Crimson Desert Hits New Steam Concurrent Player Peak as Latest Game-Changing Update Kicks In

Crimson Desert has hit a new Steam concurrent player peak during its second weekend, after another game-changing update brought a raft of improvements to the open world action adventure.

Developer Pearl Abyss released update 1.01.00 (patch notes, courtesy of Steam, are below) this morning, sparking excitement within the Crimson Desert community as a number of significant changes kicked into gear. For example, the patch added five summonable mounts (the lack of summonable mounts was a big criticism in the wake of the game’s release), decreased loading times for fast travel and revival, and improved the controls further. But these are just a few examples of the positive changes — the patch includes a long list of pretty meaningful tweaks that combine to make a big impact on the overall Crimson Desert experience.

Pearl Abyss has pumped out these big updates remarkably quickly. Crimson Desert hasn’t even hit the two weeks on-sale mark, and already a series of patches have helped turn what was a ‘mixed’ Steam user review rating into a ‘very positive’ rating. Now, Crimson Desert has actually increased its peak concurrent player count on Steam, hitting 276,261 on Sunday. At the time of this article’s publication, Crimson Desert was the third most-played game on Steam, behind Valve’s own Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2.

Of course, none of this takes into account how Crimson Desert is doing on consoles, so the game’s overall player count will be much higher (neither Sony nor Microsoft make player numbers public).

This week, Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-young responded to questions on Crimson Desert at a Q&A session following a shareholders’ meeting, and, according to reports from the South Korean media, the game is on its way to 5 million sold having hit the 3 million mark just this week. According to the Korean business press, Pearl Abyss reportedly spent seven years making Crimson Desert, with development costs coming in at 200 billion won (approx. $133 million).

As part of the Q&A, Heo Jin-young acknowledged criticism of Crimson Desert’s story. “I sympathize to some extent with the disappointment users feel regarding the story,” Heo Jin-young said, as reported by Yonhap News Agency. “I think it would have been nice if we could have done a better job with it. The production team tried to make up for the shortcomings in the remaining time, but ultimately, we focused on strengthening the gameplay, which is what we do best.”

Meanwhile, there are no solid plans on any DLC, and don’t expect official mod support any time soon, but a Nintendo Switch 2 version is apparently being explored.

Crimson Desert update makes game-changing improvements

So, let’s have a look at this patch then. Yes, the five summonable mounts are welcome, but there are a number of other highlights for me. Here’s a big one:

• Improved locked doors so that an interaction button is displayed, allowing players to choose whether to use a key to open the door.

Thank goodness! Finally, I won’t have to roll the dice on whether a door is locked or not. Those keys are safe! And there’s this:

• As part of ongoing visual improvements, replaced select 2D visual assets to better align with the game’s art direction.

That’s clearly a reference to the AI-generated art that made its way into Crimson Desert for launch, and for which Pearl Abyss had apologized. And how about this?

• Changed criminal acts to not decrease Contribution before an NPC witnesses the act.

Well that just makes stealing a lot more fun, doesn’t it? Then there’s all the improvements to flight, stamina use, and the user interface. The list goes on.

While you wait for the next Crimson Desert patch, we’ve got plenty more on the game to check out, including an article on how Crimson Desert players are building a cat army — and some are even honoring the memory of their IRL cats who passed away.

If you’re jumping into Crimson Desert’s huge open world, we recommend you take a look at our guide to Things to Do First in Crimson Desert, plus Things Crimson Desert Doesn’t Tell You (we’ve got 28 and counting!). We’ve also got a guide to the Best Early Weapons we recommend picking up, the Best Skills to Get First (including a handy explainer of the skills system), and 34 Essential Tips and Tricks to help you succeed in Pywel.

Crimson Desert update 1.01.00 patch notes:

Content

• Added 5 new mounts that can be obtained and summoned after completing certain conditions.
  • Mounts:
    • 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 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. (To prevent spoilers, the changes are listed in the dropdown menu below.):
  • 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 inputted 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.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.