Crimson Desert: the 10 mistakes that ruin your game (and how to avoid them)

Crimson Desert was released on March 19, 2026 and, let's say it straight, the game doesn't hold your hand. Pearl Abyss has created a massive open world with deep mechanics, demanding combat system, and total freedom of exploration. The issue? The game barely explains half of its systems. As a result, we all make stupid mistakes at the beginning of the game, mistakes that can cost you hours of progress.

We have compiled here the 10 worst mistakes we see in players - some we have made ourselves, others we have seen in the community. The goal is to save you time so you can enjoy the game without getting frustrated. By the way, if you want to see how the game runs on your setup, we have a Crimson Desert FPS benchmark complete on DropReference: see the benchmark here .

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This is trap number one. The inventory in Crimson Desert is ridiculously small at the beginning, and the game throws tons of items: recipes, quest notes, bounties, crafting materials, weapons, food... In two hours of play, you're out of space.

The thing that many players do not realize is that the notes and recipes each take up one inventory slot . The notes of bounty, the opinions of the request board, the recipes you've already memorized — all of that takes up space. Once you've read and memorized a recipe, sell it to a merchant (it earns you a little money). The notes of completed quests? Throw them on the ground. Yes, literally.

And above all, do not let never objects on the ground, thinking to pick them up later. Unlike Skyrim, items placed on the ground in Crimson Desert disappear permanently . No storage house, no personal safe — if you don't need it, sell it. Otherwise, you lose it.

When you arrive in a new region, your first reflex should be to look for bell towers. Each area has several of them and ringing a bell reveals a huge portion of the map at once Without it, you're walking blindly with question marks everywhere.

The worst part is that the towers are often very visible, right in the middle of cities. But since the game doesn't explicitly tell you "go ring the bells," many players miss it and waste a lot of time exploring without landmarks. It's the first thing to do in each new territory. Period.

In Crimson Desert, fast travel exists but you have to earn it. Nexus of the Abyss — teleportation platforms — are scattered all over the map, and each one must be activated manually. The problem is that many players ignore them or simply do not see them.

The map is huge. Riding for 5 minutes each time is only fun for so long. Use the Éclat d'épée (the sword reflection) from high points to spot the Nexuses around you, and make it a priority as soon as you arrive somewhere. An unlocked Nexus potentially saves dozens of minutes of travel time in the long run.

Crimson Desert lets you go wherever you want from the start. Technically, nothing prevents you from heading north or crossing the desert at the beginning of the game. But the world is full of areas that require specific crossing skills : aerial maneuver, sliding, advanced climbing, Abyss-related abilities...

If you go exploring without unlocking these skills, you will constantly find yourself in front of invisible walls. Inaccessible chests, caves you can't reach, puzzles you can't solve. It's extremely frustrating. It's better to make some progress in the main quest first - mobility skills unlock quite quickly - and then come back to explore with the full arsenal.

The skill "aerial maneuver" in particular, it's a game changer . It allows you to move infinitely faster on the map and access areas otherwise impossible. Invest 4 points in endurance for the 200 endurance required, and unlock it as soon as possible.

It's the classic mistake. You progress in the story, everything is going well, the normal enemies fall like flies... and BAM, a boss turns you over in two hits. The Devil of Reeds, for example, is a real wall if you're not prepared. A three-phase battle, at night, in reed fields where you can't see anything.

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Before each boss, you should:

• Improve your equipment to the anvil and to the grindstone (it can almost double your stats)
• Store food — a lot of food. The game lets you spam healing in combat, so might as well take advantage of it
• Crafting Palmer Pills (resurrection pills). It allows you to come back in the middle of a boss fight. The recipe is found in the Pedalon workshop.
• Save before the fight — always. Especially for the Devil of Reeds, throw it in the morning as a game to avoid fighting in complete darkness

And a bonus tip: normal enemies are rarely dangerous even in groups. It's the bosses that are tough. Save your best items for those moments.

The camp, it's easy to put it aside. The main quests are more exciting, exploration more fun, and the camp missions look boring in comparison. But it's a mistake. The camp is your main source of inventory improvements at the beginning of the game, and that changes everything.

By finding the lost Greymanes around the world, you unlock vendors at the camp: a blacksmith for crafting and upgrading, a cook who sells food in bulk (and restocks often), and other useful NPCs. The cook in particular is the best investment you can make Once it's there, you never have to worry about your healthcare supplies again.

Launch dispatch missions as soon as possible - especially guard missions that generate passive income. You'll need money for research, construction projects, and various upgrades. The earlier you start, the more peace of mind you'll have later on.

Crimson Desert has 13 different types of weapons. Thirteen. And the game is designed for you to use several at the same time , by switching in the middle of combat. Sticking to the basic sword for 20 hours means depriving oneself of half of the combat system.

Each weapon modifies your speed, your range, your endurance consumption, and your complete playstyle. A spear player plays a completely different game from an axe player, even against the same enemies. And inter-weapon combos — like staggering with the spear then finishing with the hammer — that's where the combat truly shines.

If you don't know where to start, our complete guide to the weapons of Crimson Desert gives you a detailed ranking from S+ to C.

The artifacts of the Abyss are rare and precious. It is the currency to unlock skills. The trap? Some skills can be learned free of charge by observing the enemies who use them in combat. If you slam your artifacts without checking first, you waste a resource that you could have used elsewhere.

During boss fights in particular, watch out for the enemies' movements. The game sometimes displays an indicator when you can "learn" a skill through observation. It's subtle, easy to miss, but it can save you artifacts for skills that don't none another way to be unlocked.

Flying in Crimson Desert is tempting. And it's even profitable - we have a complete guide on how to make money quickly who uses the theft of the gold ingot at the mansion. But be careful: stealing without caution has consequences.

Each missed flight or spotted flight lower your reputation and can put a bounty on your head. It directly impacts your access to vendors, faction rewards, and interactions with certain NPCs. If you steal, do it intelligently:

• Always wear a mask — it reduces the risk of being identified
• Backup before each attempt — if it fails, you reload
• Aim for risk-free opportunities — unattended wagons, empty parts at night
• Erase your premiums at the church if you get caught

That one, we don't talk about it enough. Crimson Desert is one of the most beautiful games released in 2026 The graphic engine of Pearl Abyss slams breathtaking environments, crazy light effects, smooth animations, and ultra-detailed textures. Playing this on a 2018 1080p 60Hz screen is like listening to a vinyl on $5 earphones.

If you invest in a good PC setup to run the game - and believe us, it needs it given the benchmarks FPS — might as well invest in the screen that goes with it. A good gaming monitor in 1440p 144Hz minimum, that's what will allow you to truly enjoy the game. The colors, the fluidity, the immersion... it makes a difference all .

Are you hesitating about which screen to choose? Here is our complete selection of gaming monitors:

A 27-inch QHD IPS screen with a good refresh rate is the sweet spot for Crimson Desert. You can enjoy the graphics without needing a monster GPU to handle 4K, and the motion clarity at 144Hz+ makes the battles much more readable.

In bulk, a few additional errors that we see all the time:

Do not hunt deer with a deer hat. There is an item — the deer hat — that makes deer no longer afraid of you. You can just walk towards them and hit them. It drops sacred deer cultists near the ruins of Icemore Castle, in the north of the map. Before having this hat, hunting is a pain. Afterwards, it's trivial.

Cut down trees by hand without using weapons. You can cut down trees with loaded arrows, heavy attacks, or even by pushing one tree onto another. However, for the final blow - turning logs into wood - use always the lumberjack's axe. Without it, you get one piece of wood per log. With it, you get wood AND fine wood with each blow.

Forget the power cores in the ruins. The power cores are needed to solve certain puzzles. If you leave an area without picking them up and storing them in your cuckoo pot, they disappear. You will have to buy them back for 10 silver coins at the camp (lost items menu). 10 silver, that hurts when you don't have much.

Ignore the progress of your horse. Your horse has its own level and stats system. Neglecting it means dragging yourself on the map when you could go twice as fast. Feed it, train it, and if you want to go further, we have a legendary horse guide .

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1. Let your inventory fill up with useless notes and recipes
2. Ignore the bell towers that reveal the map
3. Do not unlock teleportation points as a priority
4. Exploring too early without the skills for crossing
5. Rush into bosses without equipment and healing
6. Neglect the camp and the lost Greymanes
7. Staying stuck on one weapon instead of experimenting
8. Wasting Abyss artifacts on skills that can be learned for free
9. Fly without a mask and ruin your reputation
10. Playing on a screen that does not do justice to the graphics

The game is not hard in itself, but it is demanding. Classic enemies rarely pose a problem, but the bosses are real walls if you're not prepared. By following this guide and avoiding the listed mistakes, you should get through it without too much frustration.

Neglecting inventory and camp. These two mistakes combined slow you down enormously and make the rest of the game more painful than it should be. Take 30 minutes to tidy up these two systems and you will be set for hours.

Yes. The Crimson Desert (the area, not the game) is open right from the start of the game. It's even a good spot to farm rare resources very early on - mining nodes are plentiful there and the area is relatively quiet in terms of enemies. However, the heat reduces your endurance regeneration, so plan for food.

You can equip multiple weapons and switch between them in the middle of combat. This is actually the core of the combat system in Crimson Desert — inter-weapon combos are much more powerful than sticking to a single weapon.

A 27-inch monitor in QHD (2560x1440) with at least 144Hz. It is the best compromise between visual quality and performance. In 4K, a very high-end graphics card will be needed to maintain a correct framerate. Check out our monitor board above to find the best models.