Crimson Desert players are only now realising Sanctums have a hidden extra step, and yeah, a lot of people missed it
Crimson Desert players have discovered a painful little surprise, and honestly, a lot of the community seems to be suffering the same problem.
A Reddit post making the rounds says many players have been cleansing Sanctums without actually completing them properly. The reason is simple but brutal: after the cleanse, there is apparently another step. Players also need to stabilize the Sanctum by beaming light onto its device, which then rewards power cores used to craft Kuku gear.
One player said they only figured this out 200 hours in. Their post explains that they had already gone through multiple Sanctums, restarted the devices, watched the witches' dialogue, and assumed that was the full process. Turns out, it was not.
That means they were missing out on important crafting loot the whole time.
And the worst part? They are very clearly not alone.
The top replies basically turned into a group therapy session for confused players. One of the most upvoted responses boiled it down perfectly: "You and basically everyone else." Another player reacted with the same energy most of us would have, asking: there's an extra step now? Somebody else admitted they had just done their first cleanse and still had no idea what people were talking about because the game never properly explained it.
That last bit is really the core issue here. From the sound of it, Crimson Desert is the kind of game that expects players to figure things out the hard way. Some people love that old-school, no-handholding style. Fair enough. But when a system is tied to important crafting materials, the game probably needs to communicate it a bit better.
Right now, the community reaction suggests this is not a niche misunderstanding. It feels more like a widespread tutorial fail.
For Malaysian and SEA players, this matters more than it might sound at first. Big open-world RPGs already eat a lot of time, especially if you're juggling ranked grinds in other games, uni, work, or trying to squeeze playtime in after midnight on a weekday. If you've been grinding Crimson Desert thinking you cleared content properly, only to learn you've been missing a key loot step, that is the kind of thing that hits different. Memang sakit.
It also changes how players approach progression. If power cores are part of crafting Kuku gear, then missing Sanctum stabilization could slow down builds, delay upgrades, and make people think the game is stingier than it actually is. In a fresh launch window, that kind of confusion spreads fast through Discord servers, Reddit threads, and friend groups.
To be fair, there is a certain charm to games that do not explain every single mechanic with giant arrows and flashing icons. Not everyone wants maximum handholding. But there is a big difference between letting players discover secrets naturally and leaving a major reward step so unclear that a huge chunk of the player base just skips it by accident.
So if you're playing Crimson Desert right now, this is your sign to double-check your Sanctums. Cleansing them might not be the finish line. If you have not been stabilizing them and collecting those power cores, you may want to retrace your steps before sinking even more hours into the grind.
Because nothing hurts more than finding out you were technically doing the content, but not really doing the content.
Source: GamesRadar
