Crimson Desert is out and already successful based on Pearl Abyss’s recently announced sales figures. Two million in less than a day is pretty impressive, especially considering how the overall critical consensus has been good, but not exactly amazing.
Of course, one of the core complaints surrounding the game is the controls. There are many, from combining shoulder, trigger and face buttons to pressing in the thumbsticks. That’s not even getting into the UI, where something as simple as reading a note requires pulling it out and holding the left shoulder button.
It’s a lot to take in, especially from the outset, but PR and marketing director Will Powers says, in response to someone saying that simplified controls: “Think of it like riding a bike, it comes naturally after you learn it. Just takes a minute.” He agreed with the user about the complexity and how “it takes time to learn, but it comes naturally after you do.”
There is no option to remap controls, and Pearl Abyss hasn’t indicated any plans to do so, though that could change in the near future. It’s already committed to making improvements, which you can see plenty of in the launch day patch. On top of fixing issues for “certain content” that didn’t “function as intended or incorrectly,” it also improves Housing mode, adjusts QTE difficulty when grappling with enemies and allows for quicker fast-forwarding of recently viewed cutscenes.
Stay tuned for more details and updates on further patches in the meantime. Crimson Desert is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Head here for our thoughts on the PC version.
I’m agreeing with you, saying that it takes time to learn, but it comes naturally after you do.
— Will Powers (@WillJPowers) March 20, 2026
