It turns out Crimson Desert has even more mechanics under the hood—like this 'fully-designed food consequence system' that modders have unlocked
Crimson Desert is a game utterly stacked with systems—minigames, theft, horse stabling, farming, follower missions, you get the picture. It's something that PCG's own Mollie Taylor called out in her Crimson Desert review, describing it as "an infinite trail of gumdrops".
Turns out, however, that there were in fact more systems that developer Pearl Abyss didn't add—a rare moment of restraint from a studio that otherwise was determined to make an everything bagel of a videogame. The "Cut Content Restored Food Risk System" mod (thanks, TheGamer) alleges an entire smorgasbord of culinary complications that Pearl Abyss seemingly cut from the final game.
"Crimson Desert ships with a fully designed food consequence system that Pearl Abyss built but never activated," writes mod author claramercury. "We discovered 50 food skills across 15 categories—including temperature food, elemental resistances, combat buffs, and even immunity food for endgame mechanics that aren't live yet."
While food in Crimson Desert does have some variety—with some meals in the game already giving you ice resistance—the full gauntlet of modifiers claramercury laid out here is much more expansive. We're talkin' HP and Spirit Regen, elemental damage type resistances, and—as the quote above mentions—food that makes you immune to Abyss, Poison, and whatever "Coma" and "Sound attack" are.
In addition, the more powerful your food gets, the more consequences it has for consumption—with drunkenness, food poison, and poison status effects assailing poor Kliff if he eats too much. Me too, buddy.
It's all very monster hunter, and given the complaints that the developer had to address regarding inventory slots and management, I'm not shocked this didn't all make it into the full release. The mod comes with three difficulty presets: Adventure, Survival, and Iron Gut, with higher difficulties heaping on the consequences for eating powerful food.
While this does seem interesting, I can see why Pearl Abyss cut it. Crimson Desert is already a difficult game to chew on, with initial impressions berating its complicated controls before rapidly improving as people got to grips with the game. Adding a complex food system on top of that would've made that initial heavy load all the heftier.
Crimson Desert characters: Unlock each
Crimson Desert Abyss Artifacts: Level up
Crimson Desert respec: Swap your skills
How to steal in Crimson Desert: Pilfer some loot
How to find keys in Crimson Desert: Open doors
How to fast travel in Crimson Desert: Going places