Black Desert
Genre: Fantasy-Sandbox | Developer: Pearl Abyss | Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | Release Date: March 3, 2016 | Model: Buy2Play
What kind of game is this? Black Desert is a sandbox MMORPG that places great importance on player freedom. Essentially, you should be able to explore the world as you wish.
This includes possibilities such as:
- Endless leveling, as there is no max level
- Grind for better gear
- Improve various lifeskills, including fishing, hunting, and gathering
- Build your own network of workers and create production chains to earn gold
- Set up your own house
- Build a ship and sail the world
- Jump into PvP and conquer outposts with a guild
Black Desert impresses mainly with its extensive character editor and its action combat system. Since in Black Desert, all attacks feel impactful, you can hit dozens of enemies with one ability and also evade stylishly and quickly. For many genre fans, Black Desert has the best combat system of all MMORPGs.
At the start, you also have the choice of numerous classes, so there should be something for every type of player. Every year, two to three new classes are added. In the meantime, there are also the season servers, where you can level up quickly and without PvP.
The freedoms in Black Desert come at a price. The game forgoes in-depth storylines and a clear sequence of quests. Moreover, there is a high degree of grind, and when upgrading gear, it can happen that it is damaged or even destroyed.
Here you can see the Drakania class in the gameplay trailer:
How well does Black Desert play on console? Many abilities have already relied on a combo system on PC. For example, you can press the F key and then move backward to activate ability 1, or press F and move forward to activate another ability.
This makes the controls on controllers relatively simple despite the many abilities. Furthermore, the MMORPG offers crossplay between PlayStation and Xbox, but not with PC. There are separate servers for PCs.
The performance on consoles is good, as long as you don’t fight with too many players in one place. Then you may actually experience some loss of performance.
What has been happening recently? Black Desert receives regular updates for both PC and consoles. These include new regions, classes, beginner-friendly features, and seasonal servers. In 2025, the game celebrated its 10th anniversary with special in-game events.
In recent months, Black Desert has seen one of its biggest content updates ever. The content of “Edania – Land of Demons” was released in several parts. It includes the continent of Edania in the north of Valencia, the continuation of the main quest series, new bosses, and more.
Who might be interested in Black Desert? Black Desert is aimed at sandbox fans who don’t want to be tied to a story, but want to act freely in the game world. In Black Desert, you can lead a life as a craftsman, merchant, or even the owner of a large guild with its own territory. But all of this always involves a lot of effort and grinding. Is Black Desert worth it?
