Pearl Abyss has published a dev update for Crimson Desert, roughly three weeks after launch, laying out what the team is building through June based on player feedback.
The headliners are boss rematches, re-blockading events, and a difficulty settings system offering easy, normal, and hard modes. That last one is overdue for a game where the difficulty curve has been a consistent talking point since launch. Characters Damiane and Oongka are also getting new skills to bring them in line with the rest of the roster, which is a direct response to player criticism. Credit where it's due: Pearl Abyss is clearly reading the room.
On the QoL side, dedicated storage for food, wardrobe items, gatherables, and collectibles is all incoming, which anyone who has wrestled with inventory management in Pywel will appreciate. Distant scenery rendering is getting an overhaul too, and the team is warning the patch size will be larger as a result. None of this has a firm release date yet, and Pearl Abyss notes details may change before launch. Full patch notes below.
Fellow Greymanes,
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly three weeks since we first welcomed you to Pywel. Over that time, we’ve been closely following your adventures, discussions, and feedback, while working to make Crimson Desert an even more enjoyable experience for everyone.
We’ve especially loved seeing the stories you’ve been creating across Pywel (and yes, including the many adorable cat screenshots). And we also want to give a special shout-out to those of you earning your “Pywel Legend” trophies/achievements; you have our sincere admiration. Watching everyone's journeys unfold since launch has meant a great deal to us, and we’re truly grateful for your dedication and support.
Today, we’re here to share a preview of some of the new features and content currently in development, shaped by your feedback, including a variety of content for those looking for more ways to enjoy the game and those who want to further challenge themselves. Our goal is to roll these updates out gradually from April through June.
◆ New Content and Features
We’re preparing new challenges so you can continue testing yourself throughout your journey across Pywel.
■ Boss Rematches
The powerful bosses you encountered across Crimson Desert are waiting to challenge you once again. With boss rematches, you’ll have the opportunity to face off against any boss again, test how much you’ve grown, and further refine your own combat style through different strategies and approaches.
■ Re-blockading
Peace is fleeting, and darkness does not retreat so easily. Enemy remnants are waiting for their chance to reclaim liberated locations. Drive out the forces that have seized these locations once more and continue proving the strength of the Greymanes.
■ Difficulty Settings
A difficulty settings feature will be added so that everyone—from new Greymanes to the more advanced—can enjoy the adventure at the level that suits them best. You’ll be able to choose from easy, normal, and hard difficulty.
We’re also working on new combat-focused content, so stay tuned.
◆ Improvements to Character Play
■ New Skills for Damiane and Oongka
We fully understand your feedback about the need for Damiane and Oongka to have skills comparable to “Force Palm” and “Axiom Force.” To address this, both characters will receive new abilities equivalent to those skills.
■ Hide Back Weapons
A new option to hide the weapons on your character’s back will be added, so certain equipment worn on your back won’t break immersion during combat.
■ Addition of New Outfits:
New outfits for characters will be added.
Additionally, certain outfits that can only be sold or donated will be updated so that they can also be worn.
◆ QoL Improvements and Life Features
■ New Specialized Storage
- Food storage: We plan to add a new food storage, from which you can directly take out ingredients for use in cooking. When preparing meals, you’ll be able to use ingredients from both your food storage and your inventory.
- Wardrobe: A new wardrobe storage will be added so that you can store your headgear, armor, gloves, footwear, and cloaks.
- Gatherables Storage: A new gatherables storage will be added, from which you can directly take out items for use in tempering and crafting. This storage will be able to hold a variety of crafting materials, including insects, stones, ores, and more.
- Collections Storage: A new Collection Storage will be added, giving you a place to keep quest items tied to your adventures, along with recipes and other items you've collected on your journey.
■ Pets & Mounts
More summonable mounts and new pets will be added. Also, in addition to existing horse tack sets, dedicated armor for other mounts is also being planned.
◆ System and Graphics Improvements
■ UI Improvements
To improve legibility, we’ll be adding a minimum font size adjustment option. Since Crimson Desert supports 14 UI languages, fully optimizing this feature across all of them will take some time, but we plan to introduce it first to help make the game more comfortable to play. We also plan to continue improving various UI elements and QoL features, including improvements to the map, inventory, and housing.
■ Improvements to Controls
We are carefully reviewing your feedback about controls. To provide a better gameplay experience, we plan to add customization options for certain controller inputs. We will also expand the range of configurable keys for keyboard and mouse to improve usability.
■ Improvements to Distant Scenery Quality
We are working on enhancing the realism of distant backgrounds so you can enjoy Pywel’s landscapes in greater depth. Please note that the patch size may be somewhat larger due to improvements to how distant scenery changes and the quality of rendering under different conditions. Take a look at the image below for a preview of how Pywel will look after the update.
Check through screenshot images
[table equalcells="1" colwidth=","]Before
After
* The above image was captured on a high-end PC at Cinematic mode (4K resolution, upscale mode off) and will differ depending on hardware specs, settings, platform etc.
And for those who missed the announcement, we will be releasing a Crimson Desert OST. The OST will be available for free on Steam and will also be released on major global music streaming platforms, so stay tuned!
Please note that the features introduced today are currently in development, and details may change when the update is released. Names are tentative as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this notice and for your continued support. We hope you are looking forward to these updates, and we will continue listening closely to your feedback and doing our best to make your time in Pywel as enjoyable as possible.
— The Crimson Desert Team
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