Crimson Desert Patch Notes 1.04: 40GB Update Live

Pearl Abyss just dropped Crimson Desert update 1.04.00 (labeled 1.000.232 on PS5 and Xbox). The patch is live now on Steam PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Epic Games Store. Mac users on Steam and the Mac App Store are still waiting.

This is the largest update since launch. We're talking difficulty sliders, housing storage that actually works, new pets, controller presets, and a fix list that goes on for days.

The update is 29.7GB on PS5, 40GB on PC, and 44GB on Xbox Series X. Reddit user u/yourfavchoom called it "the largest update yet for the game."

Difficulty Settings Are Finally Here

Open Settings > Play. Pick Easy, Normal, or Hard. Normal is the original experience you've been playing.

Easy mode:

• Reduced damage taken
• Lower enemy health, aggression, and speed
• Wider parry and dodge windows
• Bosses counterattack and escape less often

Hard mode:

• Food doesn't heal instantly. You wait for the eating animation to finish.
• You take more damage. Enemies hit harder and move faster.
• Parry and dodge windows shrink. Roll invincibility is shorter.
• Bosses get new attack patterns and counterattack more.

Boss rematches are coming soon. No date yet, but Pearl Abyss says you'll be able to fight any boss you've already beaten.

"so happy with the difficulty slider, bosses have become a slog for me."

• Reddit u/EvilMuffin93

Housing Storage: The Overhaul You Wanted

Your house just got way more useful. All these storage items connect directly to crafting and cooking.

New storage items:

• Sturdy Gatherables Chest (1,000 slots) – Buy from furniture shops. Stores materials for crafting and refinement.
• Kuku Cooler (40 slots) – Quest reward. Stores food and ingredients for cooking.
• Enhanced Kuku Cooler (330 slots) – Craft it. Stores food and ingredients for cooking.
• Collectibles Chest (1,000 slots) – Quest reward. Stores quest items and crafting recipes.
• Wardrobe (100 slots each, 1,000 max) – Buy from furniture shops. Stores outfits.

Materials in the Sturdy Gatherables Chest count for crafting even if you don't carry them. Same for ingredients in the coolers during cooking.

Other housing improvements:

• One button to retrieve all placed furniture
• Select House option: Compact, Standard, Spacious, or Spacious Pailunese (unlock as your Greymane Camp expands)
• Housing mode UI and controls improved

Pets Get a Massive Upgrade

Birds are now tameable. Find them around Pywel. Use the Sotdae of Bond (quest item) to gain Trust by feeding them.

Five new cat types added. The Abyss Heuklang can become a proper pet now. You can rename horses and pets.

Remember the bug where cats would sit on your shoulder forever? Pearl Abyss fixed it, but players loved it, so they added a workaround: the Sigil of Bonding accessory slot (equip on a cat) lets them stay longer.

Pet equipment is sold at a new secret shop in Pororin.

Controls: Presets, Evasion Toggles, and Touchpad Map

Controller and keyboard/mouse presets are in. The Classic Preset keeps original controls. More detailed controller customization is coming soon.

Key changes:

• Evasion Control and Switch Roll and Evasion Input let you choose double-click vs. hold, or swap roll and dodge
• Touchpad opens map on PS5 (hold the touchpad or Xbox View button)
• Vault now requires pressing Jump during another attack
• All interactions can be held down for continuous execution
• Key binding range expanded on keyboard/mouse

"Touchpad opening map is prime."

• Reddit u/Merk008

"Reversing the dodge input was really all I needed. Just great."

• Reddit u/Doancer1

Combat and Boss Changes

This is the big one. Bosses are no longer immune to player attacks while performing powerful attacks. That changes everything.

Other combat adjustments:

• Elemental status ailments deal more damage
• Hitting enemies with pillars or trees does slightly less damage
• Force Palm Pulse now charges to 3 stages (damage scales up)
• Weapon Throw for Kliff while dual wielding (same controls as Shield Bash)
• Ambush for Damiane and Oongka
• Blinding Flash works in areas where weapons are normally restricted

Character-specific fixes:

• Kliff: Parry after guarding fixed for non-sword weapons
• Oongka: Can now move horizontally during Vertical Flight, blaster fires during Flight
• Spears and longswords flow better in combat

Visual and Performance Upgrades

Distant objects and textures look better, especially on higher graphics settings. Hair lighting in shaded areas improved.

Accessibility options added:

• Colorblind Mode
• Chromatic Aberration toggle
• Photosensitive Mode
• Subtitle font size now has a "Max" setting

PC specific:

• Improved AMD FSR Ray Regeneration
• Improved Intel XeSS 3.0 upscaling and frame generation

Mac specific:

• Reduced stuttering
• Added MetalFX Denoising Upscaler (requires macOS Tahoe)
• HDR quality improved, fixed multi-display and resolution issues

Steam fix: Xbox controller right stick actions (Nature's Snare, fishing) now work properly when Steam Input is enabled.

UI Fixes That Actually Matter

Inventory now has category tabs: All, Documents, Equipment, Food, Materials, and Others. Sort settings save per category and persist after restart.

Map improvements:

• Filters and search function
• Change marker shapes and colors
• Shops with max Trust show stock status on the map
• Well icons on map and minimap
• North/south/east/west on minimap

Shop UI: Shows how many of an item you already own. Deactivated items show purchase conditions.

Other Notable Changes

• Tumbleweeds added to desert regions. Yes, really.
• Lock function prevents selling or discarding selected items
• Greymane NPCs now sell at a 10% discount
• Livestock vendors sell cows, pigs, goats, sheep, ducks, and chickens
• 13 new tattoos for characters
• Cloudcart works as a permanent mount now
• Cooking animations for vegetables, meat, and fish were added then removed (official patch notes show "Removed: 2026/04/23")
• Equipment reinforcement gives less attack and defense from grindstones and anvils

Stability and Bug Fixes

Pearl Abyss fixed multiple crash issues across PC, console, and Mac. The Load menu now shows a warning if save data is corrupted. HDR crash on non-HDR monitors is fixed.

Notable bug fixes:

• Blackstar mount invincibility and movement issues resolved
• Infinite loading screen when caught cheating at Duo as Oongka fixed
• Trust gain for Beggars' Alliance boss gift fixed
• Knowledge for Tristan, Flame Knight, Marni's Machina Knight, and Dreadnought now acquirable
• Greater Abyss Gear can now be sold

Check the official Known Issues notice for ongoing problems.

Platform Rollout Status

From the official patch page:

• Steam (PC): Live now
• Steam (Mac): In-progress
• PlayStation: Live now
• Xbox: Live now
• Epic Games Store: Live now
• Mac App Store: In-progress

Bottom Line

This is the patch that turns Crimson Desert from a promising but rough launch into something you can recommend without caveats. Difficulty modes fix the boss complaints. Storage overhaul respects your time. And Pearl Abyss is moving faster than almost any other studio this size.

Hard mode players are going to get wrecked by those new boss patterns. Easy mode players finally get to see the story without banging their heads against a wall for three hours.

Is the game finished? No. The Mac version is still behind, and boss rematches aren't here yet. But this is the kind of update that changes the conversation.

Read the official patch notes or jump back in and see for yourself.