Crimson Desert Charting the Unknown DLC (Oct 29): Release Time, Price, Ships, Diving, Romance, Castles and Every Prerequisite

QUICK ANSWER · Crimson Desert: Charting the Unknown · Launches Oct 29, 2026

• What: the first paid DLC for Crimson Desert Enhanced, adding ocean exploration, ships, diving, romance and marriage, upgraded housing, three claimable castles, business management and a Garden of Trials boss gauntlet.

• When: Thursday, October 29 at 5:00 PM CT (3:00 PM PT / 6:00 PM ET / 22:00 UTC). Asia unlocks Oct 30 at 7:00 AM KST/JST, the same moment.

• Price: $24.99 on Steam. PlayStation Store lists a 10% pre-order discount for owners of Crimson Desert Enhanced or the Enhanced Deluxe Edition.

• Pre-order bonus: Charter's Diving Set (Kliff and Oongka) and Charter's Light Diving Set (Damiane).

• Biggest gate: most of the new content needs the main story finished or your Greymane Camp set up at Howling Hill. Get there before launch night.

Pearl Abyss is taking Crimson Desert out to sea. On Tuesday, October 20 at 6:00 PM CT, the studio posted a Features Overview for Charting the Unknown, the first DLC for Crimson Desert Enhanced. The notice, along with a new video, spells out what is in the expansion and exactly which quests unlock each piece.

Charting the Unknown launches on Thursday, October 29. It covers ocean travel and diving, ship building, three new character storylines, romance and marriage, an upgraded housing system, claimable castles, business management, and a new combat challenge called Garden of Trials. Most of it is gated behind story progress, so this guide focuses on what you need to do before launch night so you can jump straight into the new content.

Charting the Unknown Release Date and Time

Pearl Abyss's Features Overview notice and the earlier pre-order notice list one global unlock moment, 22:00 UTC on October 29, 2026. In the US that is 5:00 PM Central on Thursday. Asia gets it at 7:00 AM on Friday local time.

Region	Unlock time
Central Time (CT)	Thursday, Oct 29 at 5:00 PM CDT
Pacific Time (PT)	Thursday, Oct 29 at 3:00 PM
Eastern Time (ET)	Thursday, Oct 29 at 6:00 PM
UTC	Thursday, Oct 29 at 22:00
Central Europe (CEST)	Thursday, Oct 29 at 23:00
Korea / Japan (KST/JST)	Friday, Oct 30 at 7:00 AM

The DLC is sold on PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Steam and Epic Games Store. Two availability notes from Pearl Abyss matter here:

No Mac App Store at launch. Pearl Abyss says any future Mac release would get a separate announcement.
Some regions are excluded. After a review of content and age rating requirements, Charting the Unknown "will not be available in certain markets/regions," and pre-orders in those regions were closed and refunded. If your store page no longer shows the pre-order, that is probably why.

Price, Pre-Order Bonus and Discount

The Steam DLC page lists Charting the Unknown at $24.99. The PlayStation Store listing adds two useful details:

Pre-order bonus: the Charter's Diving Set for Kliff and Oongka and the Charter's Light Diving Set for Damiane. Since breath is the main limit underwater (more on that below), these are practical items as well as cosmetics.
Loyalty discount: owners of Crimson Desert Enhanced or the Crimson Desert Enhanced Deluxe Edition get 10% off the pre-order price.

The PS5 version is listed as PS5 Pro Enhanced. On PC, NVIDIA's October 21 GeForce News roundup confirms the DLC launches with "a full suite of DLSS 4.5 technologies."

What Is Crimson Desert Enhanced?

If the "Enhanced" name is new to you: on August 25, 2026 Pearl Abyss rolled every post-launch update into a free version 2.00.00 update and renamed the game Crimson Desert Enhanced. It added new cutscenes and story moments in the main questline, German, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Japanese voice-over, and Arabic interface and subtitles. If you own Crimson Desert, you already own Enhanced. Just update to the latest version before buying the DLC.

Every Charting the Unknown Feature and Its Prerequisite

This is the most useful part of the Features Overview. Pearl Abyss lists what unlocks each system:

Feature	What you need first
Kliff, Oongka and Damiane storylines	Finish the main story, then start each one from the Journal menu
Ocean storyline	Complete "Howling Hill" in the main story
Diving and underwater exploration	No special conditions, but breath runs out, so a diving suit or breath items help
Building or buying a ship	Finish a related questline that opens after you set up Greymane Camp at Howling Hill. Then run a ship-building dispatch at a port or buy one from a Fleet Office manager
Romance and marriage	Build trust with specific Pywel NPCs. Friends visit camp once Greymane Camp is upgraded to a certain level
Upgraded housing (build from the ground up)	Set up camp at Howling Hill and complete Luke's Request in the "Grounds of the Sunrise" Greymanes faction quest
Greymane Castles (3)	Finish the main story and the relevant quests, then liberate each stronghold
Business management	Complete the faction quest that liberates the region and finish setting up Greymane Camp
Garden of Trials	Clear the main questline

Two gates come up again and again: completing the main story and setting up Greymane Camp at Howling Hill. If you do both before October 29, almost everything in the DLC is open from the first minute.

Exploring the Ocean: Diving, Ruins and Underwater Mounts

The headline feature is the sea. With Charting the Unknown, Kliff, Oongka and Damiane can all dive and explore the underwater world of Pywel. Below the waves you will find:

Sunken ruins and treasure chests
New creatures, including some you can use as mounts. Pearl Abyss's store copy mentions underwater traversal on sea creatures.
"Hidden mysteries," which the store page ties to "an ancient secret beneath the waves," one of the new storylines.

Diving has no special unlock condition, so you can try it as soon as the DLC installs. The catch is that staying underwater uses breath. Pearl Abyss recommends preparing "items or gear, such as a diving suit, to extend your time underwater." The pre-order diving sets are the obvious early option, but expect craftable or purchasable alternatives too.

Tips for Your First Dives

Plan short trips at first. Until you know how your breath meter works with different gear, treat each dive as a quick loop: down, open a chest, back up.
Mark ruins from the surface. Underwater ruins are the most likely places for chests and story clues, so scout from a ship or the shoreline before diving.
Watch for new enemies. The store page promises "formidable foes" across "land and sea," so do not assume the ocean is a peaceful sightseeing zone.

Ships: How to Build or Buy Your Own

You can build your own ship and sail across the Great Ocean of Pywel to reach new islands off the coast. Here is the route Pearl Abyss lays out:

Set up your Greymane Camp at Howling Hill in the main story.
That opens a ship-related questline. Complete it.
Then get a ship in one of two ways:

- Send comrades on a ship-building dispatch mission at a port, or - Buy one from a Fleet Office manager.

The dispatch route suggests ships tie into the existing comrade and camp systems, so a well-developed camp should make naval progress easier. Buying from a Fleet Office manager is the faster route if you have spare silver.

The New Stories: Kliff, Oongka, Damiane and the Ocean

Charting the Unknown adds four new storylines:

Three character stories, one each for Kliff, Oongka and Damiane. You start them from the Journal menu after finishing the main story.
An ocean-focused storyline, which opens after you complete "Howling Hill" in the main story, so it comes much earlier than the other three.

The store description hints at the themes: "an ominous presence in the desert," "a dangerous political conflict," "a journey beyond time" and "an ancient secret beneath the waves," as the three heroes "forge their own paths forward, discover their purpose, and shape their destinies." Pearl Abyss has not said which hook belongs to which character, and we would rather not guess.

Romance, Marriage and Festivals

Crimson Desert has always had a big supporting cast. Charting the Unknown lets your heroes go further with them:

Interact with some of Pywel's inhabitants to build trust and deepen your relationship.
That can grow into romance and even marriage.
When Greymane Camp is upgraded to a certain level, friends you have grown close to may visit and spend time with you, which makes the camp feel much more alive.

The notice's section heading also mentions Festivals. Pearl Abyss has not explained them in detail yet, so they are a good thing to look for in the launch-day patch notes.

Upgraded Housing: Build From the Ground Up

The new upgraded housing system lets you build a house from the ground up instead of just decorating a preset space. To get it:

Set up your camp at Howling Hill, and
Complete Luke's Request in the "Grounds of the Sunrise" Greymanes faction quest.

Once you meet both conditions you can use both the regular and the upgraded housing systems, so your existing setup is not replaced.

Greymane Castles: Claim Three Strongholds

Charting the Unknown makes three specific castles available to claim:

Finish the main story and the relevant quests.
Liberate each stronghold.
That unlocks missions to claim the castle as your own.

After that you can decorate the courtyards and interiors with unique objects and furnishings. Pearl Abyss has not named the three castles in the notice. Expect that list in the patch notes or soon after launch.

Business Management: Restaurants, Smithies and More

You can now rent and manage businesses around Pywel. The two examples Pearl Abyss gives are a restaurant in Vellua and a smithy at Zargan Tankworks. You manage these facilities from the world map once you have:

Completed the faction quest that liberates the relevant region, and
Finished setting up Greymane Camp.

The store copy calls this a way to "earn your fortune," so expect businesses to work as an income source alongside the new ship purchases and housing builds.

Garden of Trials: A Boss Rush for Endgame Players

Garden of Trials is the new combat challenge. You face bosses you have already met in Pywel, one after another, and completing it gives special rewards. It unlocks after you clear the main questline.

If you mainly play Crimson Desert for its combat, this is the mode to prepare for. A few suggestions:

Finish your skill setup first. The Enhanced update added new Kliff skills and better skill reset options, so tune your build before you start a long boss chain.
Stock consumables. Back-to-back boss fights will drain healing items faster than open-world play.
Practise problem bosses. If one boss gave you trouble in the campaign, expect it to be the wall in the gauntlet as well.

Your Pre-Launch Checklist

Where your save is	What to do before Oct 29
Haven't reached Howling Hill	Push the main story to "Howling Hill" and set up Greymane Camp. That opens the ocean storyline, ships and housing groundwork.
Camp set up, main story unfinished	Finish Luke's Request in "Grounds of the Sunrise" for upgraded housing, and liberate regions for businesses.
Main story finished	You are ready for everything: three character stories, castles and Garden of Trials all open on day one.
Brand new player	The DLC is mostly post-game. Plan on finishing the base story first, which takes most players dozens of hours.

General prep:

Update to the latest Crimson Desert Enhanced version before Thursday, so the DLC only needs its own download.
Pre-order before launch if you want the diving sets. Pearl Abyss calls them an exclusive pre-order bonus.
Save some silver for a Fleet Office ship purchase, business rent and housing materials.
Read the patch notes on launch day. Pearl Abyss says more details "will also be shared via patch notes on the day of release."

Frequently Asked Questions

When does Crimson Desert Charting the Unknown come out?

Charting the Unknown releases on Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 22:00 UTC. That is 5:00 PM Central, 3:00 PM Pacific and 6:00 PM Eastern, or Friday, October 30 at 7:00 AM in Korea and Japan.

How much does Charting the Unknown cost?

The Steam DLC page lists it at $24.99. PlayStation Store lists a 10% pre-order discount for owners of Crimson Desert Enhanced or the Crimson Desert Enhanced Deluxe Edition.

What is the Charting the Unknown pre-order bonus?

Pre-ordering gives you the Charter's Diving Set for Kliff and Oongka and the Charter's Light Diving Set for Damiane. They help with the breath limit when you explore underwater.

Do I need to finish Crimson Desert's main story to play the DLC?

For a lot of it, yes. The Kliff, Oongka and Damiane storylines, the three Greymane Castles and Garden of Trials all need the main story completed. The ocean storyline only needs "Howling Hill," and diving has no special conditions.

How do you get a ship in Crimson Desert?

Set up your Greymane Camp at Howling Hill to unlock a ship questline and complete it. Then either send comrades on a ship-building dispatch mission at a port or buy a ship from a Fleet Office manager.

Can you get married in Crimson Desert?

With Charting the Unknown, yes. Kliff, Oongka and Damiane can build trust with some of Pywel's inhabitants, and those relationships can grow into romance and marriage.

How do you unlock upgraded housing in Charting the Unknown?

Set up your camp at Howling Hill and complete Luke's Request in the "Grounds of the Sunrise" Greymanes faction quest. After that you can use both the regular and the upgraded housing systems.

What is the Garden of Trials?

Garden of Trials is a new combat challenge where you fight bosses from your adventure in Pywel one after another for special rewards. It unlocks after you clear the main questline.

Is Charting the Unknown on Mac?

Not at launch. Pearl Abyss says the DLC will not be on the Mac App Store when it releases and will announce any future Mac version separately.