Crimson Desert Patch Makes Its Brutally Difficult Archery Minigame Easier

Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss just released a patch that makes a number of significant improvements, but one that players are already praising lowers the difficulty of one of the hardest activities in the game: the archery minigame.

If you’ve played Crimson Desert for a few hours you’ll probably have encountered this minigame, which challenges you to an archery contest against an NPC. The idea here is to be the first to score 10 hits, with targets popping up one after another.

It’s worth noting the control scheme for firing an arrow, which involves holding a button to aim then releasing the button to fire. It is NOT a quick process — certainly not quick enough for what’s to come. The further into the contest you get (it costs you coin to participate), the harder your opponent. Later opponents start doing their best Robin Hood impression, seemingly predicting where the target will pop up and landing a hit in the blink of an eye.

Players had called this minigame impossible before today’s patch (we here at IGN even had some useful tips for it), with some suspecting it was so hard it was bugged.

If this archery part doesn’t get nerfed in a future patch, I’D BE SURPRISED!

I’m a keyboard and mouse guy for shooting games but I’m using 🎮 and with no friction on target, I KNOW folk are going to RAGE at this part. 😭😭😭

Crimson Desert devs really said ffffffffk YOUUUUU 😭 pic.twitter.com/iWoifEzgEd

— Gaming Since NES (@GamingSinceNES) March 22, 2026

“Fair warning, archery competition is literally impossible to win,” said one disgruntled player. “When the target shows up you have, and I’m not exaggerating one bit, about 250 milliseconds to register that the target is there, aim then hold the button to fire (for some reason????). The NPC f***ing predicts where the target is gonna be and almost pre-fires before the target even shows up.

“Pretty sure it’s a bug, so if you see the archery competition then better save your coins and ignore it until they fix it.”

“It’s hilarious, I’m not even kidding, the AI shot the arrow before the target started lifting and hit it before it went all the way up lmao,” said another. “I swear AI was letting arrows loose before the target was up several times, instant shots,” another said. “S**t like this fucking ruins games. How the f**k did this get past testing?” said another player.

Thankfully, the archery contest is easier, thanks to the update. And that has sparked something of a flex within the community, with those who managed — somehow — to beat it crowing that they did so pre-patch. “I just want it to be known that I did this before the patch,” said the appropriately named FreddyLeeSavage.

But how did they manage such a feat? “Yeah there were even times where I shot my arrow first I know I did and they still gave the CPU the point,” FreddyLeeSavage explained. “This particular one I did get pretty lucky tho just locked in and was close to the spot where the target popped up most of the time.”

“He is John Crimson Desert himself,” one fan said. “I beat Radahn before the patch so we are basically the same,” another fan quipped. “I honestly don’t know why it was nerfed, very winnable competition just not a complete walk in the park,” a player, perhaps Robin Hood himself, commented.

Making the archery contest easier isn’t the only meaningful change hitting Crimson Desert today alongside the patch. Pearl Abyss has also adjusted some gamepad and keyboard/mouse controls, increased health restored from food and items, and, crucially, added new item storage in the Howling Hill Camp.

And if you’re jumping into Crimson Desert’s huge open world, we recommend you take a look at our guide to Things to Do First in Crimson Desert, plus Things Crimson Desert Doesn’t Tell You (we’ve got 28 and counting!). We’ve also got a guide to the Best Early Weapons we recommend picking up, the Best Skills to Get First (including a handy explainer of the skills system), and 34 Essential Tips and Tricks to help you succeed in Pywel.