Crimson Desert’s endgame may be lacking, but there’s a secret fix

Crimson Desert is a massive game with hundreds of hours of content, but in the three weeks since its release, players have already exhausted basically everything the game has to offer. One of the biggest player complaints, of those who have made it to the endgame, is that there aren’t enough enemies to fight. For example, Reddit user D3vilK4i complained that “after clearing regions and progressing far enough in the main quest, the map becomes too empty of enemies.”

To address the elephant in the room, there’s nothing wrong with a single-player game running out of things to do once everything has been achieved. Not every game has to provide endless activities and busywork. However, in Crimson Desert’s case, it poses a problem because some challenges become impossible to complete without a steady supply, or at least a reliable way, to spawn enemies. There is a partial solution though. All you have to do is complete one of the game’s most hidden — and creepiest — secrets.

Relatively early on, while you’re still completing story quests in Hernand, Crimson Desert’s first region, you’ll encounter the Reed Devil storyline. This culminates in a boss fight in a field of reeds within the Mountain of Frozen Souls region. South of here is a village called Sunset Valley. One of the houses is where the Reed Devil lived.

Head inside the northernmost building, and you’ll find a group of T-posing mannequins, all wearing the same cloth helmets adorned by the Reed Devil’s minions. On the floor is a book titled “Tales of Sunset Valley,” next to the “Mask of the Devil of the Reed Field.” If you take the mask, you’ll trigger an infinite supply of enemies.

Image: Pearl Abyss via Polygon

Next time you travel through the field where you fought the Reed Devil, you’ll be swarmed by immobile scarecrows. Get too close and they’ll transform into his minions. You can easily outrun them on horseback, but they also make for a brilliant, and not too difficult, XP and challenge farm.

This can be ended at any point by removing the mask from your inventory, such as putting it into storage at your camp. As the book details though, having it on you deems you as their Chosen One. Unlucky.