn’t a bug, nor is it the game telling you it’s time for a new steed. Simply return your horse to a stable, and it will regain its full energy. It’s easy to quick-travel to a point near the stables on Hernand’s map, summon your horse by pressing up on the D-pad, and then lead it back to rest.
Tip 7: Shops and NPCs Don’t Need to Sleep
As night falls in Crimson Desert, you might expect NPCs and merchants to retire for the evening, as they often do in other RPGs. However, this isn’t a traditional RPG in that sense, and NPCs don’t adhere to daily cycles. Instead, they’ll remain at their posts, ready to offer new equipment, fresh ingredients, or quest advice whenever you need them. It’s a small detail you might overlook, but one that could save you from an early night when you’d rather continue your adventure.
Tip 8: Alternate Characters Retain Their Position
This might not be considered an early-game tip, but it’s something we encountered within our first ten hours. Upon reaching Chapter 3 of Crimson Desert’s story, you’ll unlock the game’s second playable character, Damiane, and can switch between characters as you roam the world. Similar to Grand Theft Auto V, Crimson Desert remembers where you left each character. So, if you’re, for example, chasing a bounty but know Kliff is closer than Damiane, you can simply switch characters and apprehend the target as the other playable character. While this may not always be useful, especially since Kliff is central to main story missions, it can certainly aid in traversing the open world efficiently.
Tip 9: How to Earn Money Easily
One thing you might find a bit frustrating when starting your journey in Crimson Desert is the initial scarcity of funds. Quests yield little to no money, and converting your coppers to silvers and silvers to gold is no small feat. This is where side activities prove incredibly useful. Archery contests, arm wrestling, and duels with certain weapons are all easy ways to earn cash. The most significant early rewards come from bounty hunting, but it’s crucial to note that the tougher the bounty, the more you’ll be paid, so don’t jump into the most lucrative contract first.
Tip 10: If the Game Shows You Something Before a Mission, You’ll Likely Need It
This might seem incredibly obvious, but in a game as vast and complex as Crimson Desert, it’s easy to overlook or forget certain mechanics. Fortunately, the game often teaches you what you need to know just minutes before you’re required to use that knowledge. For example, you might learn to slow down time and lift objects telekinetically moments before needing to demonstrate those powers in a puzzle. Later, you’ll plant flags in the ground during a combat mission, then use those same button combinations to strike broken pillars onto a boss’s head. It’s worth mentally noting any new things you learn, as it will save you hassle and time in the very near future.