Crimson Desert: How to Start Charting the Unknown (What Needs the Ending and What Doesn’t)

30-second quick start (TL;DR)

• Update first, then install the DLC. It arrived with patch 2.04.00 on October 29, 2026, for Steam (PC and Mac), PlayStation, Xbox and the Epic Games Store. The Mac App Store build comes later.
• Saves made with the DLC installed will not load on a copy without it. That includes cross-save. Keep a backup save if you share progress between platforms.
• Diving needs nothing. Claim the pre-order diving set from Pause, then Others, then Add-ons, if you pre-ordered.
• For ships, finish Howling Hill, set up the camp, play the Greymane faction quests as Kliff and expand the camp. A Wider World then appears under Faction quests.
• For the new housing, finish Luke’s Request in Grounds of the Sunrise.
• For the three hero stories, the castles and the Garden of Trials, finish the main story quest Journey’s End.
• Romance has no story gate. Flirt is in the Interact menu for any eligible NPC. Witches need their sanctum quests first.

What this guide helps you do

Charting the Unknown does not start with a single “DLC begins here” quest, and that is what confuses people. It bolts four new systems onto the base game, each with its own unlock, and the ones that need the ending sit next to ones that open in Chapter 3. This guide lists every piece of DLC content, what unlocks it, and where the trigger shows up in your Journal, so you can see at a glance how far your save is from the part you bought the DLC for.

It is written for two kinds of player: returning players with a finished save who never touched the Greymane camp and cannot find the ocean quest, and players still in the middle of the story who want to know whether to keep the DLC installed now or wait.

Requirements and prep

You need Crimson Desert Enhanced and the Charting the Unknown add-on on the same store account. The DLC is $24.99, with a 10 percent loyalty discount on PlayStation for owners of Enhanced or Enhanced Deluxe. It is not sold in every region after age-rating review, and pre-orders in those regions were refunded, so if your store does not list it, that is why.

Patch 2.04.00 is the version that carries the DLC. Update the base game before you buy, so the store only downloads the add-on afterwards. Steam Mac and Mac App Store players must download the full game package once because of a build change, and the Mac App Store patch itself is still pending at the time of writing.

Nothing in the DLC needs a new save. Everything hooks into your existing progress, and you can keep playing the main story in the same file.

Every piece of DLC content and what unlocks it

Gates from the official patch notes, with the quest names as they appear in the English game. Where the notes only say “a certain level”, we say so.

The short version: if your camp exists, almost everything is available. Only the three hero stories, the two castles and the boss gauntlet wait for the credits.

Step-by-step: from install to the open sea

Tick these off as you go. Your progress stays on this device.

1. 1Mark step 1 done

   Update to 2.04.00, then install the add-on

   Let the base game patch finish before you buy. On Xbox the DLC sometimes needs a manual install from Manage game and add-ons. On Mac, expect a one-time full download.

2. 2Mark step 2 done

   Claim the pre-order diving set

   Open the pause menu, go to Others, then Add-ons, and press Receive on the item under Receivable Items. Kliff and Oongka get Charter’s Diving Set, Damiane gets Charter’s Light Diving Set. On some PC copies it lands in the armour list without claiming.

3. 3Mark step 3 done

   Dive right away

   Swim out, hold the dive input and watch the new breath gauge. Each diving piece raises your max breath. This is the one part of the DLC you can test in the first ten minutes.

4. 4Mark step 4 done

   Finish Howling Hill and set up the camp

   Howling Hill is the Chapter 3 main quest that leads into Homestead, where the Greymane camp is founded. If you skipped the camp on a finished save, this is where you go back to.

5. 5Mark step 5 done

   Play the Greymane faction quests as Kliff

   Open the Journal’s Faction tab and work through Scattered Embers and Grounds of the Sunrise, including Luke’s Request and the two Expanding the Camp quests under Gathered Will. Pearl Abyss lists Greymane faction quests as not progressing while you play Oongka or Damiane, so switch to Kliff.

6. 6Mark step 6 done

   Take A Wider World

   Once the camp passes the required level, A Wider World appears under Faction quests. It walks you to the port, introduces the fleet office and ends with your first ship. The ship-building dispatch starts from Pailune, and ships can also be bought at Vellua.

7. 7Mark step 7 done

   Lease a facility when the purple notice appears

   With the region liberated and the camp running, a lease notice shows up in town. Open the map, switch to the Facilities tab and press Lease. The restaurant is in Vellua, the smithy at Zargan Tankworks and the sawmill at Timberham.

8. 8Mark step 8 done

   Finish Journey’s End for the rest

   After the final main quest, the three hero quests appear in the Journal, the Garden of Trials opens near the Axiom Archive Abyss, and liberating the right strongholds awards Drakesfall Castle and, after Politician, Flame Knight’s Castle.

If A Wider World will not appear

This is the question returning players ask most. The notes say the quest starts “after completing Howling Hill from the main story and by expanding your Greymane camp above a certain level”, and the level is not published. In practice, players who got the quest had done the Scattered Embers faction chain and Grounds of the Sunrise at least as far as the Pailune part, with no camp dispatch builds still running.

• Check the Faction tab, not Main. A Wider World is a faction quest and sits in the top row with the other Greymane work.
• Finish any Howling Hill dispatch that is still building. The camp level only ticks over when the construction completes.
• Switch to Kliff. Greymane faction quests are a known issue while playing the other two heroes.
• Do the camp quests in order. Luke’s Request and the Expanding the Camp pair under Gathered Will are the ones outlets and players point to.

Twitch Drops: two weeks, two sets of rewards

Pearl Abyss runs Twitch Drops alongside the launch. Week 1 runs from October 29 at 22:00 UTC to November 4 at 23:59 UTC and its rewards can be used by anyone with the base game. Week 2 runs from November 5 to November 11 at 23:59 UTC and its rewards need the DLC. Officially the rewards are “various equipment, a pet, and customizable parts for your ship”. Link your account on the Crimson Desert drops page before you watch, because drops only count for linked accounts. Some Xbox players report drops not arriving alongside the missing pre-order items, so check the Add-ons menu again after a restart.

Troubleshooting and common mistakes

• Mistake: Looking for a “start DLC” quest. Fix: There is none. Each system has its own gate. Use the table above.
• Mistake: Expecting the ocean on a finished save with no camp. Fix: Ships are a Greymane camp feature. Go back to Howling Hill, build the camp, play the faction quests.
• Mistake: Playing faction quests as Oongka or Damiane. Fix: Switch to Kliff. The faction chain is a listed known issue for the other two.
• Mistake: Loading a DLC save on a copy without the DLC. Fix: It will not load. Buy the add-on there too, or keep a pre-DLC save for that platform.
• Mistake: Pre-order diving set missing. Fix: Pause, Others, Add-ons, Receive. If nothing is listed, restart the game, and on Xbox check Manage game and add-ons. Key-reseller purchases after the pre-order window do not include it.
• Mistake: Thinking there are three castles. Fix: The launch notes list two, Drakesfall and Flame Knight’s. Earlier previews mentioned three.
• Mistake: Fast-travelling to Drakesfall Castle on PC. Fix: Some players report a crash on fast travel or approach once the castle is built. Ride in from a distance and save first.

FAQ