Crimson Desert’s Update Frenzy: The Most Important Improvements and Biggest New Features – Our Comprehensive Overview for the Undecided

Pearl Abyss’s open-world adventure has been updated so quickly that it’s hard to keep up with the pace. We’ve summarized the most important upgrades that could influence your decision to buy.

I’ve rarely seen a transformation quite like the one inCrimson Desert! At launch, Crimson Desert was already a very good game. However, there were also a whole bunch of issues, especially with the game’s guidance and convenience features. But since release, Pearl Abyss has been rolling out one patch after another!

And at a dizzying pace! So fast that after writing this text, I double-checked just to be sure that even more changes hadn’t snuck in during that short time.

And we’re not talking about minor tweaks here—sometimes there’s even completely new game content overnight! I had already hoped for some of these changes after playing the preview version, long before the release. We had, of course, brought this up with the developers at the time, but little happened until the game launched.

But once feedback from the first buyers came in, things suddenly moved super fast. So fast, in fact, that some of these adjustments must have been on the team’s to-do list even before release. But that in no way diminishes the dedication the team has shown here.

Within two months, Pearl Abyss has released eight major updates, plus additional smaller patches and hotfixes. Even if you love studying patch notes, it’s hard to keep track of everything. But that’s why you have us.

If you’ve been waiting to buy Crimson Desert, this article provides a clear summary of what I consider to be the most important improvements since release.

• Inventory
• Difficulty Levels
• Boss Fights and Blockades
• Mounts and Pets
• Open World
• Crafting
• What’s Next?

The Inventory: Much More Convenience, Much Less Frustration

The most important improvement I would have loved to have had at launch is the inventory. Just thinking back to how we had to juggle things with limited inventory space…

But that’s over! First, Crimson Desert now provides more inventory slots right out of the box, and many merchants sell affordable inventory expansions. Second, there are different tabs for …

• Weapons and Armor
• Food andConsumables
• Ingredients and Crafting Materials
• Manuscripts and Books
• Special Items and Quest Items.

Additionally, items in the same category are now automatically sorted. So all helmets together, all swords together, and so on.

There are now four special storage chests for Kliff’s home. These were missing at launch, which I never quite understood. After all, you carry so many crafting ingredients and pieces of equipment around that your inventory gets cluttered very quickly. Now you get a sort of fridge for food, a storage crate for crafting materials like ores and hides, a crate for collectibles like recipe books, and a wardrobe for clothing.

Despite all these improvements, I still don’t think the inventory system is quite perfect. For example, I’d like to be able to see what’s inside a chest or a defeated enemy’s pockets before looting them. And I wish money didn’t always just lie around in little pouches.

I have to laboriously open them again in the inventory to actually get the money into my account. And yes, I know the pouches are meant to be used as gifts to charm NPCs. However, you could just give money directly.

Compared to the inventory’s state at launch, though, these are really minor issues.

Difficulty Levels: The Right Challenge for Everyone

Probably the second most important improvement is aimed at everyone who has been frustrated or bored by the boss fights in Crimson Desert. There are now three difficulty levels to choose from: Easy, Medium, and Hard. The medium difficulty level is just as challenging as the only difficulty level available at launch.

On Easy, enemies deal less damage, have less health, attack less frequently, and generally move more slowly. The windows for dodging and countering are larger, and bosses dodge and counter attacks less often. On Hard, of course, the exact opposite happens. On top of that, food restores health more slowly. And some bosses even use new attacks.

What I like most about the new difficulty levels is that they don’t just tweak damage values, but also introduce new attacks and make the timing generally trickier. After all, anyone can handle simple bullet sponges. Pearl Abyss also plans to continue tweaking the somewhat inconsistent boss balancing in the future. This way, individual boss enemies shouldn’t be that much stronger than the previous one.

More Long-Term Motivation: Boss Fights and Blockades

Have you already defeated almost all the bosses and want to try out the new difficulty levels? Don’t worry, Pearl Abyss hasn’t forgotten you action fans and has revamped virtually the entire endgame. Since Update 1.05, you can replay boss battles in the game. To do this, simply travel to a location where you’ve already defeated the boss waiting there. Using the lantern, you can read a memory fragment there, just like with other quests.

The world map shows which bosses have already been defeated and where that took place. This rematch is playable for both Cliff and his sidekicks Damiane and Oongka. Additionally, you can choose whether you want to replay the exact same battle from before, or whether the boss should scale to your current level and equipment. However, this only applies if my progress is further along than the actual boss fight. So the fights don’t get easier if I’m naked. That would be an unpleasant thought, though.

Once the battle is over, you’ll get all the items you used, such as food and ammunition, back. There is no reward (yet). However, Pearl Abyss hints in the patch notes that this may change with a future update.

The further you progress in the game, the more you decimate the individual bandit and soldier camps scattered throughout Pywel, thereby liberating the regions. I really enjoy this, and I think it’s cool to see that you have such a real impact on the open game world. However, this makes Pywel feel relatively empty in some areas later in the game.

But that’s all changed since Update 1.05! Outposts that meet certain conditions now have a chance of being reoccupied. The patch notes don’t specify what these conditions are or how high the probability is. But every time I reload a save or sleep in a bed, there’s a chance that an outpost will be reoccupied by enemies.

In the game settings, you can adjust how often these re-occupations occur. And if you don’t like it at all, you can even turn the mechanic off completely. Currently, 23 fortresses and quarries from 13 factions can be re-occupied. In the future, the team plans to increase the number of factions and possible locations even further. Additionally, the enemies there will gradually become stronger.

However, Pearl Abyss still doesn’t seem entirely satisfied with the mechanic. They plan to continue improving the liberation and siege system in future updates.

New Mounts and Pets: A Cat on Your Shoulder, a Tiger Under Your Butt

If you don’t like wandering the continent of Pywel alone, you now have far more choices for pets and mounts! For example, you can now tame birds that perch stylishly on your shoulder. Yarrrrr!!!!! Larger birds like owls or eagles perch on Cliff’s arm.With the latest patch, there’s even a wyvern hatchling as a companion!

Cats have been in the game since launch, but Pearl Abyss has added new breeds. They also fixed a bug that prevented cats from ever getting off Cliff’s shoulder. But if you want to keep your purring companion on your shoulder, you can still do so—without any bugs.

There are also countless additional mounts to discover—from wolves to lions and tigers to giant lizards. Consequently, fast travel finally works even when you’re in the saddle.

Open World: More Beauty, More Exploration Fun

The continent of Pywel has also changed quite a bit in the first seven weeks since release. Many teleport fields have been added or moved. Initially, Hernand’s was located right outside the city gates, which resulted in quite a bit of unnecessary walking while shopping.

Pearl Abyss hasn’t just worked on the game world’s accessibility, but also on its visuals. At higher graphics settings, distant objects like towers and cities shine with significantly more detail, further enhancing the already impressive vistas of Crimson Desert.

However, there is still room for improvement when it comes to detail pop-ins at close range. It goes unnoticed during gameplay, but if you take a slow stroll somewhere, it really stands out.

Exploration of the game world has also been improved, mainly thanks to the revamped flying mechanics. Kliff flies faster and, more importantly, moves forward more quickly when he spreads his wings. Gliding through the air also consumes much less stamina than before. Previously, you needed a mod for long flights:

What sounds like a minor detail was a real game-changer for some of us on the editorial team—in the truest sense of the word—because longer distances can now be covered much faster and, above all, more enjoyably than at launch.

Crafting: Less Work, Faster Progress

On top of that, there’s a whole bunch of other small improvements. For some quests, for example, I now receive coins that can be redeemed at local craftsmen instead of crafting resources. A very cool idea, because it lets me level up many newly found weapons and armor by at least a few levels right away, without having to tediously farm crafting materials first.

And if I no longer need upgraded items, I can now downgrade them at the blacksmith. In exchange, I get some crafting resources back.

In general, Pearl Abyss has noticeably sped up the farming and crafting processes, which were still very tedious at launch. Trees now fall with just the first swing of an axe. However, you still have to painstakingly pick up wood and ore. This is only unnecessary with a drill and chainsaw, which you’ll first have to snag from the corresponding boss enemies.

Cliff’s playable sidekicks, Damiane and Oongka, still get somewhat overshadowed in the campaign, but they’ve at least been given a few new moves, which definitely encourages more frequent character switching later in the game.

In addition, there are numerous improvements to menus, submenus, game flow, character customization, plenty of additional gear, and you can now hide headgear and weapons on your back. A transmog feature is still missing, but that’s likely just a matter of time.

So much for the changes that, in my opinion, have improved Crimson Desert the most. If I were to analyze every relevant improvement in detail here, you’d still be reading this article tomorrow. That’s why I’ve included a concise overview of the most important changes in each major update at the end.

How are they doing this, and what’s next?

Comparing the current version of Crimson Desert to its launch state feels like listening to a grandpa recount his tough childhood, or Heiko talking about the early days of GlobalESportNews. “Back then, we still had to sort through our inventory after every boss we defeated!”

Of course, this also includes many fixes for issues that really should never have been in the game in the first place. For example, the poorly placed teleport fields, the missing bridge at the camp, or Kliff’s house, which was completely useless until recently.

I have a bit more hope for the game’s guidance. Crimson Desert still explains far too little. And why does it take several hours to unlock game elements like the barber and things like the farm or the trading system? Many players will likely never discover these features because they’re hidden behind hours of not-really-exciting Graymane quest lines.

However, none of this changes the fact that with Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss is setting new standards for how quickly—and, above all, how community-oriented—a blockbuster can be improved.

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