Crimson Desert Patch 1.04.00 Explained

Patch 1.04.00 is the first Crimson Desert update after the 1.03.01 hotfix cycle to ship April roadmap items: live difficulty settings, specialized storage, house layouts, pet additions, control presets, inventory tabs, map search tools, and more.

As of the official April 23, 2026 patch note, these systems are live on Steam (PC), Steam (Mac), PlayStation, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store, while the Mac App Store rollout is still listed as in progress.

Quick answer

Patch 1.04.00 adds or changes all of the following:

live Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty options
new storage items, including the Sturdy Gatherables Chest, Kuku Cooler, Enhanced Kuku Cooler, Collectibles Chest, and Wardrobe outfit storage
the Select House system with four house layouts
birds as pets, the Sotdae of Bond, a new pet accessory slot, and the Sigil of Bonding
the new weapons Sword of Starlight, Tree Branch, and Sturdy Tree Branch
keyboard/mouse and controller presets, plus broader input changes
inventory category tabs, saved sort settings, and grouped icons
map Filters/Search, marker customization, Memory Fragment icons, and minimap direction labels
distant-scenery improvements, new accessibility options, and platform-specific graphics fixes

Difficulty modes are live, and Hard mode is more than a numbers tweak

The headline system change is the new difficulty selector in Settings > Play. Pearl Abyss now gives players three options:

Easy
Normal
Hard

Normal is the difficulty players have been using so far.

Easy is the accessibility-focused version. Pearl Abyss says it:

reduces damage taken by the player
reduces opponent maximum health, aggressiveness, and overall speed
extends the timing windows for Parry and Dodge
reduces how often bosses counterattack or escape while being hit

Hard is not just a health-bloat mode. Pearl Abyss also says it:

delays food-item effects until the consumption animation finishes
increases damage taken by the player
increases opponent maximum health, aggressiveness, and overall speed
reduces Parry and Dodge timing windows
reduces Roll invincibility duration
increases how often bosses counterattack or escape while being hit
adds additional combat patterns for certain bosses

Hard mode is therefore not only a bigger-numbers mode.

Storage and housing are the biggest daily-use wins

Patch 1.04.00 turns the earlier storage preview into a live system with exact capacities and clear use cases.

New storage items

Pearl Abyss confirms:

Sturdy Gatherables Chest: 1,000 slots, purchased from furniture shops, and stored materials can be used for crafting or refinement without being carried in inventory
Kuku Cooler: 40 slots, obtained through a quest, used for food items and ingredients
Enhanced Kuku Cooler: 330 slots, crafted, also used for food items and ingredients
Collectibles Chest: 1,000 slots, obtained through a quest, used for quest items and crafting recipes
Wardrobe: purchasable through furniture shops, 100 outfit-storage slots per wardrobe, up to 1,000 total

Pearl Abyss also explicitly says ingredients stored in the coolers can be used for cooking even if they are not in your bag.

Select House and layout switching

The same patch also gives housing a clearer live structure through the Select House option. The official list of layouts is:

Compact House
Standard House
Spacious House
Spacious Pailunese House

Pearl Abyss does not publish exact floor-plan measurements in the patch note, but it does confirm that selectable house types unlock based on Greymane Camp expansion level.

Two more practical housing points matter immediately:

housing mode now has a retrieve all furniture function
after moving the camp to Pailune, players receive a Private Storage item that can be placed through housing mode

New pet systems

Pearl Abyss confirms:

birds are now pets that can be encountered throughout Pywel
the Sotdae of Bond lets players gain Trust with birds
you feed birds by placing food on the Sotdae of Bond
the Sotdae of Bond itself is obtained through a quest
five new cat-pet types have been added
Abyss Heuklang can now become a pet
horses and pets can now be renamed
pets now have an accessory slot
Sigil of Bonding lets a cat stay on your shoulder longer

The patch also adds a secret shop in Pororin where pet equipment can be purchased, but Pearl Abyss does not clearly say whether the Sigil of Bonding specifically comes from that shop.

New weapons and notable items

The official weapon additions are:

[Damiane] Sword of Starlight, a new exclusive one-handed weapon obtained through a quest
[Kliff/Oongka] Tree Branch
[Kliff/Oongka] Sturdy Tree Branch

Pearl Abyss also says the two branch weapons can be obtained by cutting down trees and bamboo trees. Other notable additions in the same patch include Sturdy Broom, a new Baltheon outfit for Kliff, and more pet equipment.

Control presets, input changes, and UI cleanup are the real long-session upgrade

The patch is dense with control work. The biggest structural change is that Pearl Abyss adds a preset feature for both keyboard/mouse and controller, with the original scheme now available as the Classic Preset.

Patch 1.04.00 also adds or changes:

immediate-action interaction input
Evasion Control
Switch Roll and Evasion Input
wider keyboard/mouse keybinding customization
a controller shortcut for opening the map by holding the touch pad or View button

Then the UI improvements layer on top:

inventory category tabs
per-category saved sort settings
grouped inventory icons with representative images
Filters/Search on the map
Memory Fragment icons on the map and minimap
customizable map-marker shape and color
shop stock display once maximum trust is reached
well icons on map and minimap
north, south, east, and west on the minimap

Graphics, accessibility, and rollout status

Pearl Abyss says the patch improves:

distant-object and distant-texture rendering quality
long-distance character quality
displacement-mapping flicker and errors

Accessibility and settings additions include:

Max subtitle-font size
Colorblind Mode
Chromatic Aberration toggle
Photosensitive Mode
camera-distance behavior while adjusting visual range

Platform-specific items are:

[PC] improved AMD FSR Ray Regeneration
[PC] improved Intel XeSS 3.0 and Intel XeSS Frame Generation
[Steam] fixed the Xbox-controller right-stick issue when Enable Steam Input was on
[Mac] reduced stutter, added MetalFX Denoising Upscaler, improved HDR handling, and fixed several display-switching issues

Rollout status is official and explicit:

Steam (PC): available now
Steam (Mac): available now
PlayStation: available now
Xbox: available now
Epic Games Store: available now
Mac App Store: available later, still in progress in the notice

That means 1.04.00 is already the live reference patch for most players, but Mac App Store users still need to treat the rollout as incomplete.

FAQ

Is boss rematches live in patch 1.04.00?

No. The patch note says the feature will be added soon, but it is not listed as live in 1.04.00.

What is the safest storage item to prioritize first?

If you craft or refine a lot, the Sturdy Gatherables Chest is the biggest early win because stored materials still count for crafting and refinement without staying in your bag.

Does Select House unlock every layout immediately?

No. Pearl Abyss says house types unlock based on Greymane Camp expansion level, but the patch note does not publish the exact unlock table.

Is Hard mode just bigger enemy health bars?

No. Pearl Abyss also says Hard mode changes parry and dodge timing, Roll invincibility, food timing, boss counter frequency, and even adds extra combat patterns for certain bosses.

Conclusion

Patch 1.04.00 is a real wave-change patch for Crimson Desert. It adds difficulty choice, better storage, cleaner housing, stronger pet systems, better controls, and clearer map and inventory tools in one update.

Research Notes / Sources

Pearl Abyss, Patch Notes Version 1.04.00 (Revised: 2026/04/23), published Apr 23, 2026, 01:48 UTC: https://crimsondesert.pearlabyss.com/en-US/News/Notice/Detail?_boardNo=84
Pearl Abyss, Dev Update, published Apr 9, 2026: https://crimsondesert.pearlabyss.com/en-US/News/Notice/Detail?_boardNo=82
Pearl Abyss, Known Issues, last updated Apr 23, 2026, 15:55 UTC: https://crimsondesert.pearlabyss.com/en-US/News/Notice/Detail?_boardNo=68
Last checked: April 25, 2026.