Sea of Thieves: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

You know what there’s a severe lack of these days? Games that deliver the true experience of a pirate’s life.

Besides the Assassin’s Creed Rouge remaster and Ubisoft’s upcoming project Skull and Bones, there’s another title that’s prepared to let players sail the high seas – Sea of Thieves. Ever since its reveal at E3 2015, Rare has been hard at work on one of the most anticipated first-party projects for the Xbox One. This playable pirate venture has all the signature elements of a Rare game – a charming art style, open-ended exploration, a stockpile of items to discover, and a soundtrack full of cheerful tunes. Sea of Thieves has been in development for a long while now, but it’s finally set to leave the pirate ship port on March 20.

Any would-be pirates who’ve been looking for a game that fulfills their buccaneer fantasies needs to know everything there is to know about Rare’s next big release.

1. Sea of Thieves’ Main Focus Centers on a Player’s Journey to Becoming a Legendary Pirate

Sea of Thieves is all about sailing the seven seas and doing everything in your power to become a legendary pirate. Once you attain that status, your swashbuckling avatar becomes the owner of their very own grand pirate ship, hideout, and an extra special costume that commemorates their top-tier status. While that may be the ultimate goal of the game, your pirate’s adventures don’t automatically come to a close. Rare has made it clear that higher-ranking pirates will be able to take on legendary quests that deliver the type of booty an infamous sea captain desires.

2. You Can Explore the Game’s Vast Open World Solo or With a Group of Fellow Pirates

While you have the option of tackling Sea of Thieves solo, Rare’s latest project is meant to be played cooperatively. It’s up to you if you’d rather man your own sea vessel or partner up with three other players and go sailing as a crew. It’s entirely possible for players to play with a group of close friends or adopt a crew of strangers for their multiplayer travels. While on a ship, everyone is given important tasks to handle – boat steering, hoisting the sails, ship navigation, firing the cannons etc.

Naval combat can instantly erupt when two ships cross each other or you and your crew can bypass other pirate units instead. But choosing the later option means you’d be missing out on some of the more exciting aspects of pirate battles, such as boarding an enemy ship, taking on a ship’s crew with pirate weaponry and even firing your character out of a cannon. The vast ocean you’ll sail across is also home to a massive Kraken and hungry sharks, so you and your crew better communicate frequently and be prepared for the many dangers that’ll come your way. The sea isn’t the only location home to dangerous elements, however. You’ll also have to fend off numerous threats once you reach dry land, such as reincarnated skeletal warriors and rival pirates.

The type of missions you can tackle alone or with a crew entails treasure hunting, fetch quests, and bounty hunter combat objectives. The three guilds that represent each respective duty are the Gold Hoarders, Merchants Guild, and Order of Souls. You’ll never be tied to joining a specific guild since you can take missions from all three of them at any time. As your pirate attains a higher level of notoriety, they’ll be able to accept even bigger missions that dole out much better loot. It’s entirely possible for players of a lower level to involve themselves in tougher undertakings with the aid of high-level players. Meeting your end transports your pirate to the paranormal destination known as Davy Jones’ Locker. No need to worry, though – after perusing around his ship and speaking with other deceased pirates, you’ll eventually get sent back to the world of the living.

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3. Loot Boxes Will be Nonexistent, But Microstransactions Will be Included

The presence of microtransactions and loot boxes plagued the world of gaming pretty severely in 2017. Rare has certainly taken note of what not to do when it comes to including paid DLC goods in their next release. The development studio has made it clear that its collection of microtransactions refrain from pay-to-win tactics and are purely cosmetic. Those microtransactions will be added to the game around the launch of its first major update, which should occur three months after the game goes public. Sea of Thieves’ form of premium currency can obtained by progressing normally through the game, thankfully.

Rare, Microsoft Studios

Executive Producer Joe Neate spoke to IGN about how Rare is tackling the game’s usage of microtransactions and their decision to feature DLC pets:

Our focus at launch [is] on a great game experience. When we deliver this first major update, that’s when we’ll turn on the ability for players to spend money optionally. We thought long and hard about what’s right for our game experience, and the key thing we think is that it has to add to the fun, social nature of the game. So anything in this area will not impact power or progression, and you’ll always know what you’re getting – so that means no loot crates.

It’ll either be on a shoulder, like a monkey, or like a cat on the ship. But it’ll kind of benefit everyone socially and emotionally. So if I’ve got a cat, I can pick up it up and look at it, or you can pick it up and run off with it. Obviously when you put it down it’ll come back. I really, really want to allow us to fire cats and other animals out of cannons. It’ll land on its feet, it’s a cat, it’ll be fine!

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4. Pre-Ordering the Game Gets You Access to the “Black Dog Pack”

Rare, Microsoft Studios

The pre-order DLC bonuses Sea of Thieves offers comes included in the “Black Dog Pack”. This chest of goodies comes with a special costume, a set of musical instruments that match up with your new duds, and a Black Dog cutlass weapon.

Buy Sea of Thieves here.

5. A Special Xbox One S Bundle Will Come With a Digital Copy of the Game

Xbox Wire

Since this game is an Xbox One console exclusive, it’s no shock that Microsoft has decided to give it the console bundle treatment. The Sea of Thieves Xbox One S collection comes with a full download token for the game, an Xbox One S 1TB console, a wireless controller, a month’s access to Xbox Live Gold, and a trial subscription to Xbox Game Pass. Another way in which the Xbox One brand is celebrating the release of Sea of Thieves is its introduction of a very slick looking limited edition controller. You can get a good look at that special piece of hardware in the picture posted below: