Former Rockstar Games artist: Crimson Desert's water physics "better" than Red Dead Redemption 2's
A former Rockstar Games artist, David O’Reilly, who worked on Red Dead Redemption 2’s water physics, recently took a look at Crimson Desert’s water system and fell in love. O’Reilly considers Crimson Desert’s water physics to be a step above Red Dead Redemption 2’s fluid mechanics.
David O’Reilly sat down to share his first impressions of Crimson Desert’s visual fidelity on the YouTube channel Game World Art and broke down the game’s environmental technology. When he stumbled upon Crimson Desert’s water physics flowing down a creek, he was amazed by what he saw.
The best water mechanics yet?
In the video, he voiced his amazement and said, “I’m really, really, really liking the water. This water is amazing. There are all sorts of interesting things about how they’re handling the water in this game. They’re effectively using a live particle simulation. I’ll upload an upcoming video, particularly all on that—all on its own.”
O’Reilly’s praise didn’t stop there. He worked as an artist who spent years perfecting flowing rivers, water, and streams in RDR2. “Finally, in my opinion, a game has come along that has done better than RDR2. I’m really pleased, and I say that as someone who helped make those rivers in RDR2. We’ve made some progress. They’ve really nailed those rivers here, and this tech is really helping them to push these rivers. They’re absolutely fantastic.”
Since the dawn of the 3D era, water physics and simulation have always been difficult to perfect. Trying to simulate water that looks fluid, reflects light properly, interacts with characters, and fills up spaces without seeming fake has been a major challenge.
Red Dead Redemption 2 set a high bar when it was released in 2018, thanks to its visual fidelity, lush landscapes, and weather systems. However, O’Reilly’s conclusion shows that Crimson Desert, even with its flaws, has managed to raise the bar even higher, just days after the game launched on March 19.
O’Reilly did, however, notice some inconsistencies, which he didn’t fully elaborate on. He chalked them up to a bug or an optimization choice on the part of Pearl Abyss for Crimson Desert’s water system. “There’s one thing, and I’m not sure whether it’s a bug or an efficiency thing,” he said. He promised to talk about it in a dedicated deep dive later.
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