In an era where more and more games are launching digitally, with a couple of days of early access for another ten bucks, physical media is rare. Fortunately, PlayStation heard our cries and revealed not only the release date for Crimson Desert, but a line-up of insane-looking physical editions. It seems about time to start making room on my bookshelves for March 19, 2026.
Crimson Desert will launch with three editions: Collector’s, Deluxe, and Standard, each with its own special features. For a whopping $280 USD, you can get the Collector’s edition, which gives you the game, a massive diorama of Kliff battling a dragon, a fabric map of Pywel, a Greymane brooch pin, three character photo cards, three patches, and a letter from the developer. Of course, what good is a Collector’s edition without DLC? Players will also receive the Ultimate Pack and Deluxe pack, each with various weapons and horse tack sets.
The Deluxe edition will run you $90 USD and provide everything within the Collector’s edition except for the statue and felt map, which is replaced with a paper version. You’ll also only receive the Deluxe Pack DLC, which comes with the Balgran Shield, Exclaire Horse Tack Set, and Kairos Plate Set. Lastly, the Standard edition will still give you a few goodies if you pre-order it, including the Khaled Shield and Grotevant Plate Set for PlayStation 5 players.
But what’s even more insane than the physical editions for Crimson Desert is the gameplay that was revealed during PlayStation’s State of Play. I always expect trailer footage for upcoming games to include a mix of cinematics and gameplay because if I’m going to judge a game by its trailer, then I want it to be well-rounded. But when I saw how smooth light particles were moving, how close to life battles looked, and how ridiculously large the world looked, I realized that I needed to lock in to what the BlackSpace Engine is capable of
It’s insane to see how crisp an engine that isn’t Unreal or Unity can look, and it really reminds me of how good the Dragon Engine for the Yakuza games looks. It’s also wild how much work the team at Pearl Abyss has put in since we first got a look at Crimson Desert at the Game Awards in 2020. I’m excited to see the world of Black Desert Online expand, and hope that Crimson Desert is able to introduce more people to the world the way Avowed introduced players to Pillars of Eternity.
