The next game from the developers of Crimson Desert will be an open-world Pokemon-style title

After the release of Crimson Desert, Korean company Pearl Abyss plans to significantly ramp up work on DokeV — an open-world action adventure with creature collecting clearly inspired by the Pokemon series. The game was originally announced back in 2019, but because of Crimson Desert, it likely will not make it to release until 2028–2029.

At the company’s annual shareholders meeting, Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-young said that the bulk of the team will move on to DokeV’s development. According to him, the studio will need around two to three years to bring the game to release. He added that the project had long been stalled because most of the company’s resources were focused on developing Crimson Desert.

DokeV was first announced in November 2019, when it was described as an MMORPG for gamers of all ages. Later, the concept changed significantly. In 2021, Pearl Abyss reintroduced DokeV as an open-world action adventure with creature collecting. The project placed major emphasis on a deliberately colorful visual style and a wide range of mini-games and side activities, including bike riding and fishing. The game was immediately dubbed a hybrid of a life sim and mechanics inspired by the Pokemon series. Incidentally, a similar formula was used in the recent Pokemon Pokopia.

DokeV is being led by Pearl Abyss founder Daeil Kim (Daeil Kim) and Sangyoung Kim (Sangyoung Kim), the former lead animator of Black Desert Online.

Pokemon Pokopia sold 2.2 million copies in its first four days after launch. It is also currently the highest-rated game of the year according to critics.

What do you think of the new game from the developers of Crimson Desert?