Saying Crimson Desert: Charting the Unknown is launching at an awkward time would be an understatement. Whether you’re exploring the Wulin in Phantom Blade Zero and getting humbled by its many bosses (or taking them to town – either is certainly possible), waiting to revisit Vice City after decades or crossing into Hyrule Field in all its remade glory, this may be one of the unluckier release windows for an expansion.
Which is a shame because from the few hours that we managed to squeeze in, this is exactly what the base game needed. Not just the new sailing and exploration, the massive new addition South of an already gargantuan Pywel, or even the challenging new bosses. It rekindles that feeling of adventure and, much like its name, creates both anticipation and fear at what lies on the precipice of the unknown.
Of course, the biggest difference from the average Crimson Desert Enhanced experience is the new ship. As we’ve noted before, this isn’t some handout. You need to follow a questline, slay some pirates and then pursue the Small Shipbuilding dispatch mission (which requires five Greymanes, materials and camp funds). If you want to buy a ship outright, you can choose three sizes from the get-go or opt for a dinky – I mean, “humble” rowboat. They’ll never see it coming.
Once you’ve customized its various elements, including the hull, bow, stern, sails and cannons (and a sick color scheme), the high seas await. And from there, it’s really anything goes. You’ll encounter other factions and their ships, then engage in naval warfare, whether unleashing cannon volleys or ramming the enemy. If you prefer the latter over the former, install rocket thrusters on your ship, of all things, and watch the enemy go from confusion to dread in very short time.
What’s really impressive is that the development team could have thrown together rudimentary naval combat and called it a day. After all, Charting the Unknown arrives over seven months after the base game, especially after numerous massive updates and patches. Surely it could afford to take it easy on this one feature…aanndd they somehow chose to make it like Assassin’s Creed Black Flag.
That means actually aiming the cannons, and firing off more when you have more gunners. The damage effects are similarly breathtaking. A direct hit from enemy fire will actually send your allies flying into the blue. Properly setting up other crewmates, like riggers and carpenters, can also make a difference between life and a quick trip to Davy Jones’ locker (assuming he exists in this universe).
Of course, being similar to Black Flag isn’t the same as the real deal, which leads me to one of the more annoying elements of Charting the Unknown’s sailing: The camera. It’s already difficult to gauge whether you’re gaining or losing speed, but when the perspective goes beyond the 90-degree threshold at the bow, you’ll change direction. Combat depends on positioning and reliably crossing paths with an enemy vessel, and these camera quirks create some unnecessary frustration.
Thankfully, it’s not enough to kill the sense of fun, especially when you’re desperately dodging shots and colliding head-on. Of course, if you prefer to temporarily leave your ship (good luck, First Mate) and board an enemy vessel for some good ol’ fisticuffs, that’s also a viable strategy. You don’t even have to get close. Thanks to the game’s robust gliding mechanics, refined and sped up over many updates, you can fly over to an enemy ship and wreck shop.
Alternatively, take Blackstar and go on a tear, recreating one of the better moments from Game of Thrones’ finale (which isn’t tough to narrow down, but you get what I mean). Hover over your target of choice and let the flames loose. I’m still not over the inherent summoning cooldown (yes, even after all these months), but I have to admit – if any area in this game is best suited for flight, it’s the ocean. Heck, even a wyvern will do, even if its air blasts aren’t as spectacularly radiant.
Even if you haven’t progressed enough in the story, or bothered raising a wyvern, there’s still a lot to like about setting forth and seeing what happens, capturing the spirit of the base game. It’s one thing to explore the new islands and dive underwater, dodging sharks with the munchies one second and navigating coolly with your pet the next, or encounter ghost ships that add an air of eeriness to regular naval combat. The ability to create seaports and transport cargo makes for some fun sea trading for those into it, even if hefty waiting periods await.
But diving too deep and being taken by the Kraken? Venturing to the one island near the Great Coral Reef and immediately getting assailed by tons of sharks? Unearthing clues that point towards blueprints for a Legendary ship? These are just a handful of things that await, and that doesn’t even cover everything possible on the mainland, like organizing festivals at your camp and even turning some visitors into “Honorary Greymanes” who can then go on dispatch missions. Or the seventeen new residences to build and live in, alongside the new home decoration options. There is so much to unpack, and that’s before the undocumented changes, an ol’ Crimson Desert special, that abound.
Of course, there are other caveats beyond just the sailing camera, including bugs and technical issues. For example, the initial quest bugged out and prevented progression, requiring loading from an earlier save. Then there are all the issues faced by AMD 9000 series GPU users. One player with a Radeon RX 9070 XT, who topped 110 FPS on the mainland, reports performance dropping to 45 FPS when sailing or diving underwater. Others have reported visual glitches, which are seemingly gone after the latest hotfix. And if you think it’s a problem for AMD users, one user with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, who got by just fine on land, reports performance tanking at sea.
Some design choices may not appeal to everyone, including repetitive crewmate dialogue or the lack of control over shanties. While I can see these being addressed in record time – after all, the latest hotfix addresses such issues as pirates teleporting when they end up in the water, sea serpents ceasing their attack for no reason and, my favorite, the game occasionally crashing – you’d think that the development team would have a handle on some of the finer aspects. The little things that really stood out from all those updates and turned Crimson Desert from a promising game into a must-play experience.
Now, I don’t want to trot out the “it’s early days yet, so give it some time” excuse. But if the team insists on the same approach as the base game – gathering feedback and quickly acting on it – it’ll have to move even faster to address Charting the Unknown’s complaints. Once again, this is a season of mega-hits that are all dragging attention away.
And that would be a shame because it is a fun experience, building on the base game’s strong foundation with new systems and activities (including the much-requested boss rush, Garden of Trials, which hides some exceptional new rewards), while improving it further with much-needed additions and quality-of-life improvements. If you’re a hardcore fan desperate for new content to sink dozens of additional hours into while still thinking whether to leave Hernand, then this expansion is it, flaws and all.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
