Enhance Your Crimson Desert Experience by Using a Controller

For all its grand ambitions, Crimson Desert has some pretty clunky controls. They can feel awkward, especially given the multitude of inputs and combinations needed to pull off various actions. You’ll notice this right away when the game prompts you to execute Blinding Flash during the intro.

Now, I get it—I’m a fan of mouse and keyboard gaming, having spent 25 years on consoles. But if you have a controller, you owe it to yourself to give Crimson Desert a shot with it.

That said, controller gameplay isn’t without its quirks. With fewer buttons to work with, you might find yourself jumping instead of picking up items or chatting with NPCs. You’ll likely melee your horse instead of mounting it, thanks to the odd choice of having different buttons for getting on and off. And don’t be surprised if you accidentally unleash a flurry of attacks instead of triggering Blinding Flash.

On the flip side, there’s a silver lining. When a boss is taking half your health with a single hit, the quick heal option is conveniently mapped to the d-pad. On a keyboard? You’ll be stretching your fingers all the way to F3, which isn’t ideal.

Then there’s the strange decision to bind sprinting—whether you’re playing as Kliff or on horseback—to the Shift key. Kliff only needs a couple of taps to start running, but your horse requires you to mash that Shift key to maintain speed. And if you’re hitting Shift rapidly? Get ready for sticky keys, especially if that feature is enabled on your PC. This can be a real pain during a lengthy action RPG session, as our guide writer, Sean Martin, found out the hard way.

In a game where you’re constantly dodging, executing various attacks, and switching weapons (and possibly armor) on the fly, I don’t want to be frantically dancing around the keyboard to hit all the inputs. I’ve endured too many hours of that in Final Fantasy 14 before finally investing in an MMO mouse.

One advantage of keyboard controls in Crimson Desert is the ability to rebind them to your liking. Unfortunately, this option isn’t available for controllers—at least not natively in-game.

Despite that small perk, I still believe a controller is the way to go for this game, especially if you’re not keen on overhauling Crimson Desert’s control scheme yourself. In fact, Steam even recommends using a controller when you first launch the game. So, take that advice to heart. Even if you usually ignore it, let this be the exception that guides you in the right direction.