Crimson Desert is one of the most successful releases of 2026. The game managed to sell over 6 million copies in just three months and proved so profitable that its publisher ended up giving every employee of the Pearl Abyss development studio a $3,400 bonus. Since launch, the developer has been committed to improving the game and fixing some of the more glaring issues present at launch.
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Now, more than six months after its launch – and with the publisher’s revenue up 419 percent – it seems the company is eager to let anyone who hasn’t yet purchased the game try it out, completely free. To celebrate the launch of the delayed Charting the Unknown DLC, released yesterday, Pearl Abyss has made the first five hours of the game completely free for (almost) everyone on Xbox or PlayStation.
The free trial is available from October 29 to January 6 and is available to anyone with a PlayStation Plus Premium and Deluxe subscription on PlayStation 5, as well as all gamers on Xbox, whether or not you have a paid subscription for the Xbox ecosystem. The trial only covers the enhanced base game Crimson Desert (you probably won’t have access to the Charting the Unknown content at that time anyway, to be honest).
Any trial progress you make carries over to the full game if you decide to buy it, and once your five hours are up, that’s it – you can’t restart the trial on another save or anything like that. The timer is final.
Charting the Unknown is the game’s first DLC – there will likely be more to come – and a Switch 2 version of the sandbox fantasy RPG is currently in development. The developer has hinted at multiplayer-focused DLC in the future, as well as a sequel to the popular game. If you’re curious about what took the world by storm earlier this year, you can try the free trial on your console of choice right now.
Gn tech
