Crimson Desert Quick Guide

Regions of Pywel

Crimson Desert features five main regions across the world of Pywel, alongside a separate dimension called The Abyss.

Each region features its own climate, mechanics, and distinct playstyle.

Hernand

Hernand is the starting region where you begin your journey. It’s home to medieval cities and the epicenter of political power struggles. The standout location is Hernand Town.

Gameplay focuses on fighting humans, like mercenaries and deserters, along with wild animals. This is where you'll learn basics for sieges and managing your mercenary company. You’ll get familiar with the core mechanics and pick up your first skills here.

The landscape features lush forests, fertile plains, and small mountains under a temperate climate.

Pailune

Pailune is a brutal, snowy mountain region and the Greymane homeland. Between the permafrost, massive peaks, and ice caves, you’re constantly fighting the cold.

You’ll need to manage your gear and find heat sources, like campfires, to avoid freezing.

The verticality here also means you’ll be doing a lot of climbing.

Enemies include giant polar bears, ice trolls, and Greymane clan warriors.

Demeniss

Demeniss serves as the political heart of Pywel, a region filled with ancient temples, military staging grounds, and strange magic.

Demeniss capital itself is a massive city-state where high priests and top military brass call the shots.

Gameplay leans into environmental puzzles tied to ancient magic and massive scale clashes against entire armies.

Delesyia

Delesyia is a high-tech southeastern region crawling with mechanical enemies, laboratories, and high-end architecture. The landscape is dotted with factories, smokestacks, and labs that show off the reach of advanced engineering.

Gameplay focuses on fighting automatons. Since enemies here use energy shields and ranged attacks, you’ll have to adopt a more defensive, tactical playstyle.

The Crimson Desert

The Crimson Desert is a massive desert where the environment is as dangerous as the enemies. The landscape features red sands, huge dunes, and colossal skeletons stretching from the earth.

Gameplay focuses on Heat and Thirst mechanics. You’ll have to manage water supplies and avoid traveling in direct sunlight. Expect to face giant sand worms, scorpions, and nomadic bandit tribes.

The Abyss

The Abyss isn’t a region of Pywel in the traditional sense. It’s a separate dimension only accessible through portals. Physically, it sits above Pywel, suspended high above the clouds. The atmosphere is surreal, featuring floating islands, purple skies, and zero-gravity pockets.

Gameplay focuses on logic puzzles and challenges. You’ll go up against Ancient Guardian bosses guarding high level artifacts.

Fast Travel in Crimson Desert: Abyss Nexus

In Crimson Desert, you can fast travel using teleports known as Abyss Nexuses.

To use one, you first have to find and unlock it. Just stand on Abyss Nexus and wait a moment for it to activate. From then on, you can simply double-click the Abyss Nexus icon on your in game map to warp there instantly for free.

Some Nexuses might be tucked behind simple environmental puzzles, so you’ll need to clear away any debris blocking them first.

You can spot unactivated Abyss Nexuses from a distance by using Blinding Flash or a Lantern, they’ll appear as glowing points on the horizon.

There are plenty of Abyss Nexuses scattered across key locations, so unlock them as soon as possible to make getting around much easier.

A more advanced fast travel method involves Abyss Cressets, which also turn into teleports once you’ve solved their specific puzzles.

Spotting Secrets with Blinding Flash

The world of Pywel in Crimson Desert is packed with hidden spots and secrets. Most of these won't show up on your in-game map until you actually find them.

To track them down, you'll need to use Blinding Flash, one of the first skills you pick up. It lets you scout out hidden locations from a distance.

On PC, you trigger Blinding Flash while in a combat stance by pressing [CTRL] and [Left Mouse Button] at the same time. Make sure you hit them simultaneously, then keep holding [Left Mouse Button].

The screen will dim, and you'll catch glimpses of glowing points flashing in the distance. It works up close too, though terrain might get in the way.

Since you need to be in a fighting stance to do this, be careful when using Blinding Flash around a crowd.

Just keep in mind that locations spotted through Blinding Flash won't automatically appear on your map. You still have to physically reach them to mark them as discovered.

Spotting Secrets with Lantern

Beyond just lighting up the dark, the Lantern in Crimson Desert works much like Blinding Flash, helping you find secrets and hidden locations.

To equip the Lantern on PC, hold [F2] and select the Lantern with mouse, then release [F2]. Lanternh has an [Auto] mode, meaning it turns on and off by itself. Once active, it hangs from your belt and lights up your immediate surroundings.

To reveal secrets, make sure you aren’t in a combat stance, have the Lantern equipped, and press and hold [CTRL] (on PC).

You’ll see distant glowing points surrounded by a circular aura, which mark hidden items.

The Lantern even works through walls if you’re looking at a building containing a secret.

It’s also effective at short range, highlighting objects when you stand directly in front of them.

How to uncover map with Bells?

The Crimson Desert in-game world map starts out covered in "fog of war", which naturally clears as you explore. However, the fastest way to reveal the map is by ringing all eight Bells scattered across Pywel's Bell Towers.

Most of, but not all, Bells are available right from the start of the gameplay. Each Bell clears a specific region, and once you hit all eight Bells, the entire world map becomes visible.

Ringing a Bell won't instantly show every secret location, you still need to physically visit places to find those, but it does populate your map with plenty of [?] markers and landmark icons.

This whole process is tied to the Toll of Pywel quest line, though you don’t actually need the quest active to start ringing them.

Just climb to the top of the tower and interact with the Bell.

The first one is easy to find at the top of the tower in Hernand Town.

Abyss Artifact

Abyss Artifacts work as a currency you can trade in for Skill Points to build out your character or boost your Health, Stamina or Spirit.

You'll pick up Abyss Artifacts as you fill your XP bar, but they're also handed out for taking down bosses, finishing Main Quests, and solving puzzles at Abyss Cressets.

Sealed Abyss Artifact

Sealed Abyss Artifacts are physical items scattered throughout Pywel. Grabbing one triggers a specific Challenge. Once that's finished, you can "unseal" the item right in your inventory to get an Abyss Artifact, a Faded Abyss Artifact, or some Abyss Gear.

Look for Sealed Abyss Artifacts along roads, usually tucked away in small stone altars or cairns.

Faded Abyss Artifact

Faded Abyss Artifacts work just like Respec Tokens. Using one lets you reset your entire Skill Tree to get back all your regular Abyss Artifacts.

They’re pretty rare and tough to find, but later in the story, you can pick them up from Witch Vendors or just craft them yourself.