The pace of game-changing updates for Crimson Desert shows no sign of slowing down, after Pearl Abyss patch 1.02.00 made a number of changes players had asked for.
According to the patch notes, below, the headline change here is private storage capacity expansion of up to 1000 slots depending on the Greymane camp’s expansion level. Players had called for extra storage slots ever since the storage box was added to the game, especially those in the late game who were struggling to find a home for all their camp management resources.
But that’s not the only welcome change. There’s also a Headgear Visibility option, which means you can hide your helm and see Kliff’s face, if you want. The option comes in four flavors: Always Show; Show in Combat; Hide in Cutscenes; and Always Hide.
Pearl Abyss said it will soon let players hide weapons shown on their character’s back, which, again, is something they’ve been asking for since launch. That means if you want to hide your shield for that cool, no-shield look, you’ll soon be able to.
This is a really interesting one: the patch adds a toggle for “Movement Controls,” while also making further control improvements. There are now two options: Basic and Classic. Basic lets you hold sprint to accelerate, Classic means you have to repeatedly press sprint to accelerate. Stamina is adjusted depending which option you choose, too. So, with Basic, holding sprint consumes stamina at set intervals, but with Classic, stamina is consumed each time you hit the sprint button. Basic, then, is the much more easy going option, and I imagine it will be the more popular choice as it requires less effort — ever since Crimson Desert came out, some players have complained about having to mash sprint to get about in the world.
This line is interesting:
- Fixed an issue where the Focus state would not be canceled when using Aerial Roll during flight.
That to me reads like a fix for the flight boost trick I reported on this week, which some had wondered might have been a glitch. Well, it very much sounds like it was a glitch. And here’s another seemingly innocuous change that will have a big impact for just getting around the world quickly:
- 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.
That means you can now fast travel without coming to a complete stop!
And here’s perhaps the most important change in the whole patch:
- Added 1 new armor set and helmet for cats.
That’s good news for players who are making their very own Greymane cat army!
Overall, this is a major patch for Crimson Desert, which has received a handful of such updates in a remarkably short time after release. Pearl Abyss has reacted to feedback incredibly quickly, making significant improvements to the way its open world action adventure works in its first two weeks of life. You have to imagine the pace of updates will slow down soon, but I’ve been saying that for the last few days, and here we have another massive update, so we’ll see.
There’s no word on a potential hard mode, however, which some players have asked for after updates made certain aspects of the game easier.
We’ve got plenty more on Crimson Desert, including a story on how the NPCs are the stars of the show, and a hidden food consequence system that a modder has restored. 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 1.02.00 patch notes:
- 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
- Through the expansion of your camp, which consists of 5 stages in total, you can expand your private storage as follows:
- 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.
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.
