Crimson Desert was already a massive game, but a new trailer shown off at State of Play (September 2026) has revealed the game’s first major expansion called Charting the Unknown.
The adventure will be a side story allowing Kliff and the gang to explore a new uncharted land while the “blood of the fallen” has turned the sand crimson.
Crimson Desert was a fantasy adventure that flirted with sci-fi and technology throughout the adventure and it looks like the expansion will double down on this. Lots of machine enemies (some of them huge!) were shown off in the trailer, suggesting that Kliff will have a lot of fancy new toys to play with – but so will his enemies.
Footage showed Kliff battling a gigantic mecha crab that wouldn’t be out of place in a Horizon game, as well as an enormous robot dragon that was seen chasing him out of a vast underwater abyss.
The trailer was also keen to show off a lot of underwater gameplay, suggesting that this has been greatly expanded in the new content and will play a bigger role than it did in the base game. Kliff can even be fitted with an advanced diving suit to make exploring the depths easier.
Finally, the trailer for Charting The Unknown showed some footage of the player building and customizing what looked like a mansion for Kliff and his friends to live in, along with some cooking and the ability to set NPCs to certain tasks.
Crimson Desert: Charting The Unknown is set to release on October 15, 2026.