How to Pass Time
Complete guide to sleeping, resting at campfires, and skipping time in Crimson Desert, including bed locations, controls, cooldown mechanics, and practical tips.
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Crimson Desert has a full day-night cycle that affects NPC availability, quest triggers, enemy spawns, and the overall atmosphere of Pywel. Time passes at a rate of roughly one in-game minute for every five real-world seconds, meaning a full 24-hour day takes about two hours of real play. Some quests can only be started or completed at specific times of day, certain enemies only appear at night, and vendors restock their inventories on a daily schedule. Knowing how to advance time quickly is essential for efficient play.
There are three main ways to skip ahead: sleeping in a bed, waiting at a campfire or cooking pot, and following quest-triggered time skip prompts.
The most straightforward method is sleeping in a bed. When you interact with a bed, you will be given the option to sleep for 3, 6, or 12 hours. Sleeping also removes Kliff's fatigue, making him more effective in combat afterward. Villagers throughout Pywel do not seem to mind Kliff borrowing their beds, so feel free to use any vacant bed you find in a settlement.
After waking up, Kliff will be fully rested and cannot sleep again immediately. The game enforces a cooldown before the sleep option becomes available again. If you need to pass additional time, you will have to explore, fight, or complete other activities until Kliff is fatigued enough to rest once more.
The following table lists the most reliable bed locations across Pywel:
Location | Region | When Available | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
After Chapter 3 | Main tent in the center of camp. The most consistently available bed for mid-game onward. | ||
Kliff's House | Howling Hill (east of Greymane Camp) | After "A Fresh Start in the Homestead" quest | Your personal residence. Contains a bed in the main room. Unlocked through the homestead questline. |
North of Hernand City | After unlocking it | Kliff's bed becomes available here once the trading post is established. | |
Inn Beds | Hernand City and other settlements | Anytime | Found in inns and taverns across various towns and cities. Available from early in the game. |
NPC Houses | Various settlements throughout Pywel | Anytime | Vacant beds in NPC homes can be used without consequence. Look inside houses in settlements. |
Campfires and cooking pots are scattered throughout the open world and serve as rest points. They function identically to beds for time-skipping purposes. To use one, approach a campfire or cooking pot and activate Focus to lock onto it. On keyboard, hold CTRL to bring out your lantern. On a controller, hold L1 (PlayStation) or LB (Xbox). Once locked on, you will see several options appear.
Select the "Wait" option. Do not select "Off," as that simply extinguishes the fire. After choosing Wait, pick your time increment (3, 6, or 12 hours), and a short cutscene will play before you resume control at the new time. The rest cooldown applies here as well, so you cannot use Wait multiple times in a row.
Platform | Interact | |
|---|---|---|
Keyboard & Mouse | Hold CTRL | Press the on-screen prompt |
PlayStation | Hold L1 | Press X |
Xbox | Hold LB | Press A |
When locked onto a campfire or cooking pot, three options appear:
Wait: Advance time by 3, 6, or 12 hours. This is the time-skip function.
Cook: Open the cooking interface to prepare meals and recovery items.
Off: Extinguish the fire. This does not advance time and simply puts out the campfire.
A reliable early-game campfire is the cooking pot in Hernand Town, located to the right of the meat vendor. This is accessible well before you unlock the Greymane Camp in Chapter 3.
Certain quests require you to arrive at a location during a specific time of day. When you reach the quest area and the required NPC or event has not yet appeared, look for an hourglass icon on the side of the screen. Selecting the hourglass will automatically skip time forward to the required moment. On keyboard, press ESC at the quest marker, and on a controller, press the Menu / Start button to trigger this prompt.
Not every quest offers this convenience. If a quest tells you to return at a specific time but no hourglass prompt appears, find the nearest bed, campfire, or cooking pot and advance time manually until you reach the required window.
After resting, there is a built-in cooldown before Kliff can rest again. The game does not display an explicit timer for this cooldown. You cannot chain multiple rests back to back to skip through entire days rapidly. If Kliff is not fatigued enough, the rest option will be unavailable. Combat, exploration, and completing quests all contribute to building fatigue, which will eventually allow you to rest again.
Plan your time increment carefully before confirming. If you only need to skip from late afternoon to evening, choose 3 hours rather than 12 to avoid overshooting. Choosing the wrong duration means you will need to wait until the cooldown resets before you can correct the time.
Vendors restock their inventories at midnight (0:00) each in-game night. This is particularly useful for stocking up on healing items from the meat vendor before difficult boss encounters. Buy out the entire inventory, rest until just past midnight, and then purchase everything again.
Starting in Chapter 3, Freesword missions at the Greymane Camp run on in-game time. Some passive dispatch missions require 18 or more in-game hours to complete and reward resources for camp expansion. Sleeping for 12 hours at the camp bed is the fastest way to collect these rewards without waiting in real time.
Nighttime in Pywel drastically reduces visibility, making it harder to spot collectibles, navigate terrain, and appreciate the world's visual details. If you find yourself exploring at night and struggling with low visibility, skip 3 to 6 hours from late evening to push into morning or midday.
Some quests have objectives that can only be completed during specific parts of the day. For example, certain NPCs may only appear at their quest location during daytime, while night-time events require waiting until after dark. Check your quest log for hints like "come back at night" or "return in the morning" and rest for the appropriate number of hours at the nearest available rest point.
The day-night cycle continues during normal gameplay, so you do not always need to rest. Simply exploring and completing other activities will naturally advance time.
If a quest says "come back at night" or "return in the morning," rest for 6 to 12 hours at the nearest bed or campfire.
Cooking pots and campfires function identically for time-skipping purposes. Use whichever you find first.
Your house bed on Howling Hill is one of the most convenient rest spots once unlocked, since it is close to the Greymane Camp where Freesword missions are dispatched.
The rest cooldown prevents you from skipping multiple days quickly. If you need to advance time significantly, combine resting with exploration or combat in between rest sessions.
Always check the current in-game time before resting. The time is displayed on the HUD, and choosing the right increment saves you from overshooting the target time.