Sea of Thieves News

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With Season Six underway, the team have been working on new Adventures, new Voyages and additional fixes based on feedback from the community. We’re introducing more of these features in today’s release, update 2.5.1.1.

For a refresher on all the new content that arrived at the start of Season Six, check out the launch release notes!

[h3]Adventures
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It’s time for Sea of Thieves’ third time-limited Adventure, driving the grand story of its people and pirates ever onward into a confrontation with a beast from the deepest legends! Play your part from April 21st...

‘The Shrouded Deep’ (April 21st – May 12th)

• Following the revelation that Flameheart is seeking the Veil of the Ancients – kept safe within the belly of the fabled Shrouded Ghost – Belle has joined forces with Merrick, the hunter whose shanty once woke Megalodons across the Sea of Thieves. Now they need the help of other pirates too...
  
• Larinna knows where Belle and Merrick were last seen. Speak to Larinna to begin ‘The Shrouded Deep’, then set sail to learn more about an Adventure involving Megalodon hunts, rituals, shanties and summons, where working alongside other crews will help you even the odds!
  
• Crews who defeat the most elusive of beasts during this time-limited Adventure can expect some high-value treasure, and even the chance of a Chest of Legends surfacing from the deep. Pirates who fully complete the Adventure will also earn an exclusive Title and a cosmetic reward to serve as a Memento of their quest!

[h3]Legend of the Veil
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Following the events of ‘The Shrouded Deep’, this new multi-stage Voyage summons the Sea of Thieves’ hard-bitten Pirate Legends to help Belle and the Pirate Lord restore the lost Veil Stones to the Veil of the Ancients!

Legend of the Veil Voyage

• Legend of the Veil is a new Voyage designed for Pirate Legends, combining the lore and cinematic flourishes of Tall Tales with the variety of other Voyages to create a highly replayable experience. Purchase this Voyage from the Pirate Lord in the Pirate Legend Hideout before voting on the Captain’s Table to begin.
  
• The Pirate Lord calls upon the support of Legends to retrieve the Veil Stones and keep them from nefarious hands. He will offer players guidance and make an appearance when each Veil Stone is retrieved, placing it into the Veil of the Ancients.
  
• Each Voyage will play out differently, providing crews with a mixture of experiences, orders and locations. Players will encounter clues penned by Sudds, Belle and even the Servant of the Flame, before the Voyage eventually culminates in the dramatic siege of a Ghost Garrison.
  
• Items of Athena’s Treasure can also be claimed as players progress through the Voyage and uncover the mysteries of the Veil.

Legend of the Veil Commendations and Rewards

• Within the Athena’s Fortune Reputation tab, new Commendations have been added for players who help the Pirate Lord safeguard the secrets of the Ancients.
  
• The vendors in the Pirate Legend Hideout now offer a range of new cosmetic rewards unlocked by the Legend of the Veil. Players can earn the Pirate Lord Pegleg, Servant of the Flame Hat and Cutlass, and the Veil of the Ancients Pistol, Blunderbuss, Eye of Reach and Cutlass.

Expanded Athena’s Fortune Ranks and Rewards

• Pirate Legends can now continue progressing through the Athena’s Fortune Trading Company up to rank 30. As players climb the ranks, they can unlock access to ancient rewards from the Legendary Shipwright: the Veil of the Ancients Flag, Hull, Sail, Cannons, Capstan, Wheel and Figurehead.
  
• Reaching the prestigious rank 30 with Athena’s Fortune will unlock access to the Veil of the Ancients Costume.
  
• With the original Legendary Weapons becoming exclusive following the closure of The Arena, a new set of weapons fit for Pirate Legends has now been made available. The new Legendary Fortune Pistol, Blunderbuss, Eye of Reach and Cutlass are now available from vendors in the Pirate Legend Hideout, unlocked by progressing through ranks 20-30 in Athena’s Fortune.

[h3]Outpost Cosmetics
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Shrouded Ghost Figurehead

• Pirates who have previously defeated the elusive Shrouded Ghost in the wild will soon be granted access to a special figurehead in the Shipwright’s Chest to celebrate this chance encounter.
  
• After ‘The Shrouded Deep’ Adventure ends on May 12th, any player who meets and defeats the Shrouded Ghost in the wild will also unlock access to this exclusive figurehead.

[h3]Fixed Issues
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Gameplay

• Larinna now offers new Letters of Recommendation for purchase.
  
• Players who have enabled Virtual Keyboard while playing on console will now find that text chat continues to function as expected when switching to Steam.

Pirate Emporium

• Purchases of the Demolition Delights Bundle from the Microsoft Store will now provide access to the Misfire Makeup in addition to the previous content: Barrel Bombardier Costume, Weapon Bundle and Tankard, 550 Ancient Coins and a free 25,000 gold bonus for use in the Outpost shops.

Visual and Audio

• When attacking a Megalodon with a cannonball, the appropriate hit audio effect can now be heard.

Performance and Stability

• Improved server performance when groups of Phantoms arrive during an encounter.

[h3]Known Issues
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‘The Shrouded Deep’ Defeated Megalodon Rewards

• Following the defeat of the Shrouded Ghost or another summoned Megalodon, rewards may remain beneath the surface, requiring players to swim down and retrieve them.

Reduced Server Performance

• Players may experience scenarios where they encounter ping spikes at random while playing, resulting in rubberbanding or client stutters.

Steam Achievement Unlocking Issues

• Some Steam players may find that after an achievement is unlocked in the game, it is not unlocked within Steam.

Ranged and Melee Weapon Hit Detection

• In areas of intense action, players may find themselves firing shots or landing strikes that do not cause damage to their targets. While small improvements continue to be delivered during our regular updates, we are continuing to investigate and identify further improvements to the player combat experience.

To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our Known Issues support site article.

[h3]Download and Installation
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Download size:

Steam: 4.77 GB

Megalodons! Almost every sailor has heard the stories, but for those scoundrels who sail the Sea of Thieves, the Hungering One and its kind are much more than fearsome fables. Thanks to events that unfolded during ‘Forts of the Forgotten’, however, crews will soon need to battle these beasts if they’re to safeguard the future of the Sea of Thieves.

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While we arm the cannons and prepare to buff bite-marks out of our hulls, let’s cast our minds back to the last Adventure and see why this unexpected hunting trip is of such vital importance…

Wonda-ing Free

Across Flameheart’s Sea Forts, the prison cells have fallen silent and the Jailors who guarded them have been sent back into the void. This is all thanks to the valiant efforts of pirates acting on Belle’s behalf, fighting through Phantoms to release the inhabitants of Golden Sands Outpost from imprisonment.

Conversations with those captives soon revealed that the Reapers’ devious ambitions were centered on Wonda, resident weaponsmith of Golden Sands and known to be just as skilled at her craft as her sister Wanda, who had formerly served at Flameheart’s side.

Attempting to coerce Wonda into taking her sibling’s place, the Servant of the Flame chose to lay innocent lives on the line. Had Belle not intervened, Wonda’s stubborn refusal to surrender seemed destined to end in a binding ritual, sealing the prisoners’ souls away in Enchantment Vessels – possibly forever.

Veiled Threats

When talking with Wonda after her release, pirates picked up on a strange rumour she’d overheard from Phantom guards: namely, that Flameheart has somehow captured one of the Ancients, a mysterious people that once inhabited the seas we sail today.

Unlikely as it may sound, this ghostly gossip certainly holds meaning for Belle. Flameheart’s need for a skilled warmonger, a surplus of Dark Relics and his renewed interest in the Sea of the Damned all seem related to an artefact Belle names as the Veil of the Ancients. An artefact last seen disappearing into the maw of a near-mythical Megalodon…



The Hunter, Called

With an inkling of Flameheart’s intentions, Belle has set her sights on Stephen’s Spoils, seeking to recruit the most experienced hunter on the Sea of Thieves. ‘Merry’ Merrick has led a quiet life since the events of The Hungering Deep, but his experience is sure to be invaluable when it comes to cornering the legendary leviathan known as the Shrouded Ghost.

The stakes are high. Retrieving the Veil of the Ancients would allow Flameheart and his followers free passage to and from the Sea of the Damned as they please. Crews will, of course, have a vital part to play in calling forth the Shrouded Ghost, and will need to band together in anticipation of the battle ahead. Once the Killer Whale has been located, Belle will rally pirates, sending them far and wide to complete the summoning ritual – a task packed with perils of its own...

‘The Shrouded Deep’ surfaces on April 21st, and serves as a prequel to the new, Pirate Legend-exclusive Legend of the Veil Voyage – which arrives on the same day, offering lore-hungry crews the chance to experience both stories in a single sitting if they so choose. Pirates willing to seek the Killer Whale and fight alongside Merrick will be rewarded with an exclusive Memento, and have until May 12th to land the catch of a lifetime. It’s time to start practising your shanties…

Previously Adventures Ahead: ‘Forts of the Forgotten’ Adventures Ahead: ‘Shrouded Islands’

It’s hard to miss Larinna, especially now that she’s taken to beckoning you over whenever a new Adventure awaits. What some players might have missed, though, is that the Bilge Rat leader’s tumultuous arrival on the Sea of Thieves was first chronicled in the Athena’s Fortune novel, initially released in 2018 (and now available as a delightful audiobook).

That story charted the adventures of two crews separated by history, shining a light on the first days of the Sea of Thieves as seen through the eyes of Ramsey – or the Pirate Lord, as he’s more commonly known today – and providing context and lore for the plunder and places you experience yourself when exploring, like Cursed Chests and the fabled Shores of Gold.

Since then, the likes of Madame Olivia and Sir Arthur Pendragon have taken the spotlight in their own expanded universe stories (including comics and tabletop RPGs) but a second full novel has always been a popular request. Well, lore-hungry fans can now don their narrative napkins in anticipation of Heart of Fire, the new novel published by Titan Books that shares its name with a Tall Tale because we like to confuse wiki editors.

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When the chance came to take up my author’s pen once more and dream up the story for a second novel, it seemed sensible to once again focus on the mysteries of days gone by, exploring events that players couldn’t just sail out and experience for themselves. Having already elaborated on the origins of the Gold Hoarder, it was pretty obvious who needed to play the villain this time around…

Yes, as the name rather heftily implies, Heart of Fire details the rise and fall of Captain Flameheart, pulling back the curtain on the events that led to him being defeated and deprived of a physical form, almost 10 years before pirates (with a little help from Pendragon) unwittingly revived him. The story portrays Flameheart in all his skeletal glory, wreaking havoc on the waves aboard his flagship, the Burning Blade.

I was also very keen to retain the two-crew structure from Athena’s Fortune, since it allowed me to explore a range of perspectives and show how different pirates perceive the same thing in different ways. This time around, of course, I also had a living game world full of players and my own experiences to take inspiration from, so I decided to tackle the eternal question – what makes peaceful exploration and adventure fun for some pirates, while others are drawn towards the thrill of combat?



From there, the core story structure was born: two ships separated not by history, but by different views on what it means to be a pirate on the Sea of Thieves, finding themselves on opposing sides as a result. For the crew that would stand against Flameheart, I was drawn to Eli Slate and the crew of the Morningstar – firstly because we’d glimpsed them briefly during the Tall Tales, but secondly because Slate is a very different kind of captain to Ramsey, and I thought he’d make a good foil for Flameheart.

The second crew are new characters in the lore, drawn together by circumstance, but also by a shared belief that the arrival of trade and commerce is eroding the freedom of the pirate life, just as it did elsewhere in the wider world. This crew’s vocal opinions have left them pretty much outcasts, and they make the decision to join with Flameheart and restore what they see as true freedom to the Sea of Thieves. As someone who tends to avoid conflict in the game, this was a great opportunity to get into the head of a very different, but no less important, kind of player.

Finally, there’s the reason both these ships are setting sail: rumours of a weapon capable of defeating Flameheart once and for all. Their crews become embroiled in a race to find this mysterious power and claim it for themselves, which (because this is Sea of Thieves) naturally leads to the kind of epic, ocean-spanning voyages you’d expect as their two vessels hurtle towards an inevitable confrontation. And through it all, the Burning Blade is nearing…



I’ve done my best to pack Heart of Fire with the kind of revelations about the Sea of Thieves, and the people who dwell there, that fans have come to expect – while still making sure that readers who aren’t as familiar with the game aren’t left scratching their skulls. It’s given me the chance to answer some of our fans’ burning questions (while raising plenty of new ones) and cast Captain Flameheart in a whole new light, ready for future events.

I’m thrilled to be able to talk about this new novel at long last, and if you’re as excited about Heart of Fire’s upcoming release as I am, good news – it’s set to be released on August 16th, and the ability to pre-order a copy is just a click or two away. Happy reading!

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Preorder links:

• Titan Books (UK)
• Amazon (US)
• Amazon (UK)
• Barnes & Noble (US)
• Target (US)
• Waterstones (UK)
• Books-A-Million (US)

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz in the fields around Rare HQ and we’re in full swing with a new Season in Sea of Thieves. March saw no end of excitement as we launched Season Six, kicked off our latest Adventure with ‘Forts of the Forgotten’ and celebrated the game’s fourth anniversary! Yes, we did get your card, it’s gone right on the mantelpiece. Now don your flower crown, join us in the meadow and let’s dance merrily as we regale everyone with March’s escapades.

[h3]Content Update
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As you can imagine, Season Six and the sudden appearance of Flameheart’s Sea Forts provided the largest update this month, with the Season’s arrival bringing with it the usual accoutrements of a spring-scented Plunder Pass, new goodies in the Pirate Emporium and an in-depth set of release notes to dive into. We did notice that the hatches and cranes at the Sea Forts were in need of an oiling after their arrival from the Sea of the Damned, so we followed up with a quick hotfix at the launch of our second time-limited Adventure for good measure.

Speaking of which, we put out the call to Adventure once more this month, with ‘Forts of the Forgotten’ sending players to break the captured denizens of Golden Sands Outpost out of some dank jail cells. Finally, a way to put that mysterious Prison Cell Key to use! If you missed the boat on our previous Adventure ‘Shrouded Islands’, be sure to check out the latest Adventures Ahead primer, which will bring you up to speed on all the latest events in our unfolding seabound saga.

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[h3]News and Features
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With muckrakers spinning sleaze and scandal about what goes on in Flameheart’s Sea Forts, you can count on the diligent reporters of our nautical news desk to jump on the News Sloop and find you the important stories from across the sea.

March saw us celebrating our fourth anniversary – they grow up so fast, don’t they? We marked the occasion with all sorts of fun, ranging from a Gold & Glory Weekend to a commemorative eyepatch and sales in both the Pirate Emporium and our official merch store. There was also a lovely banana cake – we definitely sent you all a slice, it must have gotten lost in the post…

For the bibliophile buccaneer, we officially revealed both the cover art and the title of the upcoming second Sea of Thieves novel, Heart of Fire. While Flameheart may not be floating ominously above the water at the moment, you’ll soon be able to have him lurking in your library and judging your taste in literature.

On International Women’s Day, we published a special article championing the fearless female freebooters that help make our community such a wonderful place – with a piece of commemorative #IWD2022 artwork starring just a few of the inspiring women you’ll meet during your adventures on the Sea of Thieves.

In our spring theatre season, the Community and Creator Stage saw two more guests join us as we chatted to Race of Legends First Mate Kaitzu and the keg queen herself, Octagon Ron. We’re glad to inform you that no pyrotechnics were employed in either performance. And with Easter bonnet time rapidly approaching, another batch of eight Hats of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame were shipped to some of the most creative of corsairs. We’ll be nearing a whole year of hat distribution soon, which means we may have to award ourselves a hat, causing some kind of infinite hat recursion loop.

Right at the end of the month, our new series of behind-the-scenes articles tracking in-game items From Concept to Cosmetic kicked off by digging into the creation of the Snowbound Ship Lantern – better known to many as The Orb. If you enjoyed that, we’re glad to hear it as we have more cosmetic-based explorations in the pipeline.

Okay, places everyone, we hope you’ve all been practising. Let’s take it from Bar 46, ‘Anthem for a Round-Up’. 5, 6, 7 and…



[h3]Videos and Streams
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VII-DEEEE-OOOOOS. AND STREAMS! Back row, much better this month! The release of a new Season and a new Adventure meant that we were rushed off our feet in the pirate TV studio. Season Six came with its usual combo of announcement trailer and Deep Dive, full of juicy details on the creation of Sea Forts. Fun fact – it’s not a trumpet that you can hear in the Spanish-inspired music for Season Six, it’s a Flumpet! For more jaw-dropping facts, read our Deep Dive write-up on the Deep Dive video.

To tee up the next chapter in our unfolding Adventures narrative, ‘Forts of the Forgotten’ received its own cinematic trailer, alongside a quick gameplay run-through to prepare you for the trials ahead. We really hope we didn’t banish those two guards from the cinematic while completing the Adventure – they seem like alright blokes.

Ahead of our anniversary, a new episode of SoT News set up the celebratory fun while revealing ‘Forts of the Forgotten’ and recapping our 24-hour GameBlast ’22 stream. If you’re looking for the latest official SoT Podcast to listen to while folding laundry or cooking tea, that managed to make it into March too. Discussion topics included Adventures, Mysteries, bin covers, graffiti art – everything you’d want from a podcast and a packet of crisps.

For those who prefer their entertainment live, avid stream viewing would see you rewarded with some new arsenal additions in March, with this month’s Twitch Drops doling out Twilight Hunter weaponry. We also found a dented flagon, two butter knives and a dog-eared copy of Weaponsmith’s Weekly. Expect them in a giveaway sometime soon.

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[h3]Social Channels
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Despite the slight disruption caused by Forts being dragged from one realm to the next, our social channels remained a steadfast place for content for the corsair about town. As well as blowing out the candles on our fourth anniversary cake, we offered up a Pancake Day menu, celebrated 100k Instagram followers, asked aesthetically-minded pirates what painting they’d hang in their Sea Fort, bid a bittersweet farewell to The Arena and paid tribute to our favourite head in the sky. Gone, but not Fort-gotten. No? Please yourselves.

You can always rely on our stalwart hashtag triad for a constant flow of intriguing tidbits. #TriviaTuesday was there to provide kernels of knowledge on topics like the Flame of Souls, the Reaper’s Heart pets and captured weaponsmith Wonda. For the fashionistas among you, #SoTGear continued to serve the hottest looks, spotlighting bold items like the Sunshine Parrot set, Azure Ocean Crawler gear and Gilded Phoenix Sails.

For a bright spring month, March’s first #SoTShot contest was rather gloomy as we tasked pirates with sailing through the fog and capturing atmospheric Misty Moments. We cleared the air with the next one, looking for the jolliest Fort Frolics you could frame – a shark steak on every hob in the Homestead room as a minimum. Meanwhile March’s #SundayVibes posts offered good starting points, showing off locations like Royal Crest Fortress, Ancient Gold Fortress and even the spectral echo of a Fort, just before it was wrenched into the land of the living.



We hope you’re enjoying frolicking in a flowery field as April progresses – we’re hard at work here keeping everything ship-shape on our ongoing Adventure cruise. To keep abreast of every development as it happens, you’ll want to be following our social channels. If you need reminding, you can find Sea of Thieves on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch and TikTok, as well as on our official Forums and Discord server. We’ll all be capering around a maypole by the time the next round-up arrives, so join us for a Morris dance and to hear us recount April’s happenings as a folk song. Pay no attention to the giant wicker pirate we’ll also be constructing.

[h3]Previously in 2022:
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Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2022
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2022