Big Crimson Desert Update for March 2025 Adds New Mounts and More

A new Crimson Desert patch has rolled out to PC and consoles on March 28, marking the game’s fifth post-release revision. Identified by version number 1.01.00, the update introduces new mounts and performance optimizations, in addition to addressing one particular point of criticism from Crimson Desert‘s early adopters.

March 29 marked the ten-day anniversary of Crimson Desert‘s massively successful release. During that period, the latest title from South Korean developer Pearl Abyss has received five updates, some of which were quite significant in terms of content volume.

Crimson Desert CEO Comments on Story Criticisms

Pearl Abyss CEO offers a rather blunt response to the ongoing fan criticism over Crimson Desert’s lackluster story and characters.

Crimson Desert Patch 1.01.00 Adds Faster Loading, Five Mounts, and Other Changes

The game’s latest update materialized on Saturday, March 28, bumping its version number up to 1.01.00. The headline change included in this patch is the addition of five new Crimson Desert mounts that players can now unlock and summon: White Bear, Silver Fang, Snowwhite Deer, Rock Tusk Warthog, and Icicle Edge Alpine Ibex. On the performance side of things, the update promises decreased loading times when initiating revivals and instances of fast travel.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

Crimson Desert Debuts More Control Improvements

The 1.01.00 update also advances Pearl Abyss’s ongoing effort to improve Crimson Desert‘s controls. As part of that push, the developer adjusted movement both on foot and horseback so that speed now ramps up by either holding the run key or tapping it once, while removing the previous behavior that caused movement speed to drop whenever the run input was not held continuously. Sustaining a full sprint still requires occasional presses of the sprint button, but the revised system is nevertheless more streamlined than the game’s earlier implementation.

Controls have consistently been cited as one of Crimson Desert’s main mechanical weak points, with early adopters describing them as everything from clunky and inconsistent to unintuitive and overengineered. While the 1.01.00 patch does not fully resolve those complaints, it does represent a meaningful step in the right direction, particularly in terms of improving control consistency. On a related note, the update makes flying smoother by eliminating an issue where the character would sometimes briefly stop before gliding, while also reducing the stamina cost of staying airborne.

The late March 2026 patch places significant emphasis on quality-of-life improvements across exploration and inventory management. Pearl Abyss added new material chests throughout Pywel, introduced Refinement Tokens that let players temper equipment up to Stage 4 without requiring additional materials, and implemented several interface upgrades, including a “Make Now” crafting option and a “Store All Selected Items” bulk function. Elsewhere, the 1.01.00 update incorporates a broad range of UI, graphics, and performance enhancements. These include stability and crash fixes across PC and consoles, improvements to the minimap and notification systems, and a new “Fixed 4K Output” option for PlayStation 5.

As its name suggests, “Fixed 4K Output” forces the game to render at 4K regardless of whether the connected display natively supports that resolution. Even on non-4K screens, the feature should still result in Crimson Desert producing a sharper image. On the base PlayStation 5, using this option—which is enabled by default—in Performance Mode automatically applies FSR upscaling. For the time being, the ability to force 4K output is exclusive to the PlayStation version of Crimson Desert. Pearl Abyss has yet to indicate whether or when the feature might also make its way to the Xbox Series X/S.

The 1.01.00 update changes how criminal acts affect the player’s Contribution stat, ensuring that such actions no longer reduce it unless they are witnessed by an NPC. Although this adjustment is worded as a bug fix in the official patch notes, it is listed under content changes, which suggests the prior behavior was likely intentional despite some player speculation to the contrary.

Crimson Desert Update 1.01.00 Patch Notes

Platform availability as of March 28, 2026

Steam (PC) : Patch available now
Steam (Mac) : Patch available now
PlayStation : Patch available now
Xbox : Patch available now
Epic Games Store : Patch available at a later time (in-progress)
Mac App Store : Patch available at a later time (in-progress)

Content Changes

Added 5 new mounts that can be obtained and summoned after completing certain conditions.
- Legendary Animals: White Bear, Silver Fang, Snowwhite Deer
- Boss’ Mounts: Rock Tusk Warthog, Icicle Edge Alpine Ibex
- The people of Pywel are not afraid of tamed animals, so feel free to travel through towns with these mounts.
- If you had already caught any of the Legendary Animals before this patch, you will retroactively receive the corresponding reward in the “Extra Rewards List” when you get into the game.
Added chests containing various materials throughout Pywel.
Added the “Refinement Token” item. With this item, equipment can be tempered up to Stage 4 without consuming any additional materials. Refinement Tokens can be obtained from certain main and faction quests.
Added a “Make Now” function which allows food and items to be cooked/crafted immediately in the Cooking/Crafting menu once a recipe is selected, without having to separately select ingredients.
Added a “Store all selected items” function to move all items from the inventory to your private storage. (Keyboard: Shift+RMB/ PS5: □ / Xbox: X)
Moved the private storage chest in Howling Hill Camp, previously located behind Karl, to inside Kliff’s tent.
Added wholesale grocer shop NPCs to regional farms in Pywel, and accordingly adjusted the quantity of certain Knowledge entries.
Improved shop item knowledge acquisition so that knowledge for all items sold in shops can now be learned at once, with the learning time set to 3 seconds.
Improved locked doors so that an interaction button is displayed, allowing players to choose whether to use a key to open the door.
Improved pets so that they do not stray excessively far away during combat.
Fixed an issue where pets in certain situations were unable to loot during combat.
Improved wells so that 5 units of water can be obtained at a time.
Improved the Mining Knuckledrill so that items obtained from drilling can be collected immediately.
Improved the Demenissian Chainsaw item so that lumber from felled trees can be collected immediately.
Changed the crafting materials for the Kuku Watcher Pack.
Improved Abyss Cells dropped from destroying disappearing rocks so that they can now be placed into the Kuku Pot.
Improved the Knowledge Helm so that all obtainable knowledge visible on the screen can be acquired at once.
Slightly increased the treasure detection range of the Pirate King Hat.
Additional inventory expansion items obtained after reaching the maximum inventory expansion limit (240 slots) will now be granted as boxes containing crafting materials and other items.
Made the Abyss more convenient to play.
Reduced the chance of pickpockets running into houses while fleeing.
Increased the maximum camera distance in Photo Mode, added a field of view adjustment feature, and a camera shutter sound effect.
As part of ongoing visual improvements, replaced select 2D visual assets to better align with the game’s art direction.
Fixed an issue where resting or waiting at beds, campfires, and similar objects were unavailable.
Fixed an issue where Damiane and Oongka would become invisible under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where money deposited in the bank could disappear when interest was refreshed under certain circumstances.
Changed sealable items so that when they become lost, sealable items will become sealed and items that cannot be sealed are registered as lost items.
Improved the system so that leaving out a sealable item and then saving and reloading the game triggers either a sealed or lost item notification.
Changed criminal acts to not decrease Contribution before an NPC witnesses the act.
Changed the functionality of an item.
- Changed the functionality of the ‘Master Du’s Circlet’ item.
- Once equipped, pressing the item use prompt keys will immediately fire projectiles.

Controls & Combat

Improved movement controls for both the player character and horse.
- Movement speed increases by holding down the running key.
- Movement speed increases by tapping the running key once.
- Movement speed for the player character and horse will no longer decrease even if the running key is not held continuously.
- (Please note that maintaining the full sprint state still requires periodic input of the sprint button.)

Improved the usability of Flight.
- Reduced Flight’s stamina consumption.
- Fixed the issue where the character briefly stops for a moment before moving with Flight.
- Improved Flight so that equipped equipment can be used while flying.
- Improved an issue where Flight would not activate in certain situations.

Changed the mechanics of Aerial Stab. Because there was an unintended issue that allowed the skill to be used repeatedly in midair, Aerial Stab was adjusted so that it can still be used as a fun movement mechanic without disrupting overall game balance.
- Improved the animation for Aerial Stab.
- Changed Aerial Stab so that the stamina required for the skill increases with each consecutive use.
- Fixed an issue where Aerial Stab would not activate when Kliff had a different main weapon other than a one-handed sword equipped.
The stamina requirements for Aerial Maneuver and Aerial Swing have been reduced.
Improved the interaction range to make interacting with NPCs more convenient.
Improved the player character’s turning responsiveness during short-distance movements.
[Keyboard/Mouse] Fixed an issue where the Blinding Flash and Spinning Slash skills would be interrupted when continuously being input under certain conditions.
[Keyboard/Mouse] Improved so that items can be sold by double-clicking them in shops.
Added weak point indicator effects for each element.
Adjusted certain bosses and enemies so they do not attack immediately after the player character dies and revives.
Fixed an issue where Meteor Kick could be cast in midair even when there was no reachable ground.
Added an aim key guide for tool-type items.
Changed weapons so that they can now be drawn using the unsheathe weapon key, and improved the UI so that this key guide is displayed during combat.
Fixed an issue where the stun gauge would sometimes reset instantly when a boss using a mount fell off it.
Changed Small and Medium Stoneback Crabs to fall backwards when hit by the Force Palm ability.

[Keyboard/Mouse] Improved inventory usability as follows:
- Changed selecting and using items from mouse hover to mouse click.
- Left-click to select items in the inventory.
- Right-click or double-click to use items.
Reduced Stamina consumption while sprinting and using Crow Wings.
Fixed an issue where the knockback range of Focused Repulsion was abnormally large.
Made an adjustment so that the wheels of Desert Marauder Rusten can no longer be destroyed from beyond a certain distance.
Fixed an issue where Roll and Evade could not be performed while using focus skills.
[Keyboard/Mouse] Added a “Precise Control” feature for Axiom Force. Holding Q or the mouse back button while moving the mouse now allows objects to be moved more precisely.
Improved objects so that they are easier to interact with.
Improved the UI to display a guide message when attempting to draw a weapon in locations or states where weapons cannot be drawn.

Quests

Improved the transition into the liberation sequence so it feels less abrupt while liberating a location.
Fixed an issue in the Prologue quest “New Journey” where progression could be blocked if the player throws an object at Sebastian to attack him.
Fixed an issue in the Chapter 2 quest “Missing Companion” where the delivery target sometimes disappeared during the quest.
Fixed an issue in the Chapter 3 quest “Dance with the Devil” where destroying the totems would occasionally not reduce the totem count.
Added additional guide prompts where guidance was previously lacking.

UI Fixes & Improvements

Added a feature that allows the minimap to be fixed with North (N) at the top.
Added information in the Skills menu showing stat increases for the next skill level.
Added icons on the minimap to indicate the locations of keys and anvils.
Improved the Notifications menu to allow checking quest/challenges progress (accepted, completed, updated), reward information, and time details. The maximum number of stored notifications has also been increased to 2,000.
Added an icon to the Journal menu to indicate new quests.
Improved the minimap so that faction facilities are displayed when that particular faction’s liberation gauge is shown.
Improved the overall main screen notifications, including how long they are displayed and when they disappear.
Improved the Cooking/Crafting menu so that recipes of the same type (Filling, Satisfying, Hearty) are displayed as a single group.
Improved the Duo game so that a key guide for peeking is displayed during gameplay.
Removed the whiteout effect during the retry loading sequence after death.
Improved the Knowledge menu UI so that both main categories and subcategories can be viewed at once.
Changed the key guide UI image for PlayStation controller’s L3/R3 buttons and Xbox controller’s LS/RS buttons.
Changed the Inventory UI so that when using Pouch-type items, “Use All” is the option selected by default.
Improved the text color of UI descriptions to appear brighter.

Graphics & Settings

Improved rendering stability and visual quality in low-resolution environments or when upscaling is enabled.
Improved the rendering of translucent materials such as hair, fur, and clothing when FSR-RR / DLSS-RR is enabled.

[PlayStation 5] Added a “Fixed 4K Output” option to provide a sharper gameplay experience.
- When this option is enabled, the game will output at 4K resolution regardless of whether the display natively supports 4K, allowing for a sharper image.
- On the base PlayStation 5 in Performance Mode, enabling this option will allow you to upscale with FSR.
- This option is enabled by default and can be disabled.
- When disabled, the game will output according to the maximum resolution supported by the monitor.
Fixed an issue where screen noise would increase during long gameplay sessions.
Fixed an issue where displacement mapping was not applied correctly when DLSS-RR was enabled. In addition, the DLSS-RR preset has been changed from D to E, improving overall visual quality and fixing an issue where texture animations, such as waterfalls, could stop playing.

Performance, Stability, Gameplay

Loading times have been reduced when traveling via Abyss Traces and when respawning after death.
Fixed several stability, performance optimization, and crash issues across PC, console, and Mac.
Fixed an issue where frame drops occurred during the battle against Crowcaller.

Localization

Fixed a UI issue where the current quest objective could incorrectly display certain item descriptions instead.
Fixed various localization errors and improved localization quality (game advice, etc.) across all languages.

Others

Added sound effects when certain animals eat meat.

Other Fixes

Fixed an issue where certain interactions would not function when enhancing some tools.
Fixed an issue in the Twisted Thicketway Abyss where the Skybridge Gate could be opened without restoring the adjacent Abyss.
Improved cows not properly following during herding.
Fixed an issue where greeting others while having a low bounty could trigger a crime.
Fixed an issue where using Nature’s Snare affected nearby NPCs.
Fixed an issue where housing mode would close when pressing the drag button outdoors.
Fixed an issue where falling onto shallow water could occasionally cause the character to dive to an abnormal location.
Fixed an issue where the effect of the Energy Drain Abyss gear would not activate.
Fixed an issue where unintended functionality was applied to the Constellation Helm.
Fixed an issue where movement speed would briefly decrease before initiating gliding.
Fixed an issue where items would be put away when changing equipment via quick slot while equipment was already drawn.
Fixed an issue where bow aiming was not possible in certain situations.
Fixed an issue where using Blinding Flash Finisher at the edge of a cliff would launch the character far away.
Fixed an issue where some UI elements would overlap when displayed at the same time under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where attacking NPCs with trees was not considered a crime.
Fixed various other in-game issues.