Crimson Desert Locks in March Release Date as Dev Acknowledges 'Strong Anticipation'

Crimson Desert has gone gold, locking successful its planetary merchandise day of March 19, 2026. That’s crossed PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Mac.

Developer Pearl Abyss described going golden arsenic a “major improvement milestone” for the open-world action-adventure game. It thanked fans for their continued support, acknowledging what it called “strong anticipation” that has built up implicit the people of the past year.

Here’s the authoritative blurb connected Crimson Desert:

Set successful the immense continent of Pywel, Crimson Desert is an open-world action-adventure crippled that follows the travel of protagonist Kliff and his Greymane companions. The rubric has been praised for its realistic, high-fidelity graphics, dynamic combat, and the state and interactivity of its unfastened world, delivering a heightened consciousness of immersion and intensity.

Earlier this month, Pearl Abyss called Crimson Desert’s unfastened satellite “absolutely massive,” bigger adjacent than that of Bethesda’s Skyrim and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2.

Speaking connected the Gaming Interviews YouTube channel, Pearl Abyss’ Will Powers said that describing the size of Crimson Desert’s satellite successful presumption of numbers doesn’t bash it justice, due to the fact that doing truthful fails to seizure the scope and standard of the game. But helium did spell arsenic acold arsenic to comparison it to 2 of the biggest unfastened satellite games around.

"I don't deliberation numbers truly bash it justness because, however large is that successful presumption of scope and scale?” helium said. “But what we tin accidental is that the world's astatine slightest doubly arsenic large arsenic the unfastened world, the playable area, of Skyrim. It's larger than the representation of Red Dead Redemption 2."

Powers went connected to importune that the size of Crimson Desert’s unfastened satellite won’t find its quality. Rather, what you really bash successful it is the cardinal factor.

"The continent of Pywel is perfectly massive, but size doesn't truly substance if there's thing to do,” helium said. “Open-world games are astir doing things, having activities, having distractions. So we wanted to make a satellite that's not lone massive, but is besides incredibly interactive."

Crimson Desert IGN First - Combat and Mounts Screenshots

Unlike Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption 2, successful Crimson Desert you tin alert astir connected a dragon, truthful contempt the size of its world, you’ll beryllium capable to get astir quickly. And don’t expect RPG elements successful presumption of decision-making and prime and effect arsenic it relates to your character, either. The sheer magnitude of things to bash successful the satellite volition facilitate the role-playing portion of Crimson Desert, which players volition signifier done “head canon.”

“You take the benignant of quality you privation to play arsenic successful presumption of your progression wrong the systems successful the game,” Powers explained. “And past done caput canon you’re having this precise antithetic acquisition than different players due to the fact that of the scope and standard of the game. You’ll beryllium distracted by something, you’ll spell connected this quest line, you’ll person an acquisition that’ll beryllium radically antithetic than idiosyncratic else, adjacent though they’re playing the aforesaid crippled and the aforesaid canonical storyline that you some are going through.”

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].