Pearl Abyss, the developer of Black Desert Online, hosted Into the Abyss at E3 2019. Into The Abyss invites a community of partners, creators, media, and the public to catch the reveal of announcements, new content, and exclusive demos and games. 

What is Black Desert Online?

Black Desert is an open-world action MMORPG with cutting-edge visuals and skill-based combat that redefines the genre. The combat in Black Desert Online is action based, requiring manual aiming similar to those found in third-person shooters. Skills can be activated through use of combos for attacking, dodging or blocking. The game offers housing, fishing, farming, and trading,as well as large player versus player siege, and castle battles.

BDO operates within an active combat system requires precise manual aiming, dodging and using combos, unlike the tab-targeting system seen in most MMORPGs. Players are also able to engage in mounted combat. Mounts are acquired by taming in the wild and players are able to breed special mounts by mating certain types, require feeding and care, cannot be stored in the inventory, and may be killed. 

BDO thrives off of its beautiful aesthetics and freedom within its sandbox style gameplay. Players are given the pleasure of exploring the world and exploring both combative and non-combative interactions to their respective preferences.

The Announcements

Into the Abyss 2019 focused on how the Black Desert IP will continue to expand to various platforms. Following last year’s launch of Black Desert on Xbox One and a limited Asia launch of Black Desert Mobile, Into The Abyss 2019 announced and demoed Black Desert on PS4 and along with the global launch for Black Desert Mobile later this year.

Into The Abyss additionally introduced Shai, the 18th character class for the Black Desert franchise. A mischievous halfling from the forests near Florin, Shai uses her Boomerang and a variety of skills to evade danger while aiding her friends.

To conclude Into The Abyss 2019, Pearl Abyss CEO Robin Jung revealed that Shadow Arena, Black Desert’s iconic Battle Royale game mode, will be polished and become a new stand-alone game.

Event Presentation

Fans of Black Desert Online were able to attend the Pearl Abyss event for a presentation regarding the open-world MMORPG. The 500+ attendees of Into The Abyss were piled into Regal Cinemas L.A. Live Stadium access to a reception and demo area, a theater presentation, an afterparty area, and a VIP room. Spokespeople included CEO Robin Jung, Executive Producer of Black Desert on Console Kwangsam Kim, and Lead Producer of Black Desert Mobile Yongmin Jo.

“Our team has been working diligently to make Black Desert the best that it can be, and we’re finally ready to reward our patient player base," said Kim. "If you’ve been looking for an open-world action MMORPG on the PS4 with deep personalization to fit your gameplay experience, we encourage you to pre-order this July."

In addition to hearing the announcements via BDO spokespeople, fans were also able to meet the crew that worked on the game in a developmental context. The Pearl Abyss event took things further by serving intricate Asian culinary accompanied by the original soundtrack of BDO to reinforce the theme.

The event also featured Kazy and DrawMeaCosplay.The two cosplayers created garments based on in-game characters, meeting and greeting fans, as well as making for an incredible photo op. Ticketholders with access to the VIP lounge were granted access to an exclusive menu, a private bar, and demos of Black Desert Online. 

If you’re interested in the future of the game, you can also enjoy the latest updates for the PC version, Black Desert Online, keeping in mind that those will take a while to reach the console versions.