Black Desert Online developer Pearl Abyss and publisher Kakao Games hosted a press event in Korea to introduce Black Desert Remastered, an overhaul of the game that will bring tons of changes and updates to the MMORPG.
First of all, as the name suggests, the graphics will undergo large changes including the addition of physically-based rendering, physically-based lighting, physically-based atmospheric scattering, volumetric clouds, HDR rendering, YEBIS-powered improved post-processing, improved screen-space reflections, improved ambient occlusion, improved ocean rendering, and cloth simulation. Of course, the whole game will also receive an optimization pass.
This is the fruit of the technical collaboration with Silicon Studio, and as you can see in the first trailer at the bottom of the post, it looks awesome. You can also see the results in some screenshots in the gallery.
Not only visuals will be remastered, but also audio. This includes the creation of 220 tracks for over 660 minutes, recorded by orchestras from three different European countries. This should improve immersion by quite a bit.
Changes will also be made to gameplay, including an overhaul to Black Spirit skills that will include options at 10%, 25%, and 50% rage.
The way players level-up through quests will be tweaked with branching lines and an adjustment to the power of monsters to make them a bit more challenging.
A brand new region named Ordilita is being developed and will be implemented sometime in 2019. It’s a long region dominated by the Ahib with very few sunlight and long nights.
A new dream horse will be added to the already implemented Arduanatt and Diné, and it’s the much-anticipated nightmare “Doom,” able to set enemies on fire.
Lovers of pointy-ears will finally get the option to be male with the implementation of the male ranger in winter 2018. The male ranger uses a crossbow and magic gloves. Their attack will be slower compared to female rangers, but they’ll deal more damage with each.
Another interesting addition is Sniper Mode which will be implemented for the game’s hunting feature. Animals will be able to hear and snell hunters, and players will have to attack from far away. This is done via a first-person minigame with the hunting skill level affecting your aim and your breathing.
The Military Subjugation system is another really interesting one. Players will be able to send out their alternate characters on missions with mercenaries to various regions. They’ll come back with items that would normally be dropped in that region.
A new marketplace completes the upcoming changes. Players will deposit their silver and register their items at a certain price. When you want to buy, you will input the price you’re willing to offer within the market range, and if an item is registered for that price, you’ll purchase the item. If it isn’t, the purchase will be made when someone registers the item at that price. A smartphone app that will let players use the market remotely will also be developed.
The game is already available for PC (and you can read my review, even if a ton has been added since), and it will go in beta for Xbox One in the fall. You can check out some Xbox One X gameplay, even if this is before the remaster. We actually don’t know how much of the updated graphics will apply to the Xbox One version just yet.
