Sea of Thieves is back on my mind again after what seems like a brief break from the high seas and even higher stakes of a pirate’s life. Yesterday we got the announcement for the upcoming Season 5, a fairly festive affair as the outposts deck the halls and crews can dress once again in their Yuletide outfits. This isn’t all though! The team over at Rare have clearly been listening to the fans and have given us a few more treats this time around to stuff our sea salt stockings.
The biggest announcement comes in the shapely form of FINALLY being able to do the one thing pirates are always known for, bury treasure. Yes, after years you’ll finally be able to take your prized loot and leave it safely hidden on any island you feel like. However, if you’re feeling a little more generous, but not by much…you can post the map to your haul on a board at any outpost for other players to collect and use to track down your now probably sand damaged gift. This will give you a nice boost of renown and the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with being slightly less of a bastard than the average pirate.
Next up was a flashy display of the new ammo for cannons. Not content to use your iron to blast enemies into splinters? Well, no worries, now you can use your cannons as firework launchers! Whether to prank other crews or just to enter any port with an unnecessary amount of vivacity, these fireworks look like they’re going to be the second most fun thing you can fire from a cannon, looking at your Petey the parrot…
Of course, this wouldn’t be a new season without adding a new plunder pass, this time focusing on the festive season itself with a lot of gear to be had using a red, green and white candy cane-like scheme! You can always opt for the premium pass too which lets you dig into the pirate emporium coffers for a few extra treats, but if you want to save the pennies this Christmas then there are still 100 levels of free fun to unlock.
That’s just about covered all the major add ons, but how about the smaller changes? Oh yes this isn’t just a change of decoration, Rare have also thrown in a few nice quality of life updates which should make even the saltiest sea dog feel more comfortable on the seas! Among the changes are a new cannon armed rowboat which can even be used when tied to the back of your main vessel, rats scurrying about your ship to give the game world a little more life, changes to the speaking trumpet making it just a bit more useful during battle or when preparing a trap and most importantly to me, the ability to finally use the chairs and beds on board a ship and in the taverns! No longer will I have to use a lie down emote on a bed to annoy my crew mates; I can actually sleep!
The 5th season for Sea of Thieves will start on the 2nd of December, so get ready for a galley load of changes and possibly even more to come in the future, you can be sure I’ll be there, cutlass in hand.