Today, South Korean developer Pearl Abyss released Crimson Desert patch 1.04 on nearly all platforms (Mac users will have to wait until a later time). This update adds most of the enhancements and features outlined a couple of weeks ago in the official roadmap, except for boss rematches, which will be released in a future patch.
Three difficulty modes (Easy, Normal, and Hard) have been added under Settings > Play. Easy reduces damage taken, lowers enemy stats, and extends Parry/Dodge windows. Normal is unchanged from the existing gameplay experience. Hard arguably brings the most significant changes: food effects only apply after the full consumption animation completes, enemies hit harder and move faster, Parry/Dodge windows are tighter, Roll invincibility frames are reduced, and certain bosses even get new attack patterns.
There were also several combat tweaks. Bosses are no longer immune to player attacks while performing powerful attacks, and the frequency of bosses' counterattacks and escapes has been adjusted. Follow-up attacks now connect faster, even when the initial hit is blocked. Elemental status ailment damage has been increased, while the environmental hit damage of pillars and trees has been slightly reduced. Equipment reinforcement through grindstones and anvils now grants less attack and defense. Moreover, the Blinding Flash skill can now be used in areas where weapons can't be drawn, and targets the currently faced enemy.
The playable characters have all received new skills and weapons:
- Damiane gets a new exclusive one-handed weapon, the Sword of Starlight (a quest reward).
- Kliff and Oongka get two one-handed weapons, the Tree Branch and Sturdy Tree Branch, which can be obtained by cutting down trees/bamboo.
- Kliff gets a new Weapon Throw skill usable while dual wielding. Thrown weapons can be retrieved afterward.
- Damiane and Oongka get the new Ambush skill and a Focused Force Palm equivalent.
- Force Palm Pulse now charges up to 3 stages with escalating damage.
- Oongka's blaster can now be fired during Flight.
On the Control side, new presets have been added for both keyboard/mouse and controllers. The original layout is preserved as "Classic Preset". A New Evasion Control option lets you choose between double-tap or hold input for dodge. Vault was reworked to trigger only when pressing Jump during another attack; Dismount/Drop and Cancel inputs were consolidated; and the Map can now be easily opened by holding the DualSense touchpad or Xbox View button.
Crimson Desert patch 1.04 also adds several user interface improvements. The Inventory now has category tabs: All, Documents, Equipment, Food, Materials, Others. Sort settings are helpfully saved per category. New Map filters and search have been added; Memory Fragment icons now display on map/minimap after collection. The Minimap now shows cardinal directions (N, S, E, W). Shop pages now show how many of an item you already own, and the Journal now shows reward item details.
The Housing and Storage system received a major overhaul, too. There's a new Sturdy Gatherables Chest that features 1,000 slots for materials and can be used for crafting and refinement without being in your inventory. A new Collectibles Chest brings 1,000 dedicated slots for quest items and crafting recipes, while the Kuku Cooler and Enhanced Kuku Cooler offer 40 and 330 slots, respectively, for food and ingredients, usable for cooking remotely. The new Wardrobe, available from furniture shops, is an outfit storage that houses 100 slots per unit, up to 1,000 total. The Select House functionality lets players choose their preferred house layout (Compact, Standard, Spacious, Spacious Pailunese). The various options will unlock based on the camp expansion level. Furthermore, all placed furniture can now be retrieved all at once.
Pets have received a lot of love in Crimson Desert patch 1.04, too. Birds can now be "recruited" as pets; you interact with them via the new Sotdae of Bond item, feeding them to build Trust. Cat fans will be happy to learn that five new cat types were added, and a new item, the Sigil of Bonding, lets cats stay on your shoulder for longer. A new pet accessory slot has been introduced, enabling a wider variety of roles. Horses and pets can now be renamed, and finally, a secret pet equipment shop was added in Pororin.
On the technical side, Pearl Abyss introduced significant improvements to distant object and texture rendering quality, scaling with graphics settings. The developers also improved character visual quality at long distances and enhanced hair lighting in shaded areas.
The quality of AMD FSR Ray Regeneration and Intel XeSS 3.0 upscaling & Frame Generation were improved. Moreover, there are new options under Accessibility: Colorblind Mode, Chromatic Aberration toggle, and Photosensitive Mode.
Crimson Desert recently broke the five million-unit mark in less than a month since its launch. However, in the United States, it failed to enter the Top 10 of the best-selling games in March.
Find everything we know (including review and guides) about the game on our hub page.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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