Crimson Desert: Beginner’s Guide – 31 Tips I Wish I Knew Before Starting

Crimson Desert is a complex action-adventure that doesn’t explain many things in as much detail as you would expect from modern open-world adventures. In this guide, we summarize all the tips and tricks for getting started that we wish we had known before our own start.

What is this article about? We provide you with tips and tricks to help you ease into Crimson Desert. The new action-adventure from Pearl Abyss is incredibly extensive and complex, while at the same time, the open-world adventure tends to leave important basics insufficiently explained or not explained at all.

We focus on insights and observations we made during our own playthroughs – often later than we would have liked. This way, you won’t find yourself thinking while playing, “I wish I had known that earlier!”.

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Tips for starting in Crimson Desert

First, some basic tips to make your life in the continent of Pywel easier:

• Once you’ve completed the linear tutorial start and your first visit to the Abyss, you will already receive your first mount through the next quests. From then on, you can summon the horse anywhere in the world at the push of a button.
• When you ride your horse, it gains experience, levels up, and acquires new skills such as a quick start or a back kick, as well as improved stats. When you obtain a new mount, you will have to level it again.
• You can review the complex control commands and other tutorial information in the menu under Options / Help or Messages.
• Complete as many side quests from the residents of the first region as possible at the start, as they often reward you with additional inventory space. Also, visit all possible merchants, whether it’s a grocer or a tanner. Many sell additional storage for little money.
• Recipes that lie around in the game world can often be viewed, allowing you to learn the respective recipe without any criminal act or having to pick up the item (which would clutter your inventory). However, you can still pick them up without consequence and sell them at the next merchant if you need money.
• Once-read books, documents, and letters can be discarded from your inventory without worry to save space. Check with a merchant beforehand to see if the stuff can be sold. Especially crafting books and recipes yield good money at the start.
• Visit the blacksmith and the merchant in front of the blacksmith in the first city. This way, you’ll receive your first gathering tasks plus an axe and a pickaxe for free. You don’t have to buy these two tools.
• If you need some money, participate in mini-games that you find easy, or complete bounty quests from bulletin boards. Note that you cannot transport captured prisoners to the jail via fast travel. But you can hoist them over your shoulder and then mount your horse.
• Before selling equipment, check the corresponding item description. If it mentions disguise or a headgear that grants immunity to a certain type of damage, the clothing might be important for quests or boss fights later on.
• If you pet animals like dogs or cats often enough, they will become friends and can accompany you. The animal companions automatically collect the loot from defeated enemies. For the friendship, you need 100 reputation points. A maximum of 25 points can be obtained per day through petting. You can get additional points by dropping meat nearby the animal.
• Through a bed or a campfire, you can fast forward time. This can partially also be done at the push of a button during quests. After a rest, the fast-forward function is blocked for the time being until the character requires another rest.
• You learn to fish by standing next to a fisherman and observing them while they fish.
• Don’t be surprised: When you return to the game after a break, Cliff will not be where you left him. Instead, the game always automatically places him in a nearby safe location.

The stylishly produced launch trailer of Crimson Desert:

Tips for exploring Pywel

Exploration of Pywel is a major focus in Crimson Desert. Our tips will help!

• Use the reflection of your weapon or the glow of your lantern to spot the locations of fast travel points, Abyss landmarks, or sealed Abyss artifacts from elevated points in the game world – they are indicated by a brightly glowing aura.
• Thanks to your glide skill, which you learn fairly early in the game, jumping from great heights is no longer a problem for you. Just keep an eye on your stamina. Without activated gliding, you risk fatal fall damage upon landing. By the way, gliding down slowly costs no stamina at all.
• You activate many fast travel points by standing on the corresponding stone slab at an Abyss Nexus. From then on, you can select these from the world map. Some fast travel points are destroyed, and you have to find a missing part to activate them. For some, you also need to solve puzzles at Abyss landmarks to be able to teleport there afterward.
• If you have nearly completely uncovered a region of the map, but there are still circular uncovered areas with a question mark on the map, a fast travel point is waiting for activation or an Abyss artifact is expecting your visit.
• If you come across enemy camps while exploring, take the time to drive away all enemies. This way, the area returns to the hands of your allies, and enemy patrols disappear from the road. This will subsequently make exploring the region easier, and new quest givers may appear.
• Access points in the game world are often blocked. If thorn bushes block the path, you can burn them with the light reflection of your weapon or a fire arrow. You obtain a fire arrow by nocking a normal arrow and holding it over a fire bowl.

Tips for combat and character development

In Crimson Desert, you will face countless challenges where you must take up arms. We assist you with some initial tips.

• Make sure you always have enough healing food in your inventory. Sometimes, you may find yourself unexpectedly in boss fights or mass battles. You can buy cooked food from merchants for a few coins. Alternatively, stock up on meat through merchants or hunting. You can then cook better healing food at each campfire with these.
• In Crimson Desert, there are not only various types of meat and fish, but you can also cook various versions of a dish from them. They consume different amounts of resources but also provide different amounts of healing. Focus on one version of the dish when cooking that you invest all your gathered meat into. Otherwise, you clutter your inventory with various food stacks.
• Generally speaking: If you lose against an opponent, more healing items are the simplest way to beat them the next time. However, you can also just leave them be for now, dive into other tasks, and strengthen your character that way.
• Further ways to improve your character early on include: Obtain better equipment (through quest rewards, loot, crafting), upgrade your existing equipment at a blacksmith, earn Abyss artifacts for unlocking further talents.
• Abyss artifacts or new talents can be obtained by completing main quests, defeating bosses, solving Abyss puzzles in the world, and mastering the tasks of sealed Abyss artifacts. Artifacts are also rewarded when you fill the yellow bar next to the minimap by defeating enemies.
• The talents can be learned relatively freely; you do not have to work from the inside out or from the outside in within the 3 trees.
• Blocked talents will be unlocked during the main story as you learn the corresponding skills or by watching certain enemies use the respective maneuver.
• All 3 playable characters have their own talent trees, and you can only invest each skill point once. The only exception is that investments in Kliff for more stamina, health, and spirit are also found with the two other fighters. Otherwise, you must decide or distribute the points among several characters (which shouldn’t be a problem over time).
• Alternatively, you can reset skills multiple times with the limited faded Abyss artifacts and redistribute all artifact points.
• If you have unlocked another playable character, you can switch to them through a selection menu, similar to GTA 5.
• The fighters you are not controlling can accompany you and assist in battles. To do this, speak to them. Note, however, that Kliff is alone in the main story, and your companions will not be available during certain phases.
• Improve your health and stamina reserves early on through talents. Also, learn the double jump soon and enhance the power punch so you can use it up to three times in a row – that can throw some bosses off their game.
• In chaotic battles, it might happen that your horse takes some damage. With the healing power punch (learnable talent), you can heal the animal. Alternatively, take it to a stable, where it will be taken care of for a small fee.

Lastly, a note: Many systems and contents of Crimson Desert are unlocked during the main story or through seemingly inconspicuous side quests, sometimes only after dozens of hours of gameplay. For those who want access to all 3 playable characters as quickly as possible, prioritizing the story acts is essential – though you will face some challenging challenges in these.

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If you have further tips and tricks that ease the start in Crimson Desert, feel free to drop them in the comments! If you have specific questions about the game, you can submit them during our Q&A session for the release in this article: MMORPG veterans with over 100 hours in Crimson Desert will answer your questions about the action-adventure