If you’ve spent any time browsing open world MMO forums or game store new release pages over the last few years, you’ve almost certainly come across both Black Desert and Crimson Desert in recommendation lists. It’s normal to wonder is crimson desert related to black desert, especially since both titles have the same flashy combat and high-end visual style that makes them stand out from other games in the genre. There’s a lot of conflicting info online about their connection, from old previews calling Crimson Desert a prequel to rumors of shared progression systems that never actually materialized. We’re breaking down every confirmed connection, difference, and what you need to know before picking up either game.
Core Developer and Studio Ties Between the Two Games
The most obvious link between the two titles is their creator: Pearl Abyss, the South Korean studio that launched Black Desert back in 2014 to massive global success. Crimson Desert’s development team includes dozens of devs who worked on the original Black Desert core design, so it’s no surprise that the two games share a lot of underlying design philosophy. Both games run on an upgraded version of Pearl Abyss’ proprietary game engine, which is built to handle huge open worlds, seamless traversal, and fast, responsive combat without lag or frame drops even in crowded player spaces.
Pearl Abyss is the sole developer and publisher for both titles, so they control all aspects of both IPs from lore updates to in-game event schedules. Early development of Crimson Desert started back in 2019, and for the first two years of production, it was explicitly marketed as a prequel to Black Desert, set in the same world 20 years before the events of the main game. That early marketing is where most of the current confusion about their connection comes from, as a lot of old articles and fan discussions still reference that original plan.
Is Crimson Desert Related to Black Desert in Terms of Lore and Worldbuilding?
This is where most of the conflicting info online comes from, and the answer has changed a lot over the course of Crimson Desert’s development. For the first two years of production, the answer was a firm yes: Crimson Desert was set in the same continent of Calpheon, following the story of mercenaries navigating the conflicts that shaped the world players know from Black Desert. Fans were excited to see backstories for familiar NPCs and regions, and the first trailers included clear references to Black Desert landmarks.
That all changed in 2021, when Pearl Abyss announced a full reset of Crimson Desert’s lore and core premise to position it as a standalone IP. There is no canonical lore connection between the two games as of their latest public builds. All references to Black Desert locations, characters, and lore were scrapped entirely, and Crimson Desert is now set in a completely new, dark fantasy world called Pywel, with its own history, factions, and storylines. The studio made this shift because they wanted to tell a darker, more character-driven narrative without being constrained by Black Desert’s existing lore, which has been built out over 10 years of updates and has a very passionate fanbase that would have noticed and pushed back on retcons.
Shared Gameplay Mechanics That Come From Shared Development Roots
Even with no official lore or IP connection, anyone who has played Black Desert will notice a lot of familiar mechanics when they pick up Crimson Desert. That’s because the dev team carried over a lot of the systems that made Black Desert such a hit, while tweaking them to fit Crimson Desert’s more narrative-focused structure. Action-focused, skill-based combat that prioritizes player input over tab-targeting is the biggest overlap, and it’s the part of the game that will feel most familiar to Black Desert veterans. The most notable shared traits between the two games include:
- Fluid combo-based combat with dodging, parrying, and class-specific ultimate abilities that reward skill over gear score alone
- High-fidelity character customization tools with hundreds of sliders for appearance, hairstyles, and outfit tweaks that let you make a completely unique character
- Open-world traversal systems including gliding, free climbing, and ridable mounts with unique movement traits that make exploring the map feel rewarding
- Player housing and crafting systems that let you build custom spaces and create endgame gear without being locked behind grind-heavy raid drop requirements
That said, Crimson Desert’s combat is slower and more weighty than Black Desert’s fast, flashy combo system, to fit its darker, more grounded tone. It also has a much heavier focus on single-player story content, so you won’t run into other players wandering the map in the early parts of the game the way you do in Black Desert. The endgame loop is also less focused on open world PvP and grind, and more on repeatable story missions and co-op bounties for small groups of players.
What This Connection Means for Players of Either Game
Now that you know the full background of the two games’ ties, you can make a much more informed decision about whether Crimson Desert is worth your time, especially if you’re already a Black Desert fan. First, don’t go into Crimson Desert expecting a Black Desert expansion or prequel, because you’ll be disappointed. It’s a completely separate game with its own story, rules, and endgame loop. You won't be able to transfer any BDO character progress, cosmetics, or in-game currency to Crimson Desert, so there’s no benefit to grinding extra content in BDO to prepare for CD’s launch.
If you’re a Black Desert player who loves the open world grind and player vs player combat, you might find Crimson Desert’s linear early story a bit restrictive, but you’ll almost certainly love the core combat loop. If you’ve never played Black Desert before, you don’t need to play it to understand Crimson Desert’s story at all, since there are no overlapping plot points or references. Pearl Abyss has also confirmed there are no plans for cross-over events between the two IPs, so you won’t miss out on exclusive content for one game if you only play the other.
The only real benefit to playing both is that you’ll pick up Crimson Desert’s combat and traversal systems much faster if you already have experience with Black Desert’s mechanics. You also might find that you prefer one game’s loop over the other: Black Desert is better for players who want a persistent, always-online world to mess around in with friends, while Crimson Desert is a better fit for players who want a structured story with solid combat that they can play solo or with small groups.
At the end of the day, if you were asking is crimson desert related to black desert, the short answer is that they share a developer, core engine, and some foundational gameplay mechanics, but are completely separate IPs with no shared lore or cross-progression. I’ve put over 300 hours into Black Desert over the last decade, and I walked away from the 2023 Crimson Desert playtest really impressed by how the team took the best parts of Black Desert’s design and built a totally new, story-driven experience around it. Both games are great in their own right, and you don’t have to play one to enjoy the other. If you’re on the fence about picking up Crimson Desert, keep an eye out for public demo opportunities so you can test the combat and story loop before you buy, to make sure it fits your playstyle.