While Pearl Abyss continues to patch Crimson Desert to introduce new quality of life features and improvements, the PC modding community is already hard at work to push its visuals toward true photorealism and add new features, such as a highly requested character creator. A new 8K showcase by MassiHancer shows how the power of the Complete RT shader and ReSTIR GI is used to give the game the ray-traced depth the vanilla release sometimes lacks.
The most impressive element of the modding showcase is how much the Complete RT shader and ReSTIR GI (Reservoir Spatio-Temporal Importance Resampling) change the visuals. In the vanilla version of Crimson Desert, the lighting sometimes feels flat, as the showcase highlights in its direct comparison, but, using the shader with improved depth of field, global illumination, and ambient occlusion, the lighting becomes way more realistic, giving Pywel a very different look that is still respectful of the game's art direction.
Improved color grading and realistic grass further improve the game's visuals, giving them a very realistic feel that wouldn't look amiss in games such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
MassiHancer’s mods, including the one showcased in the video above, are available via Patreon and Ko-Fi.
Even without mods, Crimson Desert is a game that is well worth experiencing. While its mechanics are far from being original, making the game an example of "gaming plucked off a gas station shelf," according to Baldur's Gate 3 publishing lead Michael Douse, Pearl Abyss’ open-world game does many of them so well that it is easy to look past its issues, including its weak story.
If, like me, you are still blissfully lost in Pywel, head over to our Crimson Desert Complete Guide Hub for all the help you need to conquer the game's most powerful enemies and master its deep combat system.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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