Crimson Desert update nails a major fan request as lions, tigers, bears, and more can be tamed and turned into special mounts
Plus a new feature to recover refinement materials, a claw machine, and more
Crimson Desert just keeps getting bigger, as it just got yet another patch – this time, adding special mounts, a new way to recover materials, and more.
Patch 1.06.00 makes an all-important change to certain animals – from now on, after you gain the trust of (takes a deep breath) lions, bears, wolves, boars, tigers, camels, kuku birds, iguanas, raptors, deer, and mountain goats, you'll be able to register them as a special mount. Pearl Abyss notes: "Ferocious animals can be tamed by subduing and feeding them, while certain species require unique methods to tame."
Something tells me lions and tigers might be a little harder to befriend than mountain goats and deer, but I suppose we'll just have to figure that out ourselves.
This isn't the only animal-related change, either. The new Sigil of Valor item will make your loyal dogs attack enemies when equipped – you can buy it in Pororin from the Secret Shop NPC.
The other headline change is the new "Extraction" feature. No, the open-world adventure isn't being transformed into a shooter – "materials used to refine equipment can partially be recovered," Pearl Abyss explains. You can use it by interacting with smithies, and "extraction can be performed for a single refinement level or all the way back to the base refinement level, which is the equipment's refinement level when it was first acquired."
Using the Extraction feature doesn't destroy items – it "only affects its refinement level" – and "the quantity of recovered items will vary depending on their type," with you being able to recover around 70% of common materials used in an item, but 100% of all special materials.
Elsewhere, Oongka has some new unarmed combat skills, and sheaths have been added for swords – there's an option to toggle their appearance, so if you don't like how they look, you can revert things back to how they were pre-patch. Meanwhile, for any arcade enthusiasts, a claw machine has been added to the Laughing Marionette, which contains a chair, one type of special headgear, 12 types of lightning items, as well as Abyss Gears and Abyss Artifacts.
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In addition to fixes for a whole bunch of lingering issues, which you can check out in full in the devs' patch notes, Pearl Abyss has also added a new Night Tone Mode graphics option, which softens colors and sees darker and shaded areas appear a bit brighter, which sounds ideal if you're someone who prefers exploring Pywel at night.
Pearl Abyss has just kept the Crimson Desert patches coming – the devs recently flew through a massive roadmap of changes that was supposed to take us through to June in a matter of weeks. As recently discussed by Pearl Abyss's PR and marketing director Will Powers, none of the game's updates were pre-planned, either, with changes "iterated in real time based on feedback, based on response" from players.
You can definitely see that in action with this patch. Back at launch, many players expressed disappointment that mounts like bears and wolves weren't permanent, especially after trailers for the game had shown them off.
With this player-centric mentality in mind, it's no wonder the game remains so popular with fans, and it seems likely we can expect even more updates based on what folks are asking for.
Yet to dive into Pywel? Be sure to read our Crimson Desert review to see why it's one of the new games for 2026 that everyone is talking about.

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
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