Post-launch support for any title, be it Path of Exile or No Man’s Sky, is impressive in many ways, especially when content is dropped for free with no gameplay limits. But as I’ve noted several times, many with growing concern, few single-player titles have offered the kind of support that Crimson Desert has been getting, that too weekly.
So here we are, one week after the last big update – which itself arrived about a week after two updates – with patch 1.09. It’s not the biggest by a long shot – in fact, it may be the smallest for the open-world title without considering hot fixes. But as always, what the development team has added deserves appreciation, so without further ado, let’s dive into the biggest highlights, kicking off with…
Controller Remapping
Think back to every single feature, big and small, that the development team has added since launch. Between re-blockades, boss rematches, difficulty options, UI improvements, more storage, and additional mounts, what’s one that so many people continued to crave? That’s right – controller remapping, and it’s finally in the game after that one interview from before launch when Will Powers said the team would look into it.
Open the Settings menu, head to the Input tab, select Controller Customization Preset, and go nuts. Nearly everything can be remapped, though there are a few restrictions – like not being able to assign the same button within the same group, which lacks an asterisk near the option. Otherwise, whether it’s the button for hard locking onto foes, Light and Attack, jumping, evasion, and so on, you can change all of this depending on your requirements.
30 New Species of Small Animals
When the development team added 20 new species of small animals to adopt as pets, alongside the baby Wyvern, you probably wouldn’t have expected them to add more on such short notice. And yet, it proceeded with the obvious next step – adding more. To be more precise, 30 additional small animal species, including the red squirrel and hedgehog, can now be tamed, joining the massive virtual zoo that Kliff is cultivating for totally non-war-related purposes. Except the badger, though. That one is being prepared for the final boss.
And to top it off, there are new animations for when you pick up certain pets and put them back down. A small thing, as usual, but one of many that further adds to the overall immersion.
Reckoning and Devastation
Another seemingly innocuous addition is the new skills for Damiane and Oongka. Initially, you wouldn’t think too much of it. Same input as Kliff’s Blinding Flash Finisher? Well, that’s probably neat. Then you actually get around to using them.
What the patch notes don’t tell you is that these are completely new moves that leverage each character’s unique traits. Damiane gets Reckoning, which essentially calls down multiple spears of light onto a single target after performing Blinding Flash. Remember her lightning attack when using a rapier and buckler? Think of that, but multiplied several times, dealing massive damage. Best of all, if there are multiple enemies, the spears will fall in a straight line, hitting each one along the way.
Oongka’s new skill, Devastation, is arguably even better in terms of area-of-effect damage. Upon performing a Heavy Attack after Blinding Flash, he’ll punch the ground and release a fiery shockwave that travels in a straight line. While lacking the single-target potential of Reckoning, it’s still excellent for crowd control, especially since you can grapple any enemies that have been knocked back and slam them back into the ground. If that wasn’t enough, Quaking Fury, Oongka’s version of the Turning Slash, now deals increased stagger meter damage.
Assigning Seeds to Quickslots
With how much of an instrument of widespread destruction Kliff can be, seeing a man of his talents farming can be jarring. Still, it’s a peaceful life…except when you actually need to go about planting seeds across various plots. The process of going into your inventory and individually selecting each seed to plant is a fresh hell for anyone.
Fortunately, patch 1.09 helps in one of the most obvious ways possible: Letting you assign seeds to quickslots. Simply select the type in question, walk up to a seed plot, hold down the interaction button, and voila. Would the next obvious step be to allow players to plant multiple seeds at once? Probably, but in the meantime, quickslots for seeds are a huge quality-of-life improvement.
Dispatch UI Improvements
The Dispatch function has come a long way since launch, especially with improvements like automatically cancelling missions if you no longer have the resources to sustain them and allowing you to separately repeat a mission. You would think it couldn’t be further polished, but how about automatically sorting Greymanes with the required skills for a mission to the very top of the UI? Furthermore, “Repeating Mission” will now appear when a mission is repeatedly completed. Your guess is as good as ours on where things could be improved further – aside from sending Kliff himself on missions when you log out – but for now, it’s yet another small improvement on top of many.
Even More Little Improvements (and a Changing Room)
And make no mistake – as always with patches like this, there are many other much-welcome improvements and fixes. Fans complained that light sources affected the entire armor dyeing and character customization experience – true enough, especially when it’s dark. This has been “fixed,” but actually, the developer went even further, adding a new location that your character goes to – a changing room, if you will – where the lighting stays the same throughout. Simply fantastic.
You also have fixes for issues like the Mining Knuckledrill not being used while clinging to a wall, or Photo Mode activating when you’re simply examining items. Landing animations in specific situations which looked unnatural have also been fixed. And if you spent time observing bears, hoping to see them pick up and eat fish, they should now do so rather than starving due to incompetence. Oh, and while examining documents, the cursor will now disappear, eliminating the need to constantly move it out of the way.
Again, this is a relatively small patch, one that lacks much of the flashiness or glut of features that others would (even including last week’s update). However, controller remapping is a big win and seeing Damiane and Oongka get their own versions of the Blinding Flash Finisher that are so distinct from Kliff’s while catering to their respective playstyles is great.
It also remains a testament to the development team’s support and the cadence at which it continues to update Crimson Desert, making it that much better of an experience. That’s especially the case when it comes to fixing bugs like the Magic Scythe not working if your inventory was full or not being able to complete certain challenges, even with the required Knowledge. Even if it stops adding new content or features to play around with, it’s committed to making this a well-polished experience that fans can feel proud about investing hundreds of hours in.
If we’ve said it once, we’ll say it multiple times: Now is a great time to jump into Crimson Desert if you haven’t already. That is, until next week, of course.
