Crimson Desert features a robust Wanted system, allowing you to commit crimes like stealing from NPCs, and even killing non-hostile NPCs. There might be times you even accidentally commit a crime, like vandalism, by smashing through someone’s fence. However, it doesn’t appear to be as simple as “press X to crime”.

There are extra steps you need to take, if you want to take part in crime in Crimson Desert, but it’s not as complex as you might think. If you want to rob stagecoaches, pickpocket, or commit murders of innocent people, here’s what you need to be aware of.

How to commit crimes in Crimson Desert (Stealing, killing NPCs)

If you want to commit crimes in Crimson Desert, whether it’s theft or murder, you typically need to start off by having a Bandit Mask. These are pretty easy to find, too; just kill Bandits until one drops a mask. Then you equip it to your head slot, like you would any other equipment. Then, using the menu wheel, where you’d swap weapons, you apply the Bandit Mask to your face.

This will change normally greyed out options, allowing you to commit crimes. Now, you’re already able to enter people’s houses and steal stuff from chests in their homes, or commit vandalism by riding your horse through someone’s fence, but wearing the Bandit Mask allows you to commit greater crimes. A good example is stowing away in a stagecoach, with the intent to rob, and potentially murder. Wearing the Mask allows you to kill non-hostile NPCs as well.

While wearing a Bandit Mask, though, you’re free to commit crimes, but don’t think it makes you 100% anonymous. If you repeatedly commit crimes in an area, the citizens will report you to the authorities, and you’ll need to lay low if you want to avoid your bounty going up. That’s right! While you can turn in other criminals for their bounties, you can rack up a substantial reward for a life of crime.

There’s another way to commit crimes in Crimson Desert, and that’s by simply having negative reputation in a region. This will allow you to go around committing crimes without wearing a Bandit Mask. You stand to lose less this way because the people in the region already hate you, but it will likely take some effort to even get into negative rep in the first place. While you’re free to be a menace in the world, just know that there are consequences for your actions.

While you’re free to be a menace in the world, just know that there are consequences for your actions. At this time, we aren’t aware if players have the ability to kill quest NPCs, we’re looking into that.

How to find Bandit Masks in Crimson Desert

Bandit Masks are important items to any player looking to live a live of crime in Crimson Desert. The short answer is, as we stated above, they have a chance to drop from any bandit you defeat in the wild. We don’t know all of their spawn points at this time, but it’s likely that if you’re exploring, and come across a group of bandits, one or more of them will drop a Mask. It’s not likely that these are going to be incredibly rare, but if that should be the case, we’ll update this accordingly.

Is it worth being a criminal in Crimson Desert?

If you’re really into that criminal life, it can be worth it in Crimson Desert, but the system’s very punishing. If you’re defeated by the guards, for example, you can self-resurrect if you have the right item for it, but otherwise, you’re going to respawn in jail, and there’s not a lot you can do about it.

It also harms your reputation in a region, which could require you to do a lot of work to restore your good name. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth being a hardened criminal in this world, because the systems all seem very frustrating and punishing.

Being constantly hunted by guards for your bounty does not sound enjoyable. The more of those guards you put down, the higher your bounty is going to be. Eventually, regardless of your combat skills are, it will likely be overwhelming, unless you just submit to your punishment and go to prison. At least you can lay low if you accidentally commit a crime, or you can just character swap, like in GTA, and avoid the guards for a while.

Check out our other Crimson Desert guides and features