Crimson Desert is an upcoming action role-playing game developed and published by Pearl Abyss.^[1] The game is scheduled to be released in Q2 2025 for Windows, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.^[2]

Crimson Desert is set in a medieval fantasy world, on a continent called Pywel. Macduff, the main character, is a mercenary who finds himself beleaguered by the burdens of leadership and painful memories of his past.^[3]

The game was originally planned as a prequel to Black Desert Online but the development of the game eventually transformed into something else and the game changed to a single player game set in the same universe.^[4] In December 2020, after the release of the trailer at the Game Awards, Pearl Abyss released commentary videos to explain the development of the game and their vision for it.^[5] The game uses an upgraded version of Black Desert Online proprietary game engine called BlackSpace Engine.^[6][7]