As someone who thoroughly enjoyed, Crimson Desert at launch, I have to admit: The rate at which the development team is improving the experience is uncanny. You would think that the first major patch, which came out mere days after launch, mind you, was something. A storage chest, more Abyss Nexus points, keyboard shortcuts – all of this was much needed.
However, the newest patch goes far above and beyond, not only addressing a number of my complaints but also creating a smoother game. Let’s jump into some of the most noteworthy, starting with one of the biggest grievances among players: Mounts.
Mount and Blade
Before release, Crimson Desert teased us with a variety of mounts, including a dire wolf, bear, and whatnot. One believed they would function a lot like the horse – find it, tame it (or steal it from an enemy), and then it’s yours to wield as you see fit. That wasn’t the case, and fans rightfully complained, but the developer has answered in short order.
Three Legendary animals (out of two dozen) that you can slay in Pywel – the White Bear, Silver Fang Wolf and Snowwhite Deer – can now become permanent mounts. Pre-patch, that would have been it, but you can take their materials to a witch and obtain sigils to summon them as mounts whenever you like. The same goes for the Rock Tusk Warthog and Icicle Edge Alpine Ibex – two mounts obtained from boss fights. You’ll even receive the materials needed for any Legendary Animals slain pre-patch via the Extra Rewards List, so all you need to do is visit the witch for crafting the sigil and voila.
Say what you will about their speed, especially compared to the horse, but there’s something about wandering through towns on a frigging bear that feeds into the ridiculous power fantasy all the more. And while all of this doesn’t address one of my biggest complaints – namely the dragon mount usage time and cooldown – it gives me hope that the developers are aware of it, and working towards a solution.
Movement Gains
I didn’t personally find any issue with mashing the sprint button like in Grand Theft Auto to get around, but providing an option to hold it down wouldn’t hurt. That’s exactly what the new update does. Instead of tapping multiple times to sprint, and then several more times continuously for an increased burst in speed, you simply hold it once to start running. Tapping it once, on foot or horseback, will grant that increased burst of speed. You still need to press the button occasionally to renew the burst, but otherwise, after holding the button to sprint, you can release it. It’s seamless and feels far better overall.
Then there’s gliding, which always felt annoying outside of the Abyss due to the stamina consumption. Lo and behold, it now requires less stamina than before, and you can now use certain equipment while airborne. The Aerial Stab bug that allowed for infinite flying has been patched, but there is a nice compromise – on top of improving the animation of the attack, each successive use consumes more stamina. You can still sort of fly around to an extent if you have the stamina. Oh, and did I mention that the stamina requirements for Aerial Maneuver and Aerial Swing have been reduced?
Reducing Friction
As nice as it is to learn all the nuances of the game’s many systems, sometimes the friction could be overbearing. This was especially the case when upgrading new loot – the amount of resources required discouraged you from trying new things, even more so when they were for Damiane and Oongka. To address this, we have Refinement Tokens. Awarded from select main and faction quests (awarded retroactively if you’ve already completed them), these can be used to upgrade equipment to Tier 4 without using any additional resources. You’ll still need to mine and whatnot for going beyond that (which has also become easier, more on that shortly). Now you can immediately try any new gear without feeling like it’s a massive drop in damage or defense, especially in the early to mid-game.
While mining can still be a drag, the Mining Knuckledrill has been changed so that it will auto-collect ores obtained from drilling. The same goes for the Demenissian Chainsaw with trees. Chests with “various materials” can also be discovered throughout Pywel, and any inventory bags obtained after maxing out your overall slots (which is 240) will now instead grant crafting resources.
UI Polishing
The developer promised improvements with its UI, and quite frankly, I’m shocked at just how many it stuffed with this update. First off, any new quests will now be clearly earmarked in your Journal, making them easier to distinguish. The Notifications menu now holds up to 2,000 of them, and displays progress on challenges and quests alongside details on rewards. Anvils and keys are helpfully indicated on the minimap, which can now have a North direction affixed to the top for better orienting oneself while exploring. Even cooking and crafting menus of the same type will be showcased as a single group rather than spread out. And no more having to constantly select “Use All” when opening pouches. It’s now the default, making it that much quicker to rip open for that sweet, sweet 50 Copper.
Visual Improvements
Another unexpected addition for those on consoles: Fixed 4K Output, which sets the game resolution to 4K, whether your monitor supports it or not. When used in Performance Mode on the base PS5, FSR is applied for upscaling. For PC players, hair, fur, and clothing, among other translucent materials, have improved rendering when FSR-RR or DLSS-RR is applied. In fact, DLSS-RR now offers improved visual quality overall, with bugs like waterfall animations suddenly stopping having been resolved. If that wasn’t enough, low-resolution environments sport improved quality and rendering stability when you’re using upscaling. This is in addition to various stability and performance improvements alongside reduced loading times when respawning or venturing between Abyss Traces.
The Little Things
Then you have all the small things that have been added based on player feedback. Remember how awkward it was to reach the storage chest in Howling Hill Camp? It’s now been moved to your tent, making it easier to access. Instead of having to constantly confirm which ingredients you want to use for a recipe, there’s a “Make Now” function for quicker cooking. All items can be stored at once; locked doors now have a button to confirm if you want to use a key to open them; and yes, those AI-generated assets that were “accidentally” left in have been replaced. When upgrading stats, you’ll actually see how much the next level increases Spirit, Health and Stamina by.
Heck, even things like bosses and enemies no longer ganging up on you immediately after reviving, double-clicking to use items, and crimes no longer reducing your Contribution in the event of no witnesses are great changes. Should these have all been present on day one? Sure, but the fact that they’re here now is a big win.
And that’s seemingly reflected in the player numbers, with the Steam concurrent peaking at 276,261 yesterday. There’s still much work to be done and grievances to resolve, but suffice to say that Crimson Desert is on the right track with these updates. Here’s to seeing how much more it can improve in the coming months.
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.
