Pearl Abyss released Update 1.02.00 for Crimson Desert, fixing remaining bugs and other issues while continuing to add quality of life features to the open world experience. Despite releasing in March, Pearl Abyss has been releasing new updates for Crimson Desert at a rapid pace, continuing to evolve and improve the experience for players. That extends to April 4, where another big update has arrived for download.

As one of the most anticipated games of 2026, Crimson Desert launched to many mixed reviews. However, even with less than stellar reviews, Crimson Desert has passed multiple sales milestones, finding a huge audience of players. To keep fans happy, Pearl Abyss has continued to improve the game through various updates, fixing issues, adding features, and smoothing out parts of the game that may not have landed the way many expected, such as the control scheme.

Crimson Desert Players Have Found a Way to Glide Around the Map Much Faster

Crimson Desert players discover a trick that lets them glide across the massive open-world map much faster, but it may not stick around.

The latest update for Crimson Desert has finally arrived and, as expected, it continues to address multiple issues with the game. Similar to past large scale updates in Crimson Dawn, this latest patch continues to make quality of life improvements, further expanding the private storage in the Greymane Camp from 240 up to a maximum of 1000, depending on expansion progress. Another fast travel Abyss Nexus was added in Pailune, another new armor set was added for cats, and a “Headgear Visibility option” has also been added for those who would rather show off their character’s face. New options include Always show, Show in Combat, Hide in Cutscenes, and Always Hide.

For many players, the control scheme in Crimson Desert has been an issue, with many citing how complex the system can be. Pearl Abyss has continued to update the controls in previous updates and this latest one continues that trend. In this patch, a Movement Controls option has been added with two options: Basic and Classic. Basic attempts to simplify some of the inputs, such as just having to hold a button to sprint rather than repeatedly press it as players would with the Classic option. Similarly, the stamina consumption rate has also been adjusted based on Basic or Classic controls, with Basic only consuming stamina at set intervals.

The patch also tackles a ton of remaining bugs and other issues impacting the player experience. Responsiveness and making sure certain abilities like FLight and Double Boost would activate as expected seemed to be a big focus in this update. Glitches, bugs, and other potential crashes were also addressed in this update, hopefully making the experience smoother and more stable across the board.

These various updates are very clearly working, despite a less than enthusiastic launch based on many critical reviews. Fans have continued to show up and each successive update has seemingly only helped continue to spread the word about Crimson Desert as the game rolls through new sales milestones. Even Crimson Desert‘s shares have also continued to skyrocket, helping it recover from the downturn it saw due to game reviews at launch.

Crimson Desert's user score on Metacritic score keeps trending upwardImage via Pearl Abyss

Crimson Desert Update 1.02.00 Patch Notes

Content

  • Depending on your progress with the Greymane camp expansion, the capacity of your private storage can now be increased from 240 slots up to a maximum of 1000 slots.
    • Through the expansion of your camp, which consists of 5 stages in total, you can expand your private storage as follows:
      • Start with 240 slots
      • First camp expansion +100 slots
      • Second camp expansion +100 slots
      • Third camp expansion +100 slots
      • Fourth camp expansion +100 slots
      • Final camp expansion +360 slots
  • Added an Abyss Nexus in Pailune.
  • Improved the visibility of explosive barrels when using the “Light Reflection” skill or when shining the lantern on them.
  • Fixed an issue with combat missions, where comrades would not return until the mission timer expired if the mission was completed before the time limit.
  • Fixed an issue where the Abyss puzzle state would reset when viewing detailed information of nodes via the map “Details” menu while in the Abyss.
  • Fixed an issue where the character would become invisible if an Abyss Artifact was obtained before the Abyss completion cutscene played.
  • Fixed an issue where the skills Healing Force Palm and Aerial Force Palm were also reset when resetting all skills.
  • Changed the designs of certain gimmick monsters.
  • Added 1 new armor set and helmet for cats.
  • Improved Abyss Skybridge Gates so that restored Gates can be teleported to. (This change was applied in Patch 1.01.00)
  • Fixed an issue where the bank investment refresh time would remain stuck in the “Refreshing” state and not update. (Added: 2026/04/04 05:00 UTC)

Controls & Combat

  • Added a “Movement Controls” option.
    • The option can be selected via Main Menu > Others > Settings > Input > Movement Controls, and offers two options: Basic and Classic.
    • Detailed descriptions can be found in the in-game options menu.
    • Basic movement controls: Hold the sprint key to accelerate.
    • Classic movement controls: Repeatedly press the sprint key to accelerate.
  • The stamina consumption for mounts has been adjusted.
    • With Basic movement controls, holding the sprint key consumes stamina at set intervals.
    • With Classic movement controls, stamina is consumed each time the sprint key is pressed.
  • Improved the conditions for using the Abyss Nexus, allowing them to be used even while moving slightly except in certain situations such as while mounted or while using Flight.
    • We plan to improve this further in the near future so that the player character can fast travel even while on certain mounts.
  • Improved so that the Flight skill can be activated even when holding the jump key in mid-air.
  • Improved responsiveness when inputting a jump after an attack.
  • Added an Escape key guide when affected by elemental status effects.
  • Fixed an issue where the Focus state would not be canceled when using Aerial Roll during flight.
  • Fixed an issue where weapons could not be drawn inside Demeniss Castle under certain conditions.
  • Fixed an issue where some bosses would teleport too far away during combat.
  • Fixed an issue where the ‘Double Boost’ horse ability would not activate properly.
  • Fixed an issue where parry would not activate properly during ‘Focus’ when a two-handed sword was equipped.
  • Fixed an issue where the camera would turn toward nearby enemies when aiming with a tool.
  • Fixed an issue where certain interactions were unavailable while specific tools were equipped.
  • Fixed an issue where repeatedly pressing the sprint key would allow a horse to run at maximum speed regardless of its stats.

Quests

  • Fixed an issue in Chapter 6 where quest progression became unavailable after defeating a boss following a save/load under certain conditions.
  • Fixed an issue where quest progression became unavailable if a related item was sold before starting the ‘A Rumor Fueled by Greed’ quest.
  • Fixed an issue in Chapter 11 where the Inserted Key could disappear from the bag, preventing related quest progression.

NPC & NPC Dialogue

  • Fixed an issue where certain quest-related NPCs would not appear.

UI Fixes & Improvements

  • Improved the item use notification in the bottom-right corner so that using it will select the item directly.
  • Improved the shop UI so that sellable items are prioritized on display.
  • Reorganized certain positions and content of the key guide displayed in the bottom-right corner to improve visibility.
  • Improved the UI so that the Save Game and Load Game menus are separated, and added save slot number labels.
  • Fixed an issue where the minimap scale would reset while riding a mount at maximum speed.
  • [Keyboard/Mouse] Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor would disappear in the storage menu.
  • Fixed an issue where item movement would not work properly when entering the horse inventory menu in certain circumstances.
  • Fixed an issue where certain menus would occasionally not respond to interaction or appear visually awkward.
  • Fixed an issue where crashes occured when entering or using some UI/menus in certain circumstances.
  • Improved the game so that the “Stow Weapon” key guide is displayed while in combat when mounted.

Graphics & Settings

  • Added a “Headgear Visibility” option in Settings > Language & Gameplay.
    • The following options are available to choose from: Always Show / Show in Combat / Hide in Cutscenes / Always Hide.
    • Additionally, a feature to hide weapons shown on the character’s back, which many players have requested, is also planned to be added in the near future.
  • [PC/PlayStation 5/Xbox] Improved FSR upscaling quality.
  • [PC] Applied FSR SDK 2.2.
  • [PC] Improved FSR Frame Generation quality.
  • [PC] Fixed an issue where GPU memory usage would increase when the DLSS RR option was configured.
  • [PC] Improved GPU load and shimmering in certain circumstances when FSR-RR / DLSS-RR was enabled.
  • [PC] Fixed an issue where foliage and certain other elements were not rendered properly in ray-traced reflections when FSR-RR / DLSS-RR was enabled.
  • [PC] Fixed an issue where the top of the screen would flicker when DLAA and HDR options were enabled.
  • [PC] Fixed a rendering issue affecting the character’s face indoors when the graphics preset was set to Low.
  • [PlayStation 5] Applied the Upgraded PSSR Sharpen feature on PlayStation 5 Pro, improving image sharpness.
  • [PlayStation 5] Applied Upgraded PSSR Native AA to Quality Mode on PlayStation 5 Pro.
  • [Xbox] Fixed an issue where V-Sync behavior would change when pressing the Home button.
  • [Xbox] Added a 4K upscaling option to Performance Mode on Xbox Series X.

Performance, Stability, Gameplay

  • Fixed several stability, performance optimization, and crash issues across PC, console, and Mac.

Localization

  • Fixed various localization errors and improved localization quality (game advice, etc.) across all languages.

Others

  • Fixed an issue where certain walls in Corridors of the Void were missing.
  • Improved the sound so that the sound position changes together with the camera perspective.
  • Fixed various other in-game issues.

Other Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where the weapon would not be visible when using the ‘Stab’ ability while ‘Unarmed’ was equipped as a secondary weapon.
  • Improved the UI so that license information can now be viewed in the Credits.
  • Fixed an issue the audio volume would become low when an NPC won in minigames such as Duo.
  • Fixed an issue where the background audio would become distorted in certain locations and situations.



Released

March 19, 2026

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language

Developer(s)

Pearl Abyss

Publisher(s)

Pearl Abyss


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