Where to go first in Crimson Desert

Figuring out where to go first in Crimson Desert might seem a bit overwhelming. You can see across Pywel from the start, and if you can see a location, you can travel to it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Crimson Desert is one of those open-world games where it pays to hold off on exploring until you’ve ticked off a few tasks first. There are a few exceptions, though.

Below, we explain where to go first in Crimson Desert and when it’s best to stick to the main story.

Focus on the main story first

Crimson Desert hands out new skills, inventory upgrades, and opportunities to get better equipment without paying for it (or stealing it) as you progress through the main story. Some, like recipes for better meals, are nice to have. Others, like the inventory expansions, are absolutely essential. Crimson Desert gives you a new inventory expansion (that’s three extra slots) every time you complete a main story quest in the first chapters, and with storage options being very limited, expanding your inventory is one of the most important things you can do in the early game. No point exploring if you can’t carry what you find. You also get inventory expansions for helping people and completing side tasks, but each chapter of the main story includes multiple quests, all of which reward you with more inventory space. So focusing on that is the fastest way to expand your inventory.

And there’s not much reason to explore Hernand outside the main story anyway, since your resource needs for the first few chapters (minus one certain boss fight) are limited. Learning the basics up until you complete Chapter 3 is the best thing to do. After that, you’ll have learned most of the essential systems, numerous abyss artifacts to level up your skills, many helpful skills for exploration, and much more inventory space. You’ll also have Flight and Axiom Hand unlocked, which are useful for traversing Pywel. Through Flight, you can drop from the Abyss to cut down on travel time as fast travel points are few and far between. With Axiom Hand, you spend less time climbing and jumping, and more time exploring, though you do need to invest some abyss artifacts in stamina before you can use it.

Increase your stamina for an easier journey

Your starting stamina is low, which makes using upgraded traversal skills like Flight and Axiom Hand rather challenging. Some of the best traversal skills won’t even work until you upgrade your stamina, and that requires sinking abyss artifacts into your upgrade tree. Use your abyss artifacts to increase your stamina to at least level 4, so you can slingshot and glide without a worry.

Hunt down bandits

Image: Pearl Abyss via Polygon

It’s worth starting the House Serkis faction quest (which you can begin after defeating Matthias in the main story) until you’re asked to liberate the quarry. The battles before that give you a lot of chances to get abyss artifacts by defeating bandits, loot said bandits for stuff to sell, and raid their camps for free meat and cooking essentials. The quarry, however, is loaded with enemies and is much better dealt with once you’ve upgraded your skills and gear.

See something interesting? Go there!

If you see a point of interest that looks neat or somewhere you want to explore, go for it. You can explore and go wherever you want, whenever you want. There’s no place you absolutely have to go first that will put you at a disadvantage if you miss it.

Just starting out in Crimson Desert? We have guides to help you learn the basics and refresh your memory on how some of its systems work. The world of Pywel is huge, but you can make your journey a little easier with the help of our interactive map. Along the way, make sure to learn a few life skills like fishing, logging, cooking, and mining.

We also have walkthroughs for main story quests like “Abyss Without Balance” and “Familiar Curses,” and puzzles in the Abyss like the Root’s End.