How to Start Crimson Desert's Charting the Unknown DLC: Requirements, Diving Suit and Price
How to start Crimson Desert's Charting the Unknown DLC: which quests unlock the ocean, ships, housing and the new stories, plus how to get a diving suit.
Image: Pearl AbyssCrimson Desert's first DLC, Charting the Unknown, came out on 29 October, and the most common question since is why none of it shows up straight away. The answer is that each part of the expansion unlocks at a different point in the main story, and some of it only after the ending. Here's what you need to do first, based on Pearl Abyss's own patch notes.
When did Charting the Unknown come out?
It launched worldwide at the same moment, on 29 October at 22:00 UTC (10pm in the UK, 3pm Pacific), on PC (Steam and the Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Mac. The Mac App Store version is arriving slightly later than the others, Pearl Abyss says.
It costs $24.99, £19.99 or €24.99, and you need the base game, now called Crimson Desert Enhanced. For a rundown of everything it adds, see our look at the expansion's ocean exploration, romance and housing.
How to start the DLC
- Buy it: in the game, it's under "Buy DLC" on the title screen, or on your platform's store.
- Update the game: Pearl Abyss asks everyone to install the latest patch before playing. Version 2.04.00 added the DLC, and hotfixes up to 2.04.04 have followed.
- Load your save and check where you are in the story: the DLC's content opens up depending on how far you've got (below).
One warning from the patch notes: a save made with the DLC installed can't be loaded, or used for cross-save, on a version of the game without it.
Requirements: what unlocks when
- The ocean, ships and diving (quest "A Wider World"): finish the main story quest "Howling Hill" and expand your Greymane camp above a certain level. The new quest starts after that.
- Upgraded housing: set up the camp in Howling Hill and complete "Luke's Request", one of the Greymane faction quests under "Grounds of the Sunrise". Then use Home Decoration, Layout, Free Construction.
- The new Kliff, Oongka and Damiane stories: only after "Journey's End", the final main story quest. The three new quests then appear in your Journal.
- Garden of Trials (boss rush): also after "Journey's End". It's near the Axiom Archive Abyss and has 10 groups of fights, taken on with up to three characters.
So if you haven't finished the main story, you can still go to sea, dive, build a house and run businesses, as long as you've reached Howling Hill. The new storylines and the boss rush wait for the ending.
How to get a diving suit
Diving uses a new breath gauge, and the diving suit is what raises it: Pearl Abyss says you increase your maximum breath by refining your diving suit, and some foods top up your breath for a while.
- If you pre-ordered: you got the Charter's Diving Set (for Kliff and Oongka) and the Charter's Light Diving Set (for Damiane) automatically, according to Pearl Abyss's pre-order announcement as reported by Inven Global.
- If you didn't: Game8 says you can buy the Marine Charter's diving sets from Sulivan at the Relic Exchange in Demeniss. Each piece costs Ancient Relics, which you find while exploring the ocean: 7 for the suit and 5 each for the helmet, gloves and boots, according to Game8.
Can you try it for free?
Not the DLC itself. Pearl Abyss's 5-hour free trial covers only the Crimson Desert Enhanced base game. It's open to every Xbox player until 7 January 2027, and to PlayStation Plus Premium and Deluxe subscribers until 29 October 2027, once per account, and your progress carries over if you buy the game.
