Crimson Desert finally lets you romance almost everyone The Charting the Unknown DLC adds flirting, relationships, and marriage. How it works: >Find an NPC with a heart icon >Build Trust to 100 >Unlock the Flirt option. >Build a second relationship meter to 100. >Then propose and you can marry her Your spouse can move into your home, travel with you and even give you gifts. You can end the marriage if you change your mind and if one of your characters flirts with an NPC, the other characters may lose that NPC's trust.

Crimson Desert has been a huge success for Pearl Abyss, and the developers are getting rewarded for it. The company’s spending on employee pay jumped by almost 95% in the latest quarter. Pearl Abyss says this was mainly because of bonuses given to employees after the game performed so well. The company has around 1,035 employees, so a lot of the team received bonuses. Pearl Abyss is also planning more DLC for the game, with more details expected later this year. A Nintendo Switch version is also in development and is planned for the first half of 2027.

Crimson Desert maker Pearl Abyss is looking into DLC and other ways to grow the open-world action game. “Crimson Desert will continue to focus on enhancing user satisfaction and driving new sales through continuous updates while expanding its market presence through platform expansion. In addition, we are currently exploring various ways to broaden the game to the next level, including DLC, and we will share the details once the concrete plans are set.” This is a change from what they said in March 2026, when CEO Heo Jin-young said there were no plans yet for paid DLC and the focus was on free updates to sell more copies of the main game. This comes after the game had a strong launch that helped Pearl Abyss earn a record 180 million dollars in one quarter

Crimson Desert has generated over $178.9 million in revenue since its March 19, 2026 launch according to developer Pearl Abyss’s Q1 financial report. This equates to roughly 266.5 billion KRW. >Platform split: exactly 50% PC and 50% consoles >Sales milestone: more than 5 million copies sold worldwide, reaching 4 million in under two weeks >Regional revenue: 94% from overseas markets, with North America and Europe accounting for 81% of the overseas total >Company performance: Pearl Abyss revenue up 420% year-over-year and operating profit surging 2,585%

my honest opinion about crimson desert combat is this should be a thing since you can already dodge to cancel the recovery, might as well do it with guard and make guard + unarmed attack be the kicks you get when you hold your bow + unarmed attack

Phantom Blade Zero has ended Crimson Desert’s realistic chances at major GOTY awards. Both are outsider AAA titles from China and South Korea chasing the same jury votes. PBZ launched late October with Metacritic scores around 88, with critics locking in on the combat. Crimson Desert came out in March, sold hard, then sat at 77 while relying on updates to stay relevant. One is a focused action game that reviewed cleanly. The other is a sprawling open-world title that never quite convinced critics. That leaves PBZ as the clearer pick for the limited outsider slot heading into awards season.

Pearl Abyss blames review process for Crimson Desert's 77 Metacritic score. 🔗 "Critics had to play the build that is not the exact same version as the launch game," said European CEO Lybee Park. "They also had limited time. Usually, the classical approach when they review the game is to follow the main storyline. But our unique charm is spread across our in-game world. All those tiny details that are hidden. I am not sure critics had the fair chance to explore those during the review period."

Pearl Abyss CEO thinks critics gave Crimson Desert lower scores because they didn’t have enough time to explore the game. Lybee Park says reviewers usually focus on the main story because they’re working against deadlines, missing out on what makes the game special. “They had limited time, and usually the classical approach when they review the game is following the main quest line,” she explained. Crimson Desert has a 77 critic score on Metacritic, compared to an 8.7 user score. Park believes players had more time to explore the world and discover everything the game has to offer.

A player with over 200 hours in Crimson Desert has been messaging the developers about a bug with the character Demaine. Her boots and armor cover her feet, so he cannot see them, and this is making him lose interest in the game. He wrote, “Still can’t see Demaine’s feet… losing interest in the game… Please fix this,” and wants an immediate fix.