What is that quasi-critical darling and pillar of K-content Crimson Desert even about, anyway? The answer becomes less clear by the day, as now it's something of a full-blown trading simulator—given this is the developer behind Black Desert Online, a game where you can breed and sell horses when you get tired of adventuring, I'm surprised it took this long.

Trading was already in Crimson Desert, but a sizable economy overhaul arrived in the latest patch, which you can read about on Pearl Abyss's website. It adds 133 new trading posts, rebalances "types and quantities" for all trading posts, and introduces some new mechanics to simulate supply and demand.

For instance, when too many items are sold at a single location, that will affect local prices. And if you trade at remote locations ("hard to reach by wagon," as the notes describe them) you'll turn a higher profit. That's on top of the fact that trade profits in general have gone up, and there are 24 new types of "high-value" goods to move.

The response on social media is a mix of pleasant surprise and raised eyebrows. "I'm actually baffled," said Reddit user VictorBelmont. "I thought like three people actually did wagon trading." a reply from Hazel0mutt reads, "Probably because it was a shitty system. Now I'm excited!" The update seemingly continues a long trend of Pearl Abyss shrugging off critiques that less is more by insisting 'no, more is more.'

There's a host of minor fixes as well—certain challenges which were bugged before should be completable now, and there are "improved interaction animations" for animals like the platypus and the feathered weasel. That might sound negligible, but you don't get kudos from the Prime Minister of South Korea by cutting corners on your platypus animations.

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Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...