Why You Shouldn’t Sleep on Sea of Thieves: An Adventure Worth Having

Sea of Thieves has been out for over three years now. On release it lacked a lot of content, and it didn’t feel like there was much to it. There was no recompense for those who lost all their progress from a bunch of other scallywags stealing their treasure and sinking their ship. But as of the start of 2021, Microsoft owned Sea of Thieves developer Rare, has outdone themselves. For a game about pirates, this game finally feels like it.

A Breath of Fresh Air

With the addition of Rare’s own take on a Season Pass, the “Plunder Pass” offers almost everything you could ask for in a tri-monthly season in the free version alone. Players can earn “renown” which levels up the plunder pass, giving the player much coveted cosmetics, gold, doubloons (an alternative earned currency), and the premium currency, ancient coins.

In addition to the Plunder Pass. This year alone Rare has added:

• Multiple revamps to the Merchant Alliance, once the most boring of factions and now one of the most intriguing

• Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Seasonal challenges called “Trials” that reward the player with cosmetics and renown

• Forts of Fortune: a boss rush world event where players fight for a vault of rare treasures.

• Emissary revamps: The ability to represent a faction on the map and earn extra reputation (general xp progression in factions), and gold

• New enemy types: Pirate Ghosts, Sirens, and the monstrous Ocean Crawlers

• Sunken Kingdoms to explore and loot below the seas

• Three new sea shanties to play with your crew

• The ability to bury treasure and create maps for you and/or others to find

• And of course the biggest addition: Sea of Thieves’ collaboration with Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” in it’s “A Pirate’s Life” update.

A Pirate’s Life for Me

The Pirate’s Life update caught me by surprise. It seemed like something out of a dream collaboration that would never be released from the tight clutches the wet rat at Disney has on it’s own IPs. The game from launch already felt Disney-esque from the start. From day one, I dreamed of this match made in heaven. And in June of this year, it was granted.

The voice actor for the legendary Captain Jack Sparrow is spot on for the themed story based quests called “Tall Tales”. The game already had a few quests of this type, but nothing on the level of this collaborative effort.

The wonder it brought about and all the references to the movies and rides at Disney is done respectfully, and it doesn’t seem like this content is going away anytime soon. The current Season 5 added additional “Pirates of the Caribbean” cosmetic items, in addition to the many that were added on the original update’s launch.

If you haven’t tried these Tall Tales already, you’re in for a treat!

Set Sail, Wolves of the Sea

Overall, if you’re looking for an adventure game that will fill you with stories to tell, Sea of Thieves is it. I’ve become lost in this game for hours per session, and this is coming from someone who only plays maybe an hour or two of a game at a time. With random events like sea monster attacks from the Kraken, and Megalodon. Along with Ghost ships, and skeleton crews roaming the seas. From this year forward, the game feels feature complete, and it’s only the beginning of tri-monthly updates.

The amount of “Oh Shit!” moments I’ve had with friends, streaming this game, and on voyages alone are countless. I can’t recommend this game enough to those who are looking for a game that has such an impactful fantasy world. 

If you haven’t tried it yet, Sea of Thieves is on Game Pass for PC and Xbox, as well as on sale on Steam.

I’ll see you on the horizon, pirate!