Crimson Desert Is ‘Not A Soulslike’ Game, But That Doesn’t Mean It’s Going To Be Easy

Will Powers, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Pearl Abyss, has that while the upcoming open-world RPG Crimson Desert isn’t a “souls like” game, that doesn’t mean it’ll be an easy ride.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Dropped Frames podcast, Powers talked about the open-world template for Crimson Desert, stating “There’s no progression gating in the sense of, ‘I just need to get good in order to do this.’” He added that while the main narrative requires players to beat certain bosses in order to progress, he noted “you can just leave, you can do something else, you can upgrade your weapon, you can do side questing, you can find different things in order to make that fight easier for you.”

That’s something that I think is really interesting, because when people see the boss fights in this game, they immediately think Soulslike. This is not a Soulslike game. Because Soulslike, again, has connotations and has specific definitions of narrow dodge windows, things like that. This is much more combo-driven and you kind of dictate the pace of the fight. So there is no ‘get good’ moment.

Does that mean the game’s easy? Hell no. But I think that it allows that layer of accessibility so you’re never hard stuck, which I think is really, really important in the single player game.

As previously reported, Powers stated during the same interview that Crimson Desert will not feature microtransactions. The game is slated for release on March 19, 2026 for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S. You can watch the latest gameplay footage of Crimson Desert here, which looks at combat and skill progression.

[Source – Dropped Frames via GamesRadar]