After a massive but divisive launch last week, Crimson Desert is the talk of the town. From its use of gen-AI that supposedly was “unintentionally included in the final release” to talk from anonymous sources that point to an unfocused creative vision, much of the buzz around the game is wary. That said, the title is a financial success with over 2 million copies sold already and a notable amount of player support on social media.

But this is the games industry, so there are – of course – a few people with issues they want addressed in the game. Those who have been enjoying their time in Pywel have run into a number of frustrations, many of which are being targeted by the first hefty patches from Pearl Abyss, but a recurring complaint is tied to non-horse mounts.

IGN’s report on the situation underlines the conversation surrounding the dragon mount you can get in the later chapters of Crimson Desert. The gist of it is that – surprise! – you can only roleplay as a dragon rider for no longer than 15 minutes (which is plenty of time of flying and destroying entire enemy camps, mind you), but kinda goes against the promise of “complete and total freedom” the game’s marketing campaign pushed for years. Oh, and there’s a big real-time 50-minute cooldown you can’t skip, too.

It’s only a matter of time before modders tweak that gameplay element, sure, but right now, plenty of players are feeling misled. Steam users are expressing their disappointment: “I’m really enjoying the game but are you seriously telling me that the other mounts that the game was advertising are something you tame once and then they just yeet after use? Why put that restriction?” While some players underline it’s probably a matter of game balance, others are rightfully pointing out that fun should take precedence over it cooldown timers in a single-player sandbox. This isn’t an MMO – where you’d usually see this sort of mechanic employed.

“Who cares? It’s a single player game. I could ride dragons, bears and other creatures in both WoW and GW2. I can have a permanent dragon in Shadow of War,” a veteran said, trying to remind other players (and hopefully devs who are reading) of power fantasies which became huge critical and financial hits. The problem also extends beyond dragons, with the “regular” mounts like the dire wolf and raptor also being temporary at the time of writing (they can’t be summoned or stabled).

Personally, I can see why the dragon – a mount which trivializes the game’s big focus on exploration and many enemy encounters – is an ‘ultimate weapon’, so to speak, but considering how much the game allows players to do, making the non-horse land mounts temporary as well seems like a werid decision. For now, the first fixes and tweaks hitting the massive action-adventure game are targeting common frustrations like the heavy feeling of the controls and inventory/storage limitations. Working out a less cluttered/confusing control scheme and replacing those gen-AI assets might take a little bit longer, though.