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With things getting kind of dicey on Earth, mankind is looking to the stars. We’ve got that big Starfield update, those guys off loitering around the Moon, and now even Crimson Desert—a game not renowned for its hardcore space simulation—is getting in on the action as players send Kliff into orbit.
Which would be quite dull, by itself, but the strange and interesting part is this: the game seems to have modelled much more of space than you’d expect. As was also documented by X user NikTek, once you slip the surly bonds of Crimson Desert’s Earth, you can find the atmosphere, the Milky Way, a curved planetary surface, and what even seems to be atmospheric compression heating when you finally begin descending*.
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NikTek speculates that the unexpected amount of space up there might indicate some upcoming bit of space-based DLC. Which, hey, that’d be cool. If you ask me, though, I suspect this is just a product of a fanatical commitment to detail (and, perhaps, an advantage of Pearl Abyss’ Blackspace Engine).
Here’s a timelapse of me going to space in Crimson Desert.This was first discovered by YouTube Creator “ItemRelocationClub” and the way you do this is by installing a mod that gives you infinite stamina, then using aerial stab to go up you can reach space.It took quite some… pic.twitter.com/S6y0fzgTANApril 7, 2026
Or, in other words, I think the same strange drive that led Rockstar to model horse testicle expansion in Red Dead Redemption 2 led Pearl Abyss to make sure Crimson Desert’s big ol’ map had a proper curvature. Either way, it’s pretty impressive and darn gorgeous. Just set aside a few hours if you decide to become a gruff Scottish astronaut yourself.
*I will note that I’d be astounded if this was an actual effect Pearl Abyss has modelled, and it seems more likely to be a weird effect of the game’s lantern. I live in hope, though.
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