Crimson Desert has one thing you can't do, according to a fan

2 weeks ago 15

Published Feb 23, 2026, 11:54 AM EST

Not much to see underwater

Klyff from Crimson Desert sat on a rock next to a stream.

Crimson Desert, the upcoming open-world action adventure game from Pearl Abyss, looks massive. Comments about it being a game where you can do pretty much anything you like are rife based on all the pre-launch gameplay we've seen, with budding fans comparing it to games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim… the list goes on.

However, there is seemingly one thing players cannot do: dive underwater. A screenshot of a translated YouTube comment was posted to the Crimson Desert subreddit. The content creator in question is a China-based individual who has played early versions of the game, along with having visited the Pearl Abyss studio.

"You can't dive in the game; you can only swim on the surface, row a boat, and fish for treasure," their translated comment reads. "We finally did it lads! We finally found something we can't do in this game," is one of the highest upvoted comments. "So the game doesn't have everything. Literally unplayable," reads another.

These tongue-in-cheek comments are a testament to how stupendously ambitious Crimson Desert appears to be. And at the end of the day, who actually likes underwater exploration? Fighting Drowners underwater with a crossbow in The Witcher 3 is one of the only frustrating aspects of what is otherwise an impeccable game. The Water Temple in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time went down in history as being infamously frustrating, and that sound effect as you're close to running out of air in Sonic The Hedgehog is still traumatic to this day.

It does come as a surprise, though, because as some comments on the Reddit post point out, Black Desert Online — Pearl Abyss' MMO and previous game set in the same universe — does include diving, with plenty of underwater sections. Since the player in question has only experienced a vertical slice of Crimson Desert, there's every chance the game will feature diving when it releases, and it just wasn't available in their early build.

Polygon has reached out to PR representatives for Crimson Desert for comment, and we'll update this article if we receive a response.

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