I know I’ve been repeating this over and over again, but Crimson Desert really is a special game, not only because it has genuinely great gameplay and a breathtaking world. While that’s awesome and all, I’m starting to truly appreciate its developers, Pearl Abyss, who have been issuing non-stop patches since the game came out two weeks ago.
And one came out today, again. This time, the developers wanted to be as inclusive as possible, introducing ways for players to use old control schemes if they preferred them, while allowing everyone else to use those modernized and polished ones that they so desperately demanded. On top of that, there are countless quality-of-life improvements, bugfixes, and minor changes in the patch, as there have been in every patch since March 19.
While the game launched to some controversy, its developers have been so punctual with updates that there is barely any bad blood between them and the players anymore. Even those in the broader gaming community who screamed at the top of their lungs that the game is rehashed trash are now silent. Numbers keep increasing, review scores keep climbing, and Parl Abyss continues to earn more and more respect, even from CD‘s biggest naysayers.
To that end, I propose that we (or rather, other developers) perform a comprehensive study of Pearl Abyss and its MO concerning Crimson Desert. In there, I am certain we would learn how post-launch periods should actually be handled and how the Western state of mind revolving around years-long post-release cycles simply doesn’t cut it in our rapid day and age.
Take Starfield, for example. That game launched with a myriad of different issues almost three full years ago. That’s a long time, and by the time this article is published, it is yet to receive what is most likely its final update. And even with years of post-launch development, patches, and a not-so-well-received DLC, Starfield remains in a strange state that is neither good nor necessarily horrible, with Bethesda barely being able to move the dial either way.
Contrast that to Crimson Desert, a game that had fundamental flaws on release, prompting its developers to fix up major problems within a week of launch. Hell, they even changed several introductory quests, added new story elements to better streamline the acquisition of certain skills, and generally made the first few hours of the game much more enjoyable and manageable for the average player.
It’s not even that they updated the game as much as that they almost entirely reworked the game’s prologue to make it land better with audiences. I can’t recall the last time I saw a development studio, either in the West or anywhere else, performing such fundamental changes and at such a speed. Nowadays, if a game has bad parts, those parts will remain bad no matter what, and though devs tend to try and fluff up the rest of the experience, revamping certain aspects is rendered unto the realm of “impossibility” and left as is.
Pearl Abyss proves that nothing really is impossible, as you can keep tweaking and changing and updating the game to make it better even after launching it. I mean, you have the source code, you have the engine, so why not make those changes? Sure, not all changes will be for the better, and you’re always taking a risk when undergoing deep reworks, but sometimes you’re forced to make that decision, and just sitting on your behind doing nothing isn’t doing you any favors.
Unfortunately, Pearl Abyss remains rather alone in this regard, and in many others, too.
Since launching, the game has had a dozen patches fixing everything and adhering to every community complaint and demand possible. From new control schemes to improving input lag to adding more storage and expanding the game’s fast travel spots, Crimson Desert is almost a different game to the one that I played for the review, and it’s only been two weeks.
AI art was removed after being detected, performance updates made it look and work better on base console models, while polishing made the minutest things, such as cat names, fall more in line with its broader vision.
PA is just working so, so fast to address everything and anything the community wants them to address, and, like the above, I cannot recall many studios ever doing so. Many do put out great updates and polish their games in a timely manner, but I think Pearl Abyss is setting some kind of record with the pace they’re updating CD at.
I’m just in love with their work ethic, and I hope, for the sake of our amazing community, that more developers appear in the AAA sphere willing to undertake massive tasks to make their games better, and not just by selling us overpriced updates, patches, and so-called expansion packs that turn out to be single characters and a two-hour mission.
