Crimson Desert has been going from strength to strength over the last couple of months. Constant updates have left the game in an almost unrecognizable state compared to the version I originally played during the review period, and it seems that Pearl Abyss has no intention of slowing down. Not only will there be more significant updates between June and September of this year, the studio has now officially confirmed that it is working on the Crimson Desert DLC.
The pace of updates so far has been so fast, we may actually see this DLC before the end of the year.
There is more on the way for the rest of 2026
In the most recent developer blog post, Pearl Abyss took a moment to thank players for all the feedback since the game launched in March. Then it's on to the juicy stuff, with planned “story improvements” that will “refine” and “improve consistency” of key scenes in the game. I personally never had much of a problem with the story – it was, in general, a means to an end – but the lack of a compelling story has been a major complaint from players. I'm not sure what that might mean, though. Maybe extended cutscenes?
The post also addresses a few other key areas, such as improving the new re-blocking system, introducing a new cross-save feature to allow you to play seamlessly between platforms, and further improvements to Damiane and Oongka, which despite recent tweaks and changes, still feel a little rough compared to Kliff. I'm also very hopeful that the “quality of life improvement for non-combat content” mentioned at the end of the post is a reference to more life sim content. Once all is said and done and Pyvel is secured, I like the idea of trading, farming, fishing, and hunting.
However, we have to return to Discord to get some information about the upcoming Crimson Desert DLC, however slim. Community Manager Petra linked the new developer post, and said the following:
“Our updates to Pywel don't end with the content and features listed here. We're also hard at work on the upcoming Crimson Desert DLC. We'll share more details in the future, so stay tuned!”
I'm pretty sure this is the first time that DLC has been officially confirmed by a member of Pearl Abyss, although it was mentioned in the recent Pearl Abyss earnings call. That's all the information we have, though a post that only covers up to September makes me wonder if it's teasing something like a release date.
If that's the case, I don't know how Pearl Abyss is doing it. Updates have been non-stop and now there's DLC on the way? This seems like a pretty unprecedented level of support for a single-player game post-launch.
Crimson Desert
- issued
-
March 19, 2026
- ESRB
-
Mature 17+ / Blood, drug references, intense violence, strong language
- developer(s)
-
The Pearl Abyss
- publisher(s)
-
The Pearl Abyss
