Crimson Desert Devs Are Already Working On Their Next Game (And It Looks a Lot Different)

After plenty of hype, Pearl Abyss‘s ambitious open-world action adventure game, Crimson Desert, launched on March 19th. It has seen some mixed reactions, with some gamers instantly obsessed and others feeling a bit underwhelmed. But there’s no denying the game sold well, and it’s holding steady with an impressive player count on Steam. Now, just over a week after shipping Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss is already on to its next project. And this one looks quite a bit different.

Crimson Desert isn’t Pearl Abyss’ first game. The developer previously launched the popular MMORPG, Black Desert. As the similar names imply, those 2 projects have a relatively similar art style and overall vibe. But from the sounds of it, the developer is ready to try something a little different in its next project. During a recent shareholder meeting, Pearl Abyss reportedly shared that the team is now shifting focus to its next game, DokeV. Announced at the same time as Crimson Desert, this title is also an open-world project. But that’s about where the similarities end.

DokeV Development Reportedly Full Speed Ahead as Pearl Abyss Shifts Focus from Crimson Desert

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Those who’ve been following Pearl Abyss may well have already heard about DokeV. The game, which has a cartoon art style quite different from Black Desert and Crimson Desert, was first announced back in 2019. It later pivoted from a mobile-forward title to a more fully-fledged open-world RPG with a new gameplay trailer in late 2021. Since then, however, we haven’t heard much else about the game as Crimson Desert became the developer’s primary focus. Now, the team is reportedly shifting gears to speed up its work on its next game.

Now that Crimson Desert is out in the world, development on DokeV is expected to accelerate. It is being created using the same engine that runs Crimson Desert, which means the team has a good foundation in place. That said, we still don’t have a release timeline or clear details on the status of DokeV just yet. Pearl Abyss hopes that its ability to focus more fully on the creature collector will allow the team to provide a clear update by the end of 2026.

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For now, what we know is that DokeV looks quite a bit different from other Pearl Abyss projects, at least in terms of art style. The game features an anime-inspired art style, with cute characters and cartoon creatures inhabiting a modern world. The trailer teases character customization, something notably absent from Crimson Desert, as well as revealing a few of the creatures that players will befriend and battle in the game. Though the game will inevitably attract Pokemon comparisons as a creature-collector, it has quite a few Digimon-coded vibes, from the creature designs to the devices that the characters carry.

Since the last trailer back in 2021, we’ve seen very little about the game. So, there’s still plenty we don’t know. But given the work that went into creating a massive open world for Crimson Desert, it’s likely that the game’s map size could be a selling point for DokeV, as well. At any rate, it sounds like Pearl Abyss is ready to move on to making its next big game a reality, so we will no doubt finally get updates on DokeV before too long.

Are you excited to see Pearl Abyss’s next project after Crimson Desert? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!