Crimson Desert can be overwhelming—do this one thing in each new city to make your life much easier

Crimson Desert bell tower — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Playing Crimson Desert for the first time is overwhelming to say the least. When you're not contending with new systems and a not-always-optimal control system, you're exploring its massive world and marvelling at just how much is crammed together. It sometimes feels like every corner you turn, there's a new mechanic to learn or activity to try out. Well, if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed around where to begin, do this first.

When you start out and arrive in Hernand as Kliff, ring the bell in the tower in the centre of town. This little structure is located just north of the noticeboard and just to the west of the tavern where you're directed as part of the first Where Rumors Gather quest when you reach town. While it isn't marked on your main map, it will appear on the minimap as a little bell icon when you get close to it.

Crimson Desert bell location in Hernand — Ring the bell before you do anything else (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Climb up the outside, hop into the top, and interact with the bell to ring it. Low and behold, you'll be treated to a slowly expanding panorama and you'll realise: yes, it is doing an Assassin's Creed. Though it isn't explained at all, and you could quite easily spend hours running around the map before realising, ringing the bell in each major city clears the fog from that entire region. It'll also pick out some points of interest.

Article continues below

This makes navigating much easier than manually clearing the fog through exploration, especially when the world is as huge as it is. Ringing these bells is also linked to a quest, as you'll quickly discover when one of the Pororin Forest Guardians appears before you and mentions you can ring lots of other bells across Pywel.

Before you hop down, make sure to grab the Palmar Pill item that she leaves just next to you in the tower, since this will give you an instant revive, instead of having to respawn. It's handy when you die in combat and can't be arsed running all the way back, or you unwittingly fall to your death or something.

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.