Crimson Desert is a week away from its launch, on March 19th. Its Launch Trailer, however, dropped a little earlier. It showcases a ton of gameplay systems, flashy abilities and gorgeous environments. And it has a Jetpack!
Check out the trailer
Typical for a launch trailer, this one is very flashy, shows off some cool gameplay elements, and clocks in at just under two minutes.
Pearl Abyss released the trailer along with the news that you can preload the game starting from March 17th, at 23:00 CET from PlayStation store, Xbox store, Microsoft store, and Steam.
Key new elements from the trailer
The trailer starts with a narrative voiceover from Oonka, one of the two additional playable characters (voiced by Steward Scudamore). “It’s time to take back what was stolen” sets a suitably grim tone for a dark fantasy.
From there we get a rapid showcase of Kliff’s action – facing off against a hooded opponent, a dual-wield lightning-flashing character (he looks like he might be another Graymane, a large electrified robot-like monster (likely a boss), and riding hard through rough terrain. The terrain is a mix of desert and rocky cliffs. Maybe a transition area between two regions.
The sheer variety of enemies on display in under two minutes backs up the game’s ambitions scope.
Next up, we meet the third playable character, Damiane (Rebecca Hanssen), in a combat sequence somewhere in what looks like the Crimson Desert region, with snowy mountains in the distant background.
Pearl Abyss also released a behind-the-scenes video with the main cast. If you are wondering why those names and voices sound familiar, it’s because we have heard them before in other beloved titles such as Cyberpunk 2077, Space Marine II, and Stellar Blade.
Several new flashy weapon animations made an appearance in the trailer, including burning sword and a battle fan (some variant of a tessen maybe?). The fluidity of all animations and ability chains is striking. Even on a heavily compressed video from YouTube.
Pearl Abyss has shown a lot of the game in promotional videos over the course of its development (over six years!) and they still have new details to share. I like this!
What caught my eye (and probably yours too!) is the speeding train that Kliff grappled and jumped onto in a very cool way using his “gravity hand” ability. So, there are trains! That’s cool! Dragons, mechs, flying machines, and crazy magical abilities, were simply not enough!
And then, the JETPACK! We saw a character (could be Kliff, most likely it’s him, I was not able to tell with certainty) flying around brick and wooden desert structures using what appears to be a full jetpack mount. If, how, when and why we will get to use it, we don’t know yet.
Near the end, we got to see a couple of platforming puzzles that involved the gravity hand ability and careful traversal.
Overall, the trailer attempts to showcase as many gameplay features as possible without providing too many details on them.
Is Crimson Desert for you?
You play as Kliff, a Greymane on a mission to reunite the last surviving members of his clan and reclaim what they have lost. We at VULKK are very excited for Crimson Desert and will be spending many (MANY!) hours with it in the coming weeks and months playing and covering it from end to end.
This game may be confusing some of you, who are not following its development closely. This is not an RPG. It’s an open-world action game with a very heavy emphasis on exploration, with multiple complex systems and a ton of distractions like side quests and mini games.
There has been a popular meme that has been posted as a comment on pretty much every feature video and preview so far.
– How many features do you want?
– YES!
And it holds true! Crimson Desert will throw at you a ton of systems and information. You may even feel overwhelmed in the beginning.
Ahead of its release, Crimson Desert has already surpassed three million wishlists across major global platforms. This is a strong signal of genuine player interest, not just hype.
The game is available in four editions for all major platforms. Its PC and Console hardware specs are rather forgiving, we think, for a 2026 title.
The game is built on the proprietary Black Space engine, which Pearl Abyss built specifically for the game. This engine is designed to handle vast open spaces and highly detailed character models.
The game has no levels. You will be upgrading your character by defeating opponents, excploring the world and discovering better and more powerful gear, while also learning new abilities. This means that if you get stuck on a difficult boss, you can leave it for later and come back after you get a few upgrades to help you tackle it. It’s not technically a new approach, but is a solid and forgiving loop that should suit a wide range of players, I think.
Follow our coverage of all news leading up to the launch and keep checking back for walkthroughs, puzzle guides and tips.
Crimson Desert: Everything We Know
