Sea of Thieves News

February is shaping up to be a month full of adventure, treasure and a whole new Season’s delights for pirates of the Sea of Thieves, so let’s take a dive into this month’s calendar!

Dark Fortress Raids – Friday, February 14th – Thursday, February 20th

Before Season 15 arrives, a new Event is on the horizon offering a time-limited Voyage – A Raid on a Dark Fortress.

Running from February 14th to 20th, this Event will have you facing Ghost Fleets and Phantoms in and around Sea Forts. These spectral threats won’t make things easy for your crew, but for those willing to take on the challenge, there’s plenty to gain: fight your way through waves of ghostly adversaries and you can claim two Vaults filled with valuable loot!

‘Ballad of the Mer – Orchestral’ Release – Friday, February 14th

The Sea of Thieves soundtrack continues to grow, and this month a familiar tune gets a grand new take to celebrate the newest Season. ‘Ballad of the Mer’ has now been reimagined in a sweeping orchestral style and released in its own right.

You’ll hear this new arrangement in-game when Season 15 sets sail on February 20th, but if patience isn’t your strong suit, you won’t have to wait that long. ‘Ballad of the Mer – Orchestral’ will be available on streaming services from February 14th, so head on over to listen!

Season 15 Launch – Thursday, February 20th

A new Season approaches, bringing fresh dangers, thrilling discoveries and plenty of pirate plunder! Season 15 arrives on February 20th, and with it comes a bounty of new features to keep the seas alive.

The Hunter’s Call have expanded from their lonely Seaposts, now setting up shop at Outposts across the Sea of Thieves – making it easier than ever to sell your finest catches! But beware, for the seas have grown even more treacherous… Two new Megalodon variants, the Feared Redmaw and Barnacled Dread, now roam the waves. These beasts aren’t just bigger, they’re meaner, with devastating new abilities that’ll test even the most seasoned sailors.

But that’s not all! Expect new Voyages, hunting spears, untamed wildlife and plenty more surprises to arrive throughout the Season.

Twitch Drops – Thursday, February 20th – Monday, February 24th

If you’re tuning in to watch a streamer showcasing the newly added features, remember you can get rewarded for it too: this time the Eastern Winds Ruby Shirt and Gloves are up for grabs, along with the Seaweed Sailor Speaking Trumpet and a Gilded Voyage of The Ancient Isles, all by linking your accounts and watching any participating Sea of Thieves Partner on Twitch. Not sure who to watch? Check our Partner Directory.

GameBlast25 – Friday, February 21st – Sunday, February 23rd

We’re proud to once again be supporting GameBlast, a special stream event raising funds for SpecialEffect – an incredible charity that helps people with physical disabilities to enjoy video games. The Sea of Thieves Community Stream Team are fundraising all month, and you can tune in to Twitch on Saturday, February 22nd to catch our very own stream. Whatever you do, don’t forget to donate!

As Season 15 sets sail, there's plenty to keep you on your toes in February. Whether you're battling the newest foes, unlocking Twitch Drops or streaming to support a great cause, adventure awaits. So gather your crew, hoist your sails and make this month one to remember on the Sea of Thieves!

It’s just about time for Season 14 to don its chest disguise and waddle off towards the sunset in suitably comical fashion. But before it sets about clambering into its wooden outfit and going on its way, we’re here to demand some costuming from all of you. That’s right, #StyleOfThieves is back for another turn on the catwalk!

From February 10th–13th, we want you to forget about keeping out of sight and have your chic corsairs step firmly into the spotlight to compete in daily dress-up themes, and this time we’re looking for spikes, bright colours and even some team-spirited coordination…

We’re not agitating the ship’s buoyancy this time around, with the contest functioning in a broadly unchanged manner. Posts relating to the themes will appear on Sea of Thieves social channels around 10am UTC on the dates specified, declaring the entry window for that day’s outfit objective open. Your job is to respond to these styling summons by slapping screenshots of your scoundrel in appropriate attire on any social channel you fancy, stating the name of your chosen theme to help our scrolling. Have a look further down this article and read the How to Enter section for a rundown of the full rules, as well as some handy pointers.


Once a theme has been alive for 24 hours, our team will declare time and set out in search of the most interesting, inspiring and eye-catching examples of garbing greatness that they feel best fit that theme. The shortlist of our team’s favourite fits will then be chiselled into a yet-to-ripen banana in pigpen cipher, with some helpful clues etched into a nearby orange. These bruised fruits will then be handed to a member of our Art team, at which point we cross our fingers and hope they don’t simply devour them, skin and all. Should they notice the code, they will have the unenviable task of selecting the winners of this Season’s Style of Thieves prizes!

Following the surprise crowning of a quartet of winners at the end of last Season’s contest, Season 14 will follow suit and feature four winning entries per category, resulting in 16 winners total. However, as one category calls for up to four participants to be pictured, there are actually a potential 28 pairs of Fashionista’s Finery Gloves up for grabs this Season! Winning pirates will be announced via Sea of Thieves social channels on February 19th. And as always, a necessary reminder that even if you don’t win Style of Thieves, as with all our social media contests, we hope everyone has fun simply taking part and exploring the fun of fashion.

And now, without any more tweaked preamble, here are Season 14’s #StyleOfThieves themes:

The Themes

Each theme will start at 10am UTC on the dates detailed below, with entries accepted via a variety of social media channels for a full 24 hours.

Punk
Root through your rags to find a rebellious combination that really puts your pirate’s disregard for the rules front and centre! Or their appreciation of a strong jacket, at least.
Entry date: February 10th

Sneaky
Celebrate the focus of Season 14 with a suitable suit for stealthy situations! Just remember to undermine its purpose by taking your screenshot in broad daylight.
Entry date: February 11th

Sports Team
Gather a group of three or four participants and coordinate your clothes for the court! Actual sporting skill not required.
Entry date: February 12th

Flamboyant
While many have spent the Season blending in, this is your excuse to stand out! Feathers, gold, frills – no matter how you grab attention, just make sure you do it with an air of confidence. Or, lacking that, a grog or two.
Entry date: February 13th

Image credit: AbadonSoT on X/Twitter

How to Enter

Now into the part of the article that’s the same every time, including the sentence you’re reading now. We’re all over social media channels, in a friendly ‘enter however you feel comfortable’ kind of way, so you’re free to submit on a variety of channels. That said, each comes with its own quirks you need to adhere to as follows:

• To enter on X/Twitter, make sure you include @SeaOfThieves and #StyleOfThieves in your post.
  
• For Instagram, you just need to post using #StyleOfThieves. Same goes for Bluesky and Threads.
  
• Add your entry as a reply to that day’s theme post on Facebook.
  
• Post your entry with #StyleOfThieves in the #pirate-fashion channel of our official Discord server.

And regardless of where you’re sharing your entry, be sure to include the name of the theme you’re entering in your post, along with any extra info called for by the theme.

Rules of the Runway

We’ve put together some handy hints and rules to make sure you capture your pirate’s best side and don’t accidentally enter an ineligible picture:

• No Costumes on the catwalk – we want to see your creativity and individuality in how you mix and match items, so no all-in-one Costumes.
  
• Complete cosmetic sets are not permitted. Our artists designed those items to go together and, again, we want to see stylish creativity. Ideally, an outfit should contain no more than four items from the same named set, but as long as creativity from multiple styles is evident then your entry will be accepted.
  
• Unless a theme calls for it, all shots should be solo pirates and not crews. Only the pirate(s) in the picture will be eligible for the prize.
  
• Find a simple or plain background to pose against to let your outfit pop. Backgrounds and locations will not be considered when judging the outfit.
  
• Lighting helps, so find a well-lit spot to fully peacock your picks. Coloured or tactical lighting won’t be considered part of the outfit, and could hurt your chances of consideration.
  
• Toggle off your HUD for a clean snap and avoid a name getting in the way! If you haven’t set it, the Toggle HUD command can be assigned to a button from the HUD category of the Keyboard and Mouse or Controller area of your Settings menu.
  
• Screenshots should be a reflection of the game – no external editing or filters should be applied.
  
• Please try to keep your submissions to a 16:9 or 1:1 ratio, making sure your entire outfit is in shot, including your shoes/toes! This will help us when framing winners, and ensures a degree of parity when comparing submissions.
  
• While you may use any emotes for your shot, any features added to the outfit via the emote (e.g. oars, weapons, sparklers) won’t be taken into consideration as part of an outfit during judging.
  
• One shortlist will be compiled per theme, using entries across all platforms, meaning it’s not necessary to post your submission to all channels. If you make sure you use the correct tags, we will see it!
  
• The unique prize means you can’t win more than once in Style of Thieves, but you’re more than welcome to continue entering for the fun of it!

Image credit: Great_Grantsby on X/Twitter

And with this, we’re at the end. A thank you to anyone who’s read every word, and a stern glare for those who only read the themes. But then, they probably didn’t get down here, did they? So this is slightly pointless… Right, this article is roughly one more paragraph away from some undesirable introspection, so we’ll cut it off before that happens. Looking forward to seeing what your pirate brings to our sea of fashion from February 10th–13th!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]Pirates of Mischief[/h3]
Mimic Dart

• The Mimic Dart has been added as a new dart type for the blowpipe. This dart lets players temporarily transform their appearance into that of other players or skeletons, allowing them to blend in and cause even more mischief!
  
• Mimicking a target will transform a player for two minutes, and during that time they are free to interact with the world while both dealing and taking damage. The mimic effect can be removed by firing another Mimic Dart at a solid surface.
  
• When observing a player who is mimicking, no change will be visible to the mimicking player’s name as shown in their gamertag, although it will change colour to match the affiliation of their target until engaged in combat.
  
• Pirates can also mimic the mimic, chaining the same appearance onto multiple pirates for ultimate hijinks. Simply shoot a player already under the mimic effect to copy their look.
  
• While mimicking a target, players wishing to emote will be shown a simple set of emotes that can be performed as that character. Once the mimic effect is ended, players will regain access to their full set of owned emotes.
  
• The Pirates of Mischief section in the reputation tab now holds a range of Commendations challenging players to use mimicry to baffle other players, with the Lucky Hand Blowpipe as a reward.

Grapple Gun Improvements

• Players missing a shot with the Grapple Gun will now find the arrowhead returns during the recoil. It will still need to be reloaded, but no longer consumes ammo for missed shots.

[h3]Updates[/h3]
Performance Improvements

• Performance improvements have been made to the setup and loading of Trinkets on Captained ships. This work should improve client performance on Trinket-laden ships, and reduce the performance impact when approaching those ships at sea.
  
• Network improvements have been made in scenarios where large amounts of data are being sent from the server to a client. In these scenarios, the movement of the player and their ship will now be prioritised to ensure a smoother experience. This work should reduce the performance impact seen when a fully dressed ship comes into range, and when a player fully equipped with cosmetics returns from the Ferry of the Damned.
  
• Ammo Pouches left behind in the world will now only last for 10 minutes before being removed.

[h3]Pirate Emporium[/h3]
Show off your personal style with purchases from the Pirate Emporium! Pick up exclusive cosmetics such as ship liveries, costumes, weapons, pets and emotes using your Ancient Coins, purchasable with real money. Head to the Pirate Emporium to browse and buy the latest additions!

New Items – Now in Stock!

• Cardinal Lodestar Ship Collection
  
• Cardinal Lodestar Costume Set
  
• Cardinal Lodestar Weapon Bundle
  
• Cardinal Lodestar Ship’s Crest
  
• Cardinal Lodestar Spyglass
  
• Cardinal Lodestar Cat and Parrot
  
• Collector’s Lunar Festival Snake Sails and Figurehead
  
• Well, Obviously Emote (free!)

[h3]Outpost Cosmetics [/h3]
New Outpost Stock!

• The Outpost stores now stock equipment from the Lucky Hand set, with the Compass, Spyglass, Pocket Watch, Speaking Trumpet, Tankard, Bucket and Lantern available for purchase.

[h3]Fixed Issues[/h3]
Gameplay

• Players will now remain able to switch weapons after being knocked back while interacting with the Armoury.
  
• Traps loaded with a blunderbomb will now deal consistent damage to players who spring the trap based on their proximity when triggered. Running through a blunderbomb-loaded trap will no longer deal enough damage to outright kill a player at full health.
  
• In addition to water, Black Powder Darts can now be extinguished using boiling water and vomit.
  
• The damage dealt by an Ashen Lord’s explosion now dynamically scales based on the crew size in the encounter.
  
• The aim on the Dreamers’ Dust Pistol has been improved, ensuring shots now align with the tip of the barrel.
  
• The Merchant Alliance Tutorial Voyage now concludes correctly when handing in the Chicken Coop.
  
• Skeleton Lords now take the correct damage when shot in the upper body.
  
• Players with Pocket Pet Emotes will now find they once again perform a range of animations when used.
  
• ‘The Fate of the Morningstar’ – Dinger’s key now appears near the correct position on the island instead of in the open sea.

Pirates of Mischief

• The Dance Off Danger Commendation will now progress when triggering groups of enemies (either pirates or skeletons) to dance with a Jigball-loaded trap. Improvements have also been made to ensure this Commendation now triggers more consistently when meeting the required criteria.
  
• The Pied Pirate Piper Commendation criteria have now been changed so that it can be achieved during solo play.
  
• The Comfortable Sneaker Commendation can now be progressed while on a Skeleton Ship.
  
• The Hidden in Plain Sight Commendation will now progress when using disguises on the Burning Blade.

Blowpipe

• When the Dart Radial input keybind is shared with another action, the Dart Radial input will take priority and not leave players unable to use either action. Players will still need to rebind the other action to be able to use it.
  
• Players rapidly switching the blowpipe’s various dart types should no longer find they become unable to do so.
  
• Players using Toggle Radial Menus will now consistently be able to close the Blowpipe Dart Radial.
  
• The Dart Ammo Radial now closes consistently when the blowpipe is stowed or swapped.
  
• Players will no longer fire two shots faster than intended when attempting to fire a blowpipe soon after sprinting or crouching.
  
• Firing a dart and then quickly stowing the weapon will now consistently fire the dart as intended.

Crouching and Stealth

• Players exiting crouch while holding Aim Down Sights will no longer appear in an idle stance to others, and will consistently appear aiming their equipped weapon.
  
• Switching weapons just before interacting with a hanging point no longer causes players to lose access to their weapons.
  
• Players crouching before grabbing onto a ladder will now return to a crouch when letting go.
  
• Players will no longer hear water splash effects when using crouch to cancel the action to throw from a bucket.

Environment

• Players are no longer able to hide treasure in an underwater crevasse near The Reaper’s Hideout.
  
• Improvements have been made at the Lagoon of Whispers and Picaroon Palms to prevent players from becoming stuck in the environment.
  
• Players are now prevented from reaching outside the environment at Blind Man’s Lagoon.
  
• The prompt to climb ladders at Shipwreck Bay now appears in a reachable location.
  
• ‘The Quest for Guybrush’ – Players can no longer become stuck behind rocks near the town entrance.
  
• ‘The Lair of LeChuck’ – The Grapple Gun will no longer allow players to access restricted areas of the map.
  
• ‘Heart of Fire’ – The Grapple Gun will no longer allow players to access restricted areas.

Visual and Audio

• Players bailing water in quick succession should now consistently hear the audio effects for scooping and throwing.
  
• Players will no longer experience pitched audio effects across the game during the Ashen Lord’s smoke screen.
  
• Players afflicted by a Jigball prior to entering the Tunnels of the Damned will now animate correctly when moving.
  
• The Shadow Skeleton Captain’s hat now appears at the correct size when shifting into shadow form.
  
• The rats found below deck on the Burning Blade now scurry along the floor.
  
• Ponytail Hair now appears correctly when equipped.
  
• The Emissary Note will now only glow once the Emissary status is active.
  
• The flame effects on the Obsidian Captain's Chandelier are now aligned correctly.
  
• Pirates of all sizes using the King’s Chest disguise will no longer see their legs poking through.
  
• The Magpie’s Glory Pocket Watch face has been made darker and now consistently shows the correct time.
  
• The Stormfish Chaser Blunderbuss now sits correctly in the middle of the screen when aiming down sights.
  
• The Merchant Alliance Shirt now displays correctly across a range of pirate body sizes.
  
• Petting dogs and foxes will no longer cause the animal to slide out of position.
  
• The Dreamers’ Dust Cannons, Dreamers’ Dust Wheel, Sea of Sands Capstan, Spring Blossom Cannons and Shadow Tide Cannons no longer appear at low visual quality when viewed at close range.
  
• Players pairing certain long hairstyles with tall jackets will no longer find part of the hairstyle disappears.
  
• The Lure Dart now sits correctly within all blowpipe cosmetics.

Text and Localisation

• Localisation quality improvements have been made for Spanish (MX), Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Portuguese (BR) and Thai languages.
  
• Players using Game Narration will now find that buttons on the DualSense® Wireless Controller are narrated correctly.
  
• The prompt to disarm a trap now shows the correct text when the player has a full throwable inventory.
  
• The Polish translation for the Hung Out to Dry Commendation now correctly defines the unlock criteria.
  
• The German and Russian translations for the Regal Fortune Cutlass now correctly define its unlock criteria.
  
• Placeholder text no longer appears in the notifications when progressing the Skull of Siren Song Voyage.

Performance and Stability

• Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
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[/h3]
Download Size:

• Steam: 2.4 GB

Head to your Quest Table to undertake your Limited Voyage for a stash of explosives and enjoy increased rewards on Gunpowder Barrels from The Reaper's Bones! Just keep them away from any intercepting crews...

A new year is upon us, but before we can completely pack away the holiday decorations we have one last thing we need to do: round up the delights of December! The final month of the year is always jam-packed, so join us as we bid a final farewell to all its expeditions, events and excitements while filling you in on anything you might have missed…

[h3]Content Update[/h3]
Cast your mind back all the way to the beginning of December (no small feat, we know) and you’ll remember our Pirate Legends were getting a little love with the return of Legends Week. Although it wasn’t just for Legends – anyone hoping to rank up with Athena’s Fortune or just get their hands on a little extra gold could set out on a hunt for special Legendary Message in a Bottle Voyages, then venture across the isles in search of high-value treasure.

Winding down for the year was no excuse to miss out on our usual monthly update, so we had the latest additions to the game ready to go before the holidays began in earnest. That meant some tweaks to the current Season’s features including the Grapple Gun, blowpipe and Merfruit, as well as an overhaul of the rewards available in Safer Seas! For a full breakdown of all the changes, have a read of December’s release notes.

Once the update was ready to go, it was time to get on with the celebrations. Events bundled up alongside this year’s Festival of Giving included rewards for supporting your favourite Twitch streamers, some merry gift givers taking to the seas and an exclusive Ship’s Crest for a few lucky Stream Team viewers. Even the Pirate Emporium team got in on things, with a fresh Extravaganza offering perks for dedicated patrons. All that in addition to the login rewards and daily Gilded and Lucky Voyages available throughout the Festival, and a subsequent Gold & Glory celebration! Enough to get anyone in the holiday spirit.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]News and Features[/h3]
There were a lot of moving parts to track in December, so to make sure everyone had an idea of what they could look forward to, we delivered a fresh This Month In SoT article at the beginning of the month with all the details.

Of course, not everything went quite to plan and the Mimic Darts had to be pulled from the December update. To explain what the future for this feature looks like, Production Director Drew dropped in with a State of Play article that laid out the situation – give it a read!

One of the major changes that did arrive with December’s update was how rewards are earned in Safer Seas. Having observed our single-crew mode in action for some time, we wanted to make a few adjustments to ensure the early game experience remains sufficiently rewarding for new players. So gold and reputation rewards have now been raised to 100%, while the Trading Company cap drops to 25 to maintain a balance between Safer Seas and High Seas. Why not enjoy a quiet sail yourself to get a feel for the changes?


[h3]Videos and Streams[/h3]
Before we got to the special end-of-year videos, including a stirring overview of this year’s Festival of Giving, first we had to take care of the essentials – such as a new instalment of Sea of Thieves News! Once that had teed us up for the rest of the month’s delights, it was on to December’s update trailer and Pirate Emporium showcase, but not before Drew had a chance to deliver his latest Developer Update. Warning: you might need to watch it twice to get past the jumper situation.

We also took a look back over the last 12 months of the Sea of Thieves soundtrack. As an extra end-of-year treat, there was a new festive addition to help everyone get into the seasonal spirit, while a unique romance was explored through the medium of song and a holiday-themed playlist ensured all our jingliest songs were available in one place for your enjoyment – if the traditional crackling fireplace wasn’t enough to tide you over. In thanks for the loan of your ears, legendary composing corsairs Chloe and Robin also offered a sneak peek into the punishing work schedule responsible for all your favourite pirate tunes…

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]Social Channels[/h3]
Pirates across the seas have had a little while now to get used to the new disguises in their toolkit, but we thought that everyone could still use a quick refresher course on the art of subtlety. Alas, we did such a good job, some pirates struggled to find us again, but no matter as we quickly reemerged with a caption challenge and an inspection of everyone’s Armoury.

As always, there was acclaim to be earned: a new Community Hub update saw four lucky craftspirates earning a fancy hat, while budding photographers braved the storm to get their best snaps of Pirates in the Rain for the latest round of #SoTShot. On that note, we’ve slightly changed the way we accept entries for our regular screenshot contest, so if you’re posting your snaps on Bluesky, you’re now in with a chance to win!

Later in the month we got a bit bogged down in names: naming pets, naming ships, naming songs and even renaming some items that can be a bit of a mouthful. We also mused on what the worst words to hear are when you’re away from your ship, as well as favourite instruments – with some linguistic liberties taken for the definition of ‘instrument’. All of which left us with just one more thing left to do: wish everyone a lovely holiday break and wonder at some amazing firework displays.


And that was December! We’re all looking forward to the year ahead and the reams of exciting updates we can’t wait to share – be sure to keep an eye on all our usual socials to hear about any new developments. You can always find us over on Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, or via the official Forums and Discord. If we don’t see you there, we’ll be back in a few weeks with your next round-up! Until then, may the new year bring you new treasures, new adventures and not too many new trips to the Ferry.
[hr][/hr][h3]Previously in 2024: [/h3]
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: November 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: October 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: September 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: August 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: July 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: June 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2024 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2024