During a two-hour keynote speech that was held in Seoul last weekend, game developer Pearl Abyss announced the specifications and release date of Black Desert: Remastered, which promises an extensive overhaul of one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed MMORPGs on the market.
The South Korean MMORPG, already known for its stunning graphics and beautifully designed seamless open world, will undergo a massive overhaul of its graphics and audio to offer a more immersive experience for Adventurers. Kwang Hyun Ko, lead graphics programmer at Pearl Abyss talked about improvements such as physically based rendering, lighting and atmospheric scattering techniques as well as the addition of volumetric clouds.
In addition, Black Desert Online will support HDR output and improved post processing with the help of YEBIS middleware. Other optimisations include ambient occlusion, improved ocean rendering and realistic cloth simulation. Pearl Abyss announced more improvements in the future, like improved shadow rendering, temporal upsampling and antialiasing.With improved game frame optimization, the new graphics remaster will not affect the recommended system requirements for Black Desert Online.
The keynote also featured Audio Director Hui Man Ryu (CROOVE) who explained several soundtrack enhancements. New folley effects have been added to make the world more lively and better reflect the Black Desert world. Last but not least the original midi score has been replaced with a full orchestral score, consisting of new compositions and arrangements. Special attention has been given to motifs that better accompany action gameplay and each region now has its own signature track..
In total, over 100 pieces that cover Balenos, Serendia, and Calpheon have been remastered with a total length of over 300 minutes. Three renowned full-scale European orchestras and a choir have been used in recording the music.
Black Desert: Remastered is out today for users of the Global Lab Testing server and will be rolled out to the live server on the 22nd of August after regular maintenance.
