Revision 3

Night Tone Mode is a display option added to Crimson Desert in Patch 1.06.00 on May 10, 2026. It softens the game's overall color palette and lightens shaded regions of the frame, which makes traversal through dusk and night scenes feel less crushed without changing the underlying time-of-day cycle. The option lives in the display section of the settings menu and can be toggled at any time, regardless of where the player character currently stands in the world.

Quick Information

What It Does

Night Tone Mode applies a softer color grade across the entire scene. Saturated hues lose a small amount of intensity, deep shadows lighten enough to reveal silhouette details, and contrast eases off in scenes where the engine would otherwise render heavy blacks. The effect is most noticeable during the dawn and dusk transition windows and during the deepest hours of the in-game night, when low-light traversal would normally rely on the lantern or the Vision headgear to see surrounding geometry.

The mode is not a brightness slider and not a gamma override. It does not raise the engine's exposure curve, so highlights stay where they were and weather effects, lighting from fire sources, and HDR-tagged sky surfaces continue to read as intended. Players who prefer the launch look can leave the option off and lose nothing; the launch grading remains the default.

Where to Find the Setting

Night Tone Mode appears in the same settings group as the rest of the display options. Open the settings menu, scroll to the display submenu, and locate the entry next to the other tone and color toggles. The setting takes effect on the next frame, so the player can A/B compare before committing by toggling it on and off while a night scene is on screen. The setting persists across save sessions and applies to all characters under that profile.

When to Use It

• Long open-world traversal sessions. Riding across the countryside at night with the lantern stowed reads more clearly with the softer grade.

• Eye-strain relief. Players who prefer reduced color intensity for longer sessions can leave the mode on permanently.

• Cinematic captures. Open-world screenshots taken during dusk pick up additional silhouette detail without losing the original color story.

• Exploration after liberation. Liberated regions become safer to roam at night; the softer grade makes that ambient downtime more comfortable.

Limitations

The toned grading is a single fixed preset rather than a slider with multiple levels. Players who want finer control over saturation, contrast, or brightness should keep using the existing display sliders alongside Night Tone Mode rather than expecting the mode to replace them. Some open-world regions and lighting setups appear slightly more desaturated than others under the toned grading, since the same color curve applies to every scene regardless of its baseline palette. Future updates may add additional tone presets, but for now the choice is a single on or off toggle.

Patch History

Related

• Patch 1.06.00: patch that shipped Night Tone Mode.

• Performance and Graphics Settings: full list of display and performance options.

• Accessibility Settings: accessibility options including motion and contrast preferences.

• Colorblind Mode: colorblind preset for partial color-vision support.

• Weather System and Weather and Day-Night Cycle: underlying systems that drive the lighting Night Tone Mode regrades.

• Claw Machine, Display Sheath, and Material Extraction: other features shipped in the same patch.