Crimson Desert has come this far thanks to the support and feedback you’ve shared with us since launch. Through this Dev Update, we would like to once again express our deepest appreciation and share a preview of some of the additional features and content that our team is currently working on.
We plan to roll these updates out gradually from June through September, and we’re preparing them to be enjoyable both for those who have spent many hours in Pywel and for those who are just beginning their journey. Your feedback will continue to be an important reference throughout development, so please continue to share it with us.
Our updates to Pywel do not end with the content and features listed below. We are also hard at work on an upcoming DLC for Crimson Desert, and while we cannot share the details just yet, we are preparing it as a meaningful addition to your journey. We will share more details in the future, so stay tuned.
■ Story Improvements
We have been carefully reviewing the story-related feedback you have shared with us. To further strengthen the narrative flow of Kliff’s journey and to make it more engaging, we are working to refine and improve the coherence of key scenes. We hope these improvements will offer something new even for those who have already experienced Pywel.
■ Re-Blockade Update
Changes are planned for Re-Blockade. A new phase is being developed to make the flow before and after a blockade more natural, along with ways to defend certain strongholds from the threat of invasion. Rewards will also be improved to make the process of liberating strongholds feel more rewarding.
■ New Combat Content
A new combat-focused content will be added, allowing players to prove their true strength as a Greymane. More details will be shared in the future.
■ Cross-Save
We are working on a cross-save feature so that you can continue your journey in Pywel across different platforms. By linking your account, you will be able to share save files across platforms and continue your journey on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
■ Damiane & Oongka Gameplay Improvements
Damiane and Oongka’s overall gameplay experience will be improved. Various adjustments will be made so that all three playable characters can get a share of the spotlight.
■ Quality of Life Improvements for Non-Combat Content
We will continue making improvements to non-combat content, such as trading and farming, to address areas that players have found inconvenient.
Story improvements are a weird one to me as someone who studied creative writing and really loves reading. Expansions and DLC sure, but I don’t super like that you can go back and edit the story everyone bought responding to complaints. Hades 2 got controversial for that, but that’s at least like what early access is (though I think they had released the “final” product at that point). I think the story we got should stay the same as is, and creators have to find other solutions and work arounds to make the story better in retrospect be it prequels or sequels or expansions. Like I wouldn’t want someone “listening to story feedback” on their book and instead of taking that into account for future writing deciding to edit, rewrite, and re-release their book. How can I believe the story or charactera matter if the writers just change it post release to suit others?
Yeah, I’m with you. A story is a story, imperfect as it is, it shouldn’t be rewritten (although, there’s many books that are updated nowadays, with additional chapters even).
But I think it’s a direct response to this:
BIG SPOILERS OF THE FULL STORY OF THE GAME:
Story is hidden behind documents you find after finishing all the abyss stuff
Discussing the game on BlueSky, Sawyer explained that the fact that patches are coming is more important than leaving the game as it is. “I think this is fine/good,” the developer said, “even if it isn’t ideal”.
Sawyer’s work on games like Fallout New Vegas likely would’ve benefitted from modern patching process. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 have become significantly overhauled after their launches, and that allows for gamers to get a much better experience, even if launch is far from perfect.
The Fallout designer explained that patching Crimson Desert is just “like patching anything”, and it’s better to give players better games after the fact than leave it as it is. Since launch, fans have expressed indifference at the game’s story, and patches to improve the game’s narrative are better than sticking with the game’s currently shoddy format.
The developer continued: “It’s better to patch story content to make it better than to say, ‘we f**ked up on release but we won’t do anything about it because story is different from anything else’.”
Interesting perspective, but it’s also more work and a cost for the studio. Not all studios can do that.
I’m mixed on patching as a whole for what’s it’s done to the culture of game development. There is definitely the thought process of “Release it now and fix it later.” with many many games these days and a lot get rewarded for it. I think of Black Myth Wukong. That game just was not ready for release with or without the Series S version. But it brute forced it and had very successful sales, what message does that send? Games are software, but they’re also a piece of art just like movies or books or paintings. At the very least I think there should be some system in place to preserve previous versions of games and let us rollback and play them without online services if we purchased the game on a given platform. Like that’d be a nice law. Minus exploits that let you steal from the game (currency or whatnot). That would be more like releasing a new edition of a book to edit out genuine mistakes like typos or sometimes editors do something that the author didn’t intend. But those old versions were still printed and people who own them still own them. Whereas with games the product you purchased can just have an update pushed and be an entirely different product.
