Play Crimson Desert with a controller

Crimson Desert is vast and ambitious, but its default keyboard controls feel cumbersome and awkward. You notice it early on when the game asks you to perform Blinding Flash during the intro, and it only becomes more apparent as dozens of inputs and combos pile up.

That doesn't mean controller play is flawless. Packing all those actions onto a smaller set of buttons leads to misinputs — jumping instead of picking up items or talking, meleeing your horse when you meant to mount, or accidentally unleashing a flurry instead of triggering Blinding Flash.

Still, having key actions on the d-pad can be a lifesaver when a boss knocks off half your health and you need to heal fast, rather than stretching for F3 on a keyboard. The keyboard has other annoyances: sprinting is bound to Shift whether you're on foot or on horseback, yet Kliff and the horse behave very differently, and repeatedly hitting Shift can clash with sticky keys and wear on your fingers.

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