Pearl Abyss Unveils BlackSpace Engine, Which Will Power Crimson Desert

At the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the developers revealed details about some of the engine features that will be seen in Crimson Desert.

The BlackSpace engine renders vast, sprawling landscapes in incredible detail and provides seamless exploration with smooth loading. Players will be able to travel through a diverse range of landscapes, including forests, medieval cities, snow-capped mountains, and vast deserts.

The engine’s simulation enhances the realism of the environment: trees, grass, fabric, and hair naturally flow in response to wind and movement, making the world more believable. Destructible environments, real-time physics interactions, and details like volumetric fog create a dynamic, living world where objects and environments react to the player’s actions.

The engine also calculates lighting in real time, reproducing detailed lighting behavior for increased realism, even with ray tracing disabled. It features detailed atmospheric light scattering effects, dynamic weather such as rain, snow, and fog, and real-time lighting calculations performed by the engine.

Using FFT ocean and shallow water modeling technology, the BlackSpace Engine creates highly realistic water effects. The simulated water displays realistic waves, currents, and ripples.

Crimson Desert will be released in late 2025 on PC and consoles.