Pearl Abyss releases free five-hour Crimson Desert trial on PlayStation and Xbox

Pearl Abyss released a free five-hour trial of Crimson Desert Enhanced on PlayStation 5 and Xbox on Oct. 29, 2026.

The surprise drop targets people who have not bought the game, and any progress made in the trial carries over to the full game after purchase. The trial limits players to one use per account, and its timer is final once the five hours expire. Tbreak reports that Eurogamer was the first outlet to flag the October release as a surprise drop, and the trial arrived the same day as the delayed Charting the Unknown DLC.

Xbox players can start the trial immediately without a paid subscription. PlayStation 5 players need PlayStation Plus Premium or Deluxe, and PlayFront says Sony restricts the test to the most expensive subscription tier, excluding owners without it. Eurogamer, PlayFront and Eurogamer.de state that the trial runs until Jan. 6, 2027, while Tbreak reports PlayStation access until Oct. 29, 2027 and Xbox access until Jan. 7, 2027.

The trial covers only the Crimson Desert Enhanced base game and does not include Charting the Unknown, the first paid downloadable content (DLC), which launched Oct. 29, 2026 after a delay. XboxAchievements prices the expansion at $24.99 or £19.99 on Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and PC. It says the DLC adds stories for Kliff, Damiane and Oongka along with camp customization, ocean exploration, expanded housing, romances and stronghold management. Players must buy the DLC separately and only after they own the full game, and Eurogamer notes players would not reach the expansion in the five-hour window anyway.

Pearl Abyss has released performance updates and bug fixes since the game’s bumpy March launch, including the free Enhanced update, difficulty levels, new storage items, and patch 1.03.00, which adds weapon display options and enhanced ray tracing, a technique that simulates how light strikes surfaces. Tbreak says players who bounced off the launch version now have many changes to judge, and the trial gives them a chance to try the improvements.

Crimson Desert sold over 6 million copies in its first three months, and publisher revenue rose 419 percent over half a year after launch. Eurogamer calls the title one of 2026’s most successful releases, and PlayFront describes it as a record-breaking open-world hit. Eurogamer ties the revenue jump to the decision to offer the free trial to non-buyers. Eurogamer says the increased profitability paid for a $3,400 bonus for each Pearl Abyss employee after the game’s success, and Eurogamer.de says the publisher was prompted by the game’s massive financial success to pay it.

The trial takes place in the sandbox world of Pywel, an open world that players can roam freely. Pearl Abyss is developing a Switch 2 version of the sandbox fantasy role-playing game (RPG) and has hinted at multiplayer-focused DLC and a full-fledged sequel, though it has not announced release dates for any of them. Eurogamer says the port is part of the studio’s roadmap after the first DLC, and reports the multiplayer hints arrived alongside a sequel to the popular game. PlayFront says even a full sequel is in the works.

This is not the first free taste of the game. On Sept. 1, 2026, Pearl Abyss offered a 20-minute Crimson Desert demo through a Twitch stream on a web browser, and Polygon reports the browser demo required no storage space. That demo could restart after time expired, started players in the Hernandian Territory and skipped the tutorial sequence. The September offer ran with a 20 percent discount on the Epic Games Store, PlayStation Store, Steam and Xbox Games Store until Sept. 9, 2026, and the Steam page lists 150 GB of required storage on PC.