Crimson Desert Is Absolutely Cooking With Its Insanely Fast Updates

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I really loved playing Crimson Desert when it first came out, and I’m amazed by how quickly the developers are making it even better. The first big update arrived just days after launch, and it included helpful additions like a storage chest, more Abyss Nexus locations, and customizable keyboard shortcuts – all of which were greatly appreciated.

Okay, so the latest patch is seriously amazing! It didn’t just fix the things I was annoyed about, it actually made the whole game feel way better. Let’s talk about some of the biggest improvements – and a lot of us were really hoping they’d address the mounts, so that’s a great place to start!

Mount and Blade

Before its release, Crimson Desert showed off several different mounts, like dire wolves and bears, leading players to believe they could be acquired and used similarly to horses – found in the world, tamed, or even taken from enemies. However, that wasn’t how the game actually worked, and players expressed their disappointment. Fortunately, the developers quickly responded to the feedback.

Players can now permanently turn three previously defeatable Legendary animals – the White Bear, Silver Fang Wolf, and Snowwhite Deer – into rideable mounts. Previously, defeating these creatures only yielded temporary rewards, but now their materials can be taken to a witch to create sigils that allow you to summon them as mounts anytime. This same ability now extends to the Rock Tusk Warthog and Icicle Edge Alpine Ibex, which were obtained through boss battles. Players who defeated these Legendary animals before this update will receive the necessary materials through an in-game reward system, making it easy to craft the sigils and enjoy their new mounts.

Okay, so bears aren’t exactly fast, especially next to a horse, but honestly? There’s something amazing about just strolling through towns riding a bear. It really leans into that feeling of being totally powerful, which is what I want in a game! And while it doesn’t fix my biggest gripe – needing to wait too long to use my dragon mount – it does make me think the devs are listening and trying to make things better, and that’s a good sign.

Movement Gains

I didn’t have problems with the original sprinting method, but adding an option to simply hold the sprint button would be a nice improvement. The new update does just that. Instead of repeatedly pressing the button to start and maintain speed, you can now hold it down to begin running. A single press will give you a quick speed boost, whether you’re on foot or horseback. You’ll still need to press the button occasionally to keep that boost going, but overall, it’s much smoother and feels a lot better.

Gliding used to be frustrating outside of the Abyss because it drained your stamina quickly. Now, it uses less stamina, and you can even use equipment while gliding! The glitch that let you fly forever has been fixed, but they’ve added a cool alternative: each time you use an aerial attack, it costs a little more stamina. If you have enough stamina, you can still move around in the air. Plus, they’ve made Aerial Maneuver and Aerial Swing less draining, too.

Reducing Friction

While understanding the game’s complex systems is rewarding, it could sometimes feel overwhelming, particularly when upgrading new items. The high cost of resources often discouraged experimentation, especially for characters like Damiane and Oongka. To fix this, we’re introducing Refinement Tokens. You’ll earn these by completing certain main story and faction quests (we’re also giving them to you retroactively for quests you’ve already finished!). These tokens let you upgrade gear to Tier 4 without spending any extra resources. You’ll still need to gather materials to go beyond Tier 4, but that’s been made easier too – we’ll share details soon. Now you can freely try out new equipment without worrying about a significant loss of power, especially early and mid-game.

Mining is now a little easier! The Mining Knuckledrill automatically collects ores when you drill, and the Demenissian Chainsaw does the same for trees. You can also find chests containing useful materials all over Pywel. Plus, if you fill up all your inventory slots (up to the maximum of 240), any extra bags you find will now give you crafting resources instead.

UI Polishing

The latest update includes a lot of helpful improvements to the game’s interface! New quests are now clearly marked in your journal, and the Notifications menu can now hold up to 2,000 notifications, showing your progress on quests and challenges, as well as reward details. The minimap now displays the locations of anvils and keys, and you can even choose to fix a North direction to the top for easier navigation. The game also organizes similar cooking and crafting menus into single groups, and pouches now automatically ‘Use All’ when opened, letting you quickly access your 50 Copper.

Visual Improvements

Okay, so they’ve added some cool stuff, especially for us console players! They’ve got a ‘Fixed 4K Output’ option now, which basically forces the game to run in 4K, even if your monitor can’t actually display it. If I’m playing on my base PS5 in Performance Mode, it uses FSR to make it look good. For PC gamers, everything looks way better with hair, fur, and clothes – basically anything see-through – when using FSR-RR or DLSS-RR. Speaking of DLSS-RR, they’ve really improved the image quality and fixed some weird bugs, like waterfalls suddenly freezing up! They’ve also boosted the quality and stability of those lower-resolution areas when I’m using upscaling. Plus, the game is just running smoother overall, and it loads way faster when I die and respawn or jump between Abyss Traces. It’s a nice quality-of-life update!

The Little Things

We’ve also made a lot of small improvements based on what players told us. For example, the storage chest at Howling Hill Camp, which used to be hard to reach, is now conveniently located inside your tent. Cooking is faster now with the new “Make Now” feature, so you don’t have to keep confirming ingredients. You can also store all your items at once, and there’s a confirmation button for locked doors when you want to use a key. We’ve replaced the placeholder art that slipped in by mistake, and when you upgrade your stats, you’ll clearly see how much your Spirit, Health, and Stamina will increase.

Honestly, I’m really loving the recent updates! It’s such a relief that enemies don’t instantly swarm me when I revive, and being able to double-click to use items is a huge time-saver. Plus, I’m so glad they fixed the thing where getting caught committing a crime would hurt your Contribution if nobody saw you! Should these things have been in the game from the start? Maybe. But I’m just happy they’re here now, it makes a big difference!

Player numbers appear to confirm this positive trend, with Steam recording a peak of 276,261 concurrent players yesterday. While there’s still work to be done and issues to address, these updates show that Crimson Desert is heading in the right direction. We’re excited to see how the game continues to improve in the months ahead.

The opinions shared in this article are the author’s own and don’t reflect the official stance of GamingBolt.

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2026-04-01 16:21