The latest Crimson Desert patch is finally the reason I needed to turn my once-useless house into a cosy haven

Pearl Abyss cannot leave Crimson Desert alone for more than a handful of days. The developer's been pumping out patch after patch, each one somehow bigger than the last. I've been having mixed feelings on how much the game has been changing in such a short period of time, but even I have to admit I can get behind this latest update.

There is a ridiculous amount of big quality-of-life updates to unpack here, but the biggest two? Easily the introduction of difficulty options and an abundance of storage-related changes that actually now provide some purpose to the house near Howling Hill that definitely still isn't empty 100+ hours in on my playthrough.

Okay, it is, but that's about to change! And not just because there's now a handful of new design layouts to choose from.

It's because Pearl Abyss has added a ton of different chest types that can be placed in houses now: the Study Gatherables chest, the Kuku Cooler, the Collectibles chest, and newly-functional wardrobes. Not only does each one serve a different purpose, but they also act as global storage—meaning that items placed in these chests can be automatically pulled for crafting recipes without having to go and grab them yourself. Here's what each one does:

• Sturdy Gatherables chest: 1,000 slots for general materials
• Kuku Cooler: 40-330 slots for food items and ingredients
• Collectibles chest: 1,000 slots for quest items and crafting recipes
• Wardrobe: 100 per wardrobe, up to 1,000 slots for gear

Now I admittedly do kinda wish we could just bung everything in a single chest and call it a day, but having some loose organisational structure in place does go a long way to tackle Crimson Desert's chaotic inventory system. But this update also kinda fixes that, too—inventory is now split into five categories to make finding stuff you need a whole lot easier.

Honestly, this would've been a big enough change to satisfy me for this update. But like I said, Crimson Desert has difficulty options now too. Easy mode makes enemies slower and less aggressive, while widening the parry and dodge windows and reducing the overall damage you take.

Meanwhile, hard mode does the opposite: the parry and dodge window narrows, opponents get faster and more aggressive, and you take more damage. Food items also won't apply their effects until after you finish consuming them entirely, making the moments you choose to replenish health or spirit a little more thoughtful.

Unfortunately, all good patches must come with a sacrifice. This time it's to the damage enemies take when you lob a tree at them. Pearl Abyss says it's been "slightly reduced," so maybe hurling a giant hunk of wood at them is still viable, just less so now. Bummer.

There are hundreds of little changes and fixes—the full list you can check out on the Crimson Desert website—but the last big change that I'm incredibly jazzed about is the addition of a search function and filters to the map.

Once you actually remember to make it out of Hernand and play the rest of the game, Crimson Desert's map gets unruly incredibly fast. It's gigantic, and trying to find specific points of interest becomes a much more tedious task than it has any right to. Being able to search and filter stuff out on the map is gonna be a huge help, one which is encouraging me to dive back in and finally wrap up any loose ends.

Okay, those are the big changes. But my favourite little change? Easily the fact that you can have birds as pets now. I am going to end up looking like an avian Pied Piper by the time I am done gallivanting my way through Pywel.

If birds aren't quite your speed, you might be pleased to know that there are also five new types of pet cat. Plus, a new item that lets them stay on your shoulders longer, a sort of half-apology for fixing a bug where they could end up stuck up around your neck indefinitely. I'm just hoping my new feline friends don't eat my new birds.