Despite promising visuals and over 3 million wishlists on Steam, early console testing of Crimson Desert is delivering a mixed experience.
Technical analysis of the PlayStation 5 Pro, currently the most powerful console on the market, reveals that maintaining a stable frame rate with the game’s high level of detail presents a significant challenge. Whereas the game’s graphics are impressive, animation smoothness suffers during intense moments.
A report from Digital Foundry indicates that the performance mode, designed to deliver gameplay at 60 frames per second, experiences substantial drops. In sequences with numerous enemies, such as attacks on fortified outposts, the frame rate can fall below 40 FPS and even approach 30 FPS at times. These issues occur even with the use of image scaling from a lower base resolution, suggesting that raw graphical power isn’t the sole limiting factor.
The primary cause of these difficulties appears to be the console’s processor. The Zen 2 architecture powering the PS5 Pro becomes a bottleneck when the game engine simulates large crowds and complex object physics. This represents supported by the fact that modes targeting 30 and 40 frames per second operate much more stably in the same demanding scenes. The processor simply struggles to keep up with instruction delivery at higher frame rates, a problem visible in any location with a high density of units.
Despite these issues, experts note that Crimson Desert still offers an impressive experience given the project’s massive scale and ambition.
Developers plan to implement a newer version of PSSR 2 technology around the time of release, which is intended to improve visual quality. However, the processor limitations may mean that players seeking a consistently smooth 60 frames per second will need to accept some compromises during the largest battles.
