These ‘hunger system’ mods for Crimson Desert have gotten my hopes up for a full survival conversion

I’m a bit late getting into Crimson Desert, so for the past few weeks I’ve been enviously watching wild videos of players flying, grapplehooking, and riding bears all over the place. It looks like a lot of ridiculous fun.

But when I finally started the game, I found my interests quickly turned in a different direction. One of the first things I saw was a guy standing by a waterfall, fishing. Then I saw a huge, beautiful world spread out in front of me. A few minutes later I was chopping down trees and gathering fruit and cooking simple meals.

None of this made me want to swing around on a grappling hook or ride a bear. It made me want to go camping.

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I know I’m not alone in seeing the possibilities of Crimson Desert becoming a full-on survival experience. There’s a lot there already to support survival systems, including a few Pearl Abyss created but never activated, which are unlocked in this food risk mod that includes “poison, nausea, or debuffs” for eating bad food. Another mod, called Be Hungry, introduces penalties for skipping meals.

This is what I’m looking for. Cooking in Crimson Desert is fun and eating is beneficial, but I’d like it to be critical to survival, too. Plus, when I make one of those gloppy green “mysterious dishes” while improvising recipes, it’d be cool if there was a chance they made me really, really sick if I ate them. I know the exact ingredients I put into them: they would absolutely make Kliff hurl.

(Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

I’d really like to see some sort of worldwide camping system, too. I know there’s a player house you can eventually unlock, and you can sleep in any bed you find, but I find it weird to just walk into some stranger’s house and sleep for 12 hours, so I’d really love a placeable bedroll I can take with me while I’m exploring.

Even just more cots and beds placed in the world would be helpful. While I was out fishing I found a little boat and paddled out to a small island where there was a crumbling shack. It didn’t contain a bedroll or a cot, but I wish it did: it’d be a nice spot for someone who wanted to live secluded in the wilderness for a while, living off the fish they catch.

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(Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

I also came across a ruined church in the woods, another great spot for a cruddy little cot Kliff could catch some Z’s on—maybe with a debuff if it’s too uncomfortable or exposed to the elements. I’m honestly surprised the little cooking pots you find here and there in the world don’t also have bedrolls so you can get a bit of shuteye. And since I’m making wishes, I wouldn’t mind an item degradation system, too, which would be fun for survival—provided I could do the repairs myself.

I’m not sure how much of this is possible for modders: it sounds like Pearl Abyss doesn’t currently have plans for mod support, which I suspect might be needed to make the deeper changes to the game. But just the fact that a couple of hunger mods have already appeared has me hopeful. I’m sure someday I’ll want to fly around and ride a bear, but for right now I’m just happy to get a bit of food poisoning.