Happy anniversary, everyone! It’s been four eventful years since we first set sail on the ocean in search of gold and adventure, and the excitement continues apace. We’ve fought against terrors from the deep, sailed through volcanic waters, worked together to save the very pirate way of life and now in our fourth year, we’re embarking on bold new Adventures to broaden the narrative horizons of this sea we call our home.

But that’s enough schmaltz, it’s time to party! As is customary for a Sea of Thieves anniversary, we’ve lined up some special goodies with which to mark this temporal milestone, ranging from free goodies to exclusive discounts. So grab yourselves a grog cocktail, put on a party hat and let’s see what activities we’ve got lined up!



First up, anyone who logs into Sea of Thieves between Friday March 18th (10am UTC) and Monday March 21st (10am UTC) can grab the lustrous Golden Sailor Wheel as a free anniversary gift! Larinna and the Merchant Alliance have also been able to wrangle some limited edition stock, with the Golden Sailor Cannon Flare and commemorative Anniversary Firework Crate on sale in-game throughout this celebratory weekend.

As an extra anniversary treat, we’ll be holding a Gold & Glory Weekend over the same dates and times, ideal for those looking to double their gold and reputation and get a Renown boost while rattling through Season Six’s 100 levels of progression.



Meanwhile, the Pirate Emporium is also hosting a sea of discounts between March 18th and 21st. The focus of this sale is squarely on ranges celebrating our Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life crossover with Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, so enjoy saving Ancient Coins on everything from the Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa Costumes to themed ship sets, emotes and pets!

If you’re in the market for some physical swag to mark this anniversary, the Rare Store is offering a 20% discount on certain Sea of Thieves items over the weekend, as well as releasing a line of limited edition Sea of Thieves shoes! We have it on good authority that they make great dancing shoes for when you’re tackling a merry jig.

Those are all our exciting plans for the weekend ahead – take a look at some of them in action in the very latest episode of Sea of Thieves News, and we hope you’ll join in the anniversary celebrations out on the seas. Here’s to many more!

As the birds begin chirping and the buds start blooming, a new Season springs into life for Sea of Thieves! Along with an offering of brand new Seasonal rewards, Season Six is all about expanding Sea of Thieves’ narrative through time-limited Adventures, while still giving you opportunities to forge your own epic tales of derring-do – with Sea Forts and the new Pirate Legend-exclusive Voyage, Legend of the Veil. If you can’t wait to write the next chapter in your pirate’s memoir of high-seas adventure, Season Six is now available as a free update for all players on Steam.

Like our past Seasons, Season Six and its 100 levels of rewards are free to all Sea of Thieves players, with cosmetics and other goodies earnable as you build Renown by going about your pirate business. If you want to spice up your Seasonal climb to Level 100 with more premium items not yet available anywhere else, you can purchase the optional Season Six Plunder Pass! Find out more in our Seasons Explained and Plunder Pass Explained articles.

Brought forth from the Sea of the Damned by the machinations of Captain Flameheart, six Phantom-filled Sea Forts have now appeared around the Sea of Thieves for brave pirates to plunder. With a focus on combat and loot to be liberated, Sea Forts provide a satisfying on-demand experience for battle-hungry sailors or those who may not have time for a longer Voyage. Enter a Fort, cut down its spectral defenders, scour every nook and cranny for hidden riches, and defeat the Sea Fort Captain to gain the key to the Treasury.



Once a Sea Fort is cleared, you can make the most of its home comforts – including the well-stocked Homestead room with chairs and a blazing fire to put your feet up and share a well-earned grog with your crew. Just be prepared to defend your little sanctuary from other crews who might want it for themselves!

Narrative-driven Adventures will continue throughout Season Six and beyond, keeping the Sea of Thieves world and lore in constant motion. Adventure 2, ‘Forts of the Forgotten’, will soon pick up the thread from the recently concluded ‘Shrouded Islands’. But another story-centric feature is also set to make its mark later in Season Six. Legend of the Veil, a new Voyage exclusive to Pirate Legends, will send you out hunting for lost Veil Stones across dramatic new locations and facing an ever-changing series of challenges. From haunted islands and shipwreck graveyards to a climactic naval battle against a Ghost Garrison, this is a Voyage you don’t want to miss!



To complement this Legendary content, the maximum rank achievable with the Athena’s Fortune Trading Company will be raised from 20 to 30. With a host of new cosmetics, Commendations and achievements on offer, get ready to continue your climb to the top in Season Six!

For pirates keen to boost their Seasonal reward pool, the Season Six Plunder Pass is headlined by the complete set of items making up the brand new Spring Blossom ship set, alongside the evolving Forest’s Blessing costume which transforms as you climb the Season’s 100 levels. As always, Plunder Pass items are temporary exclusives before heading to the Pirate Emporium sometime in the future.

Other standout selections new to the Pirate Emporium in March are the loud and proud Islehopper Outlaw ship set with matching costume, weapons and even a banjo – perfect for the wild-hearted hellraisers, rabble-rousers and ruffians of the seas. Or if you can’t help striking a pose at a moment’s notice, style it out with the Bunch of Posers Emote Bundle. While you’re browsing the Emporium’s new wares, remember to pick up this month’s free emote too!



For more information on the Sea of Thieves Season Six update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. The update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Steam. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access.

New to Sea of Thieves? Find out about the latest free content updates on our What’s New page and pick up some tips from our Pirate Academy, which provides invaluable information on topics ranging from sailing to swordplay as you prepare for your maiden voyage. Learn more about Sea of Thieves at https://www.xbox.com/seaofthieves, or join the ongoing adventure at https://www.seaofthieves.com/ where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

Is it March already? Time flies when you’re having fun, they say, and we did our best to whip up plenty of that for the Sea of Thieves faithful in February. Amongst other things we paved the way for all our pirates to explore ‘Shrouded Islands’, held a 24-hour charity stream as part of GameBlast ’22 and tackled some hard topics in the latest episode of the SoT Podcast. Yes, we did talk about hit reg – cue the gasps. So if you’re sitting comfortably, we shall begin with our rip-roaring retrospective of February’s fun!

Obviously, the month’s main content update was designed to turn on the ethereal fog machine, put Flameheart back in his box, ring Belle’s bell and open up our first Adventure – ‘Shrouded Islands’. We’ve had a debrief with the Phantoms after the Adventure, and they’ve promised to calm it down a bit on the snoop shouting. A new Adventures page on the SoT site ushered in this latest era, as did our debut Adventures Ahead primer article written to set the scene. If you’re awaiting the next chapter in the unfolding story of Golden Sands Outpost, be sure to come back for ‘Forts of the Forgotten’ later in March!

Along with the thrill of Adventure, we had our usual freshening up of monthly stock in the Pirate Emporium – with the wider availability of the Jack O’ Looter cosmetics from the Season Four Plunder Pass, some truly Cutthroat weapons and outlandish Props Master emotes, among other things. As always, pirates with an eye for detail should head on over to the release notes for the blow-by-blow breakdown of February’s update, Adventure and everything else.


While a cohort of pirate journalists were busy writing salacious stories about the ghostly haze covering islands, our own intrepid newshounds were out on the prowl for the biggest scoops this side of the Devil’s Shroud.

February update, new episode of Sea of Thieves News and a juicy podcast all in the space of a few days? Got it covered. More entries in our programme of enlightening Spotlights? Yep, in February it was the turn of Boatswain and Voyage-avoider DrBullhammer along with Aussie plunderer Micromads. Work also continued apace for our artisan headwear makers as eight more Hats of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame flew out of the doors and onto the heads of deserving pirates. We’ll have to branch out further in more haberdashery – we’d love a new set of gloves.

As we celebrated the Lunar New Year, pirates looking to show off their stripes (don’t groan, it’s a classic) could pick up special Year of the Tiger merch over on the Rare Store. We also announced the new Legendary Fortune weapons on the way in Season Six, filling out the suite of flashy Pirate Legend cosmetics following the closure of The Arena.

With Season Five Community Day firmly in the rear-view mirror and a certain jam-adjacent pirate back in his jar, we took the time to pore over all the community’s amazing creations on the day in a dedicated lookback article. There was no missing the chance to be all lovey-dovey on Valentine’s Day either, with a special round-up of romantic activities. The main draw this year was, of course, our rousing rendition of the crooner’s classic ‘It Had to Be You’, sung valiantly by our Senior Audio Director. Some people might prefer chocolates as a gift, but we politely beg to differ.

If you’re feeling up for a song yourself, why not join in with our segue anthem? All together now as we effortlessly transition to…



VIIIIIDEOS AND STREEEEEEAMS. You in the back row, a little flat on that last note – practise for next month. The pirate video shop was mighty busy in February, as we had podcasts, reveal trailers and newsreels in our ‘Coming Attractions’ section. For starters, following on from the cinematic trailer last month came a gameplay trailer for ‘Shrouded Islands’, offering a quick taste of the adventures you’d be having on this… Adventure.

After a brand new episode of SoT News which highlighted some of February’s main beats, we donned our flame-resistant suits and dived straight into the fires of controversy in the newest edition of the SoT Podcast. Hit reg, spawn camping, weapon balance – if someone’s written a long forum thread about it, we did our best to tackle it in this no-holds-barred discussion moderated by our very own Head of Community, Christina. One note for the next podcast – work on the winking.

If live video content is more your bag, February brought plenty of streaming action with three new episodes of The Gauntlet going live on SoT TV. Rather than Sea of Thieves Partners filling the hero role this time, it was the turn of actual Rare staff members to triumph over devious rivals and riddles. You bet we made the riddles extra tough, just to see if they really knew their stuff.

We also joined in on the GameBlast action at the end of the month, hosting a 24-hour charity livestream to help raise money for SpecialEffect. With a crew of Rare staff and SoT Partners giving it their best, we’re happy to say almost £10,000 was raised – thanks to all you generous souls! If you were tuning in to Twitch throughout February, you may also have also picked up more Twilight Hunter gear in our ongoing Twitch Drops campaign. Yes, there was a little snafu with the shirt, but the pirate costumier who caused the mix-up is now wearing nothing but a barrel as punishment for their crimes.



While parts of the Sea of Thieves were gripped in a ghostly haze, our social channels remained a shining beacon of quality content, freebies and maybe just one or two memes. One long-awaited nugget was that if you’re active in a local Sea of Thieves fan community, you might soon have a chance to earn the new Affiliate Alliance sails. On Valentine’s Day, we offered specially made artwork and a repurposed Quest Board for the pinning of pirate love notes. We also celebrated a newfound calm after the disappearance of a certain flaming head, taught everyone the difference between Belle, Bel and a bell, berated some rats, spared a thought for a poor soul left behind and revealed that the Soulflame Captain is actually a massive Sea of Thieves fan.

A steady port in any weather, our trio of regular hashtags kept up the interesting factoids, beautiful scenery and loot showcases to make you green with envy. #TriviaTuesday was naturally focused on facts surrounding ‘Shrouded Islands’, with info on Belle’s previous showings, Flameheart’s fleet and the Soulflame Captain, while #SoTGear invited admiration of items like the Legendary Treasure Seeker Costume and Jacket of the Damned.

As if we were advertising pirate pleasure cruises, February’s #SoTShot contest encouraged players to go see the sights of the Sea of Thieves, with views that would get anyone down to the travel agents post haste. But we’re swapping sun-drenched views for gloomy vistas in March’s competition, putting out a call for pictures of the best Misty Moments. Our #SundayVibes tag would be a good stop for inspiration, with February’s selections touring the fog-blanketed Golden Sands Outpost, Devil’s Ridge and Shipwreck Bay.



The temporal train is picking up speed now as we start to barrel through 2022! It’s going to be non-stop for the remainder of the year, so follow our social channels to avoid missing any precious crumbs of info. If you need reminding, you can find Sea of Thieves on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and the official Forums and Discord server. As we’ll be full of the joys of spring next month, you’ll have to find the next round-up by breaking open the various Easter eggs we’ve hidden around your house. Either that or we’ll hire a giant talking rabbit to read it to you.

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Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2022

Pirates are not known for following rules. When it comes to both gender and race, buccaneers have historically subscribed a lot less heavily to the traditions of land-dwelling society – which is why this International Women’s Day, the #BreakTheBias theme particularly resonates with us here on Sea of Thieves.

A pirate’s story is one that they have the freedom to author themselves, and that’s always been the case for the ferocious female picaroons who sail our seas. Upon the Sea of Thieves, women have always been considered equal to their male counterparts. Our Pirate Code is clear: everyone is welcome regardless of age, gender, race, sexuality, nationality or creed.

So on International Women’s Day, we’re pulling focus to those ferocious female trailblazers who make waves within our game and community. Whether they’re Trading Company leaders, story chroniclers, infamous Skeleton Lords, mango-juggling marauders (who may or may not have a favour to ask) or even enigmatic newcomers arriving to take you on an Adventure, the proficiency of our in-game female pirates has always been respected and celebrated.

But much as we love our in-game characters, the beating heart of Sea of Thieves will always be our player pirates – and we’re lucky to have so many wonderful women sword-dashing their way into the hearts of the community. Just pay a visit to Umbra to discover the many tales of fearsome female pirates immortalised across the seas, their legends emblazoned within the world and celebrated in this classic update a couple of years back. Our Partner Programme is also home to many amazing women, with the likes of BBXH, HappyKrakenX, KaidaWrath, Smexi and many more all sailing regularly in an effort to entertain you – check out our Partner Directory for the exhaustive list.

Our Community and Creator Spotlights also illuminate a growing number of the inspirational women on our seas – in the last few months alone, the likes of Micromads, 0wl, CocoMayy, Betta VP, Mother0fChickens and Freyline have taken the time to tell us how they make their mark on the Sea of Thieves community.

It’s worth restating that all are welcome on the waves, and we cherish the diversity and creativity of the pirates who reach Sea of Thieves’ shores. We’re all in on ensuring that everyone feels included in our game and our community spaces, and we’re committed to championing and supporting our female players and creators. Join us all in marking this day by celebrating your fabulous female crew members and fellow sailors – and we’ll see you on the seas!



One last note: if you’re a fan of our special #IWD2022 artwork, not only is it available in T-shirt form at the Sea of Thieves online store, we’ve prepped it right here for you in a variety of sizes to decorate your devices. Enjoy!

Desktop (1920x1080) | Lesedi (1080x1920) | Belle (1080x1920) | Umbra (1080x1920)

The Sea of Thieves is a wondrous place, inhabited by all manner of colourful characters. No, we’re not talking about people like Merrick or the Pirate Lord this time – we’re talking about all you rapscallions who take to the seas to have fun, rabble-rouse or simply sail with friends.

It’s become a tradition for us to shine a Spotlight on folks within the Sea of Thieves community, whether they’re content creators or community members who’ve become known and loved in other ways, and give them an opportunity to tell us what they’re all about. We aim to switch our Spotlight on every two weeks and invite someone else up on stage, and it’s about time we gave you Steam readers a chance to check them out too – so let’s introduce you to the four people we had treading the boards in January and February 2022!



First into the Spotlight this year was SightlessKombat, a recent Pirate Legend and an accessibility consultant who helps make games accessible for all players. As a gamer without sight, he had lots to share about how he has been able to sail the seas with the help of Sea of Thieves’ plethora of accessibility features, and musings on further ways to make gaming more accessible!



Next on the January setlist was the botanist buccaneer from all the way down in New Zealand, CocoMayy! A member of the Sea of Thieves Partner Programme and a huge lover of nature, CocoMayy told us how she got her start on the seas, recalled her favourite moments while playing and offered some insights for anyone looking to engage with their community.



As we rolled into February, next to bathe in the limelight was long-time Boatswain on the Sea of Thieves Forums and cheerfully chaotic corsair DrBullhammer. Known among other things for the achievement of hitting Pirate Legend without buying a single Voyage, the good doctor regaled us with tales of how he became a Boatswain along with some in-depth, unconventional sailing tips.



Our final February Spotlight gave us another Antipodean headliner, as Aussie plunderer Micromads joined us for a chat about her own experiences as a pirate streamer. From finding an audience during lockdown to making lifelong friends on the seas, it’s a heartwarming read including more advice for fledgling content creators looking to make their start.

And that’s it for the opening months of 2022! If you want to keep up to date on new Spotlights as they go live, our dedicated Community Hub always features the most recently published, and you can check out the extensive back catalogue of Community and Creator Spotlights alike in the Sea of Thieves News section. Happy reading!

As we prepare to set Sea of Thieves Season Five sailing off into a beautiful digital sunset, welcoming the Forts and frolics of Season Six in its wake, we feel it would be remiss of us not to take a look back at our first ever Community Day, and celebrate the camaraderie and capers we witnessed over its extended 36 hours.

In case you’ve navigated to this article with no idea concerning what this blue-branded day of picaroon appreciation and untold riches was all about, here’s a quick recap: starting at 10am GMT on Sunday, January 30th 2022, we invited Sea of Thieves players of all stripes to take part in a day of adoration for their fellow freebooters, both in-game and out.

Those who set sail found a free flag and emote with which to mark the day, while those interested in ridiculously raising their riches had to take to Twitter and use the hashtag #SeaOfThievesCommunityDay, as each instance of it being posted and shared helped boost in-game rewards through the helpfully named Community Emissary Grade.

The maximum Grade 5 was hit after just 13 hours, leading to a 3x gold and reputation multiplier – the biggest boost to ever grace our fair waves! Sea of Thieves was even trending for a while on Twitter because you’re all so brilliant to us. We’ve gone as red as your favourite ruby-coloured ocean dweller just thinking about it.



There were, however, some connection issues throughout a portion of the day that left a number of sailors adrift, with only an error message evoking visions of fruity face follicles to keep them company. Some stars of the community worked to raise spirits regardless, writing shanties, creating wanted posters and even designing cosmetics around this cursed concept.

We expected Community Day to be of interest to a lot of our players – in the end the numbers far exceeded our expectations, and we’re incredibly humbled by this, but also regret that it meant the experience on the day was not what it should have been for everyone. Those interested in hearing about how we’re working to resolve server issues to avoid such a situation occurring again should turn their ears to Episode 5 of the official Sea of Thieves Podcast.



But despite these issues, we still saw a huge swell of positive pirates sharing memories, creations, stories, screenshots and more, helping to make the #SeaOfThievesCommunityDay tag a place to see the very best of what our unique and varied community has to offer. In line with this uplifting uproar, we set out to award an avalanche of the much-desired and unspecifically bestowed Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame – or the #BeMorePirate hat for short.

More than 50 of the blue bonnets were dished out during Community Day, for a range of reasons more varied than Umbra’s future tattoo plans. From the ongoing pineapple burning of KaidaWrath to a celebration of pirates around the world set into motion by Patagounia. There were long overdue hats for stunning prop creators such as Jobiwan, ChloeSauras and TentacleCreations. Head-warmers for incredibly enthusiastic young sailors. KrisKalissa found one for their incredibly detailed hand-made map. SanderRoli’s ongoing support of community art needs earned them a cap of recognition.



Pirates simply nominated for being some of the best, most humble corsairs on the seas, including MrFawlout and cottonandcreme, found hat-shaped surprises in their Equipment Chests. As did some sailors who probably should have had an azure crown a while ago, but never quite had their head in a convenient spot, such as Keelhauled Podcast’s Capt Logun and organisers of competitive chaos for the NAL, Ragetrox and Dadinat0r. This is but a taste of the ways people truly embrace the mantra of #BeMorePirate every day, and we’re thankful for every one of you.

Not only were there hats, there was also fun to be had with our special Sea of ‘Friends’ Challenge List, with many players posting clips and screenshots of their escapades as they tried to complete all the arbitrary tasks set to them. Special mention goes to the crews of mystcasual and EliEelEye, who managed to complete a range of tasks and edit their work into swish clips. The crew of EliEelEye even adapted when caught a few thousand grogs short of a Cursed Chest, quaffing a healthy dose from the ship’s supply before staggering across an Outpost with some standard chests, and far be it from us to critique a clever application of available tools over our suggested rules. Hopefully Wonda enjoyed seeing so many friendly faces, too…



And that wasn’t all! Some of our dedicated Deckhands were out on the waves distributing Obsidian Capstans and Six Item Packs to people who spied their elusive sails, or solved their tricky puzzles. There was an actual commemorative T-shirt available, as well as a cheeky one-off Gilded Phoenix Tankard Twitch Drop. And throughout the day, over on Twitter, there were threads where you called out favourite crewmates, really showed us how much you love gold (the look of it, the taste, everything) and enjoyed the special wallpapers and photo frames provided for you to use (which you can still enjoy even if you weren’t around on the day, we won’t judge).

All this and more! So really, we can sum the day up by simply saying “lots happened”, even as we thank all our pirates for being the best, most creative and most hearteningly rowdy community we could ever ask to have sailing the Sea of Thieves with us.



A Community Day is planned for every Season moving forward, and ideas for Season Six’s event are already taking shape. That shape being nothing like a certain bite-sized fruit commonly enjoyed with cream, you’ll be pleased to know. So continue to keep your eyes on the horizon and, if you can, follow us on Twitter so you can join in the fun when the next Community Day rolls into port soon!

The next chapter of the Sea of Thieves saga is here! As revealed with a sizeable amount of fanfare by our cinematic trailer for ‘Shrouded Islands’, new Adventures on a roughly monthly basis will be carrying our ongoing narrative forward as we charge headlong into 2022.

A new threat encroaching on Golden Sands Outpost and a glimpse of the enigmatic Belle were more than enough to cause a stir among those who’ve been following the story since the start, but if you’re new to the seas or find yourself hard-pressed to distinguish Sudds from Salty, don’t worry. We’ll be providing a recap of concluded Adventures to set the scene each time a new one is just around the corner, because we’re good like that.

To begin with, as the clock is already ticking on the February 17th–March 3rd runtime of Adventure 1, ‘Shrouded Islands’, here’s a pirate primer on everything you’ll need to know going in...

The odds are high that you’ve probably, at some point during your journey on the Sea of Thieves, died. Our condolences. When that happened, your pirate would have found themselves aboard the forbidding Ferry of the Damned, waiting impatiently for the Ferryman to open a door to the living world so that you could get back into the action.

Recent events, however, have shown the world that there’s far more to the Sea of the Damned than just the deck of the Ferry – there’s an entire ethereal existence lurking just beyond the veil. It’s a realm where memories can become real, shaped by the pasts of pirates who linger there. Under the right circumstances, these manifestations can be drawn through to the Sea of Thieves to wreak havoc.

Now that the true potential of the Sea of the Damned has been proven and Phantom pirates are running amok, tensions are rising as various factions ponder how they might make use of this power for their own ends…


One key player who’s been particularly keen to subvert the Sea of the Damned is Flameheart himself. Since his spirit was unwittingly released by Sir Arthur Pendragon during ‘The Seabound Soul’ Tall Tale, Flameheart – who currently lacks a physical form of his own – has been able to summon ghostly vessels to fight in his name alongside his flagship, the Burning Blade, causing no end of problems for pirates in the vicinity.

Rather ominously, these attacks have now ceased. It’s highly unlikely that Flameheart has abandoned his pursuit of conquest, however, and the shopkeepers and shipwrights who’ve made the Sea of Thieves their home can’t help but wonder what his next move might be.

These new developments have not gone unnoticed. Larinna, leader of the Bilge Rats, has been keeping a watchful eye on the waves and has always encouraged crews to keep their skills sharp by taking part in colourful, sometimes chaotic activities of the Bilge Rats’ devising.

In this way, she hopes to prepare pirates for the inevitable conflicts to come. Whenever there’s a new Adventure to take part in, Larinna should be your first port of call and will beckon you over when you’re near the tavern.

In light of these new threats, others have looked to the Pirate Lord to take a stand, believing that his Athena’s Fortune Trading Company and its distinguished Pirate Legends should be the ones to rise up and protect the Sea of Thieves. Although the Pirate Lord claims to have retired from the pirate’s life, circumstances – and the unexpected arrival of Belle – may compel him to return to the seas sooner rather than later…




One of the most widely visited Outposts on the Sea of Thieves, located within The Shores of Plenty, Golden Sands is a hub of activity for Trading Companies, honest citizens and pirates alike – and a place that to many travellers feels inviolable, a home from home after a long Voyage.

However, news travels fast on the waves, and unsettling stories now reach the ears of those like Larinna who strive to stay alert even when the world seems calm. Stories of a dark influence spreading across the seas to engulf islands in an oppressive fog; of imminent peril to Golden Sands’ residents, Wonda the weaponsmith among them. Stories of ruin and desolation…

What’s the cause of the mysterious fog slowly consuming the Sea of Thieves? Just who is Belle, and what is her relationship to the Sea of the Damned? Can Golden Sands Outpost be saved? It’ll be up to you and your crew to discover these answers for yourselves by taking part in Sea of Thieves’ new Adventures.

Those with a thirst for lore can also reacquaint themselves with the likes of Larinna, Pendragon and the Pirate Lord via some of our expanded universe materials, like the Athena’s Fortune novel and audiobook and the Sea of Thieves: Origins comic series. Just don’t get too immersed and lose track of time – you can only explore ‘Shrouded Islands’ in Sea of Thieves from February 17th to March 3rd…

Ready your crew and prepare to sail into the fog as our first brand new Adventure, ‘Shrouded Islands’, goes live in Sea of Thieves! Kicking off a new series of time-limited, narrative-focused events, this inaugural Adventure sees you searching for answers in the ethereal mist that now engulfs the ruined Golden Sands Outpost… and may be starting to spread.

As part of our push to make the Sea of Thieves a more dynamic place to explore, these Adventures won’t be replacing our Season-based method of delivering free, regular content updates but will run alongside them, offering a new Adventure roughly every month, each lasting for a minimum of two weeks. There’ll be secrets to discover, battles to fight, rewards to earn and a unique cinematic trailer to introduce each Adventure, laying out the stakes and preparing you for the events ahead.

As ‘Shrouded Islands’ opens, a new threat encroaching upon Golden Sands Outpost, the sudden disappearance of Captain Flameheart from the skies and reported sightings of the mysterious Belle have caused a hubbub on the Sea of Thieves – with Larinna, leader of the Bilge Rats, keeping a watchful eye on these strange events. Whenever you’re looking to venture forth on an Adventure, Larinna should have a lead to help you get started and will even beckon you over if you approach the tavern.


If you’re a new player who doesn’t know their Captain Flameheart from their Pirate Lord, or if you’re just looking for a quick lore refresher before diving into ‘Shrouded Islands’, the official Sea of Thieves website will be posting a story primer before each Adventure to help get you up to speed. Should you need more information on how Adventures will work, or the other exciting additions we have lined up for this year, make sure you check out our recent 2022 Preview Event!

Ready to go? There’s no time like the present: cast off and start a new Sea of Thieves Adventure today in ‘Shrouded Islands’. Many more Adventures lie ahead in 2022, along with Mysteries and a story-focused Pirate Legend Voyage coming soon as part of Season Six. Happy sailing!

For more information on the latest Sea of Thieves update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. This update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Steam. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access.

New to Sea of Thieves? Find out about the latest free content updates on our What’s New page and pick up some tips from our Pirate Academy, which provides invaluable information on topics ranging from sailing to swordplay as you prepare for your maiden voyage. Learn more about Sea of Thieves at https://www.xbox.com/seaofthieves, or join the ongoing adventure at https://www.seaofthieves.com/ where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

Hi everyone, Joe “Three Sheets” Neate here. As we announced during our Sea of Thieves 2022 Preview Event, we’ve made the difficult decision to close down The Arena mode within Sea of Thieves. We wanted to take some time here to talk everyone through this and how we will be going about it. We understand that some people will feel frustrated, so we wanted to give you some more of the reasoning behind it and explain what it means going forward.


Firstly, this was an extremely tough decision, but we firmly believe it’s the right one to allow us to focus on our plans for the central free-roaming Adventure mode. Despite the efforts of a hugely talented team, The Arena unfortunately never met the goals we originally had for it – either in creating a genuine alternative way to play Sea of Thieves with a competitive spin, or a short session experience if you didn’t have the time to commit to an open-ended Adventure session.

As we’ve shared before, only 2% of our players’ time is spent in The Arena on a consistent basis, and this has never really changed. We recognise that some criticism we might receive here is that we didn’t invest enough in The Arena to give it the best chance of success alongside the continued growth of Adventure. The reality is that as a new platform, The Arena regretfully never became popular enough to justify focusing our creative efforts there, beyond our initial efforts to refine the experience to appeal to a broader audience.

While we’re incredibly proud of where the game is now and the decisions we’ve made since launch back in 2018, we look back at The Arena with pride mixed with regret that we didn’t manage to reach the wider audience that would have allowed us to keep building upon its foundations.

We learned a lot from the launch and development of The Arena, but one thing that really stands out is that launching a competitive mode is a far bigger investment and requires a far bigger creative focus than we realised going in. Despite sharing a lot of the same mechanics as Adventure, it is an entirely different experience, and one that would have required a huge amount of mindshare and development effort to stand alongside it – and given the disparity in audience sizes, it just became impossible to justify.

One other factor is particularly important. In December 2020, we announced that we had stopped active development on The Arena. Despite this, over the last couple of years, the work we’ve been doing to expand the overall Sea of Thieves experience with new mechanics, areas, quests and more has had an ongoing knock-on effect on The Arena, due to just how much is shared between the two modes. As a result, The Arena has required considerable development work just to keep it functioning in its base state, and would continue to represent a significant ongoing workload for us – which is ultimately what leads us to the decision we’ve shared with you today.




We understand that this will be a huge disappointment to our small but dedicated community of Arena-focused players. We want to say thank you to everyone who has played and supported The Arena, from those who have just dabbled to those who have run competitive events and built up communities, such as the Notorious Arena League and Sea of Champions. It has been genuinely incredible to see the skill level of some of the players who sprang up around The Arena, and how this played out in the spirit we love to see: with fairness and respect for each other always at the forefront. You are wonderful and creative communities, and we’d love to work with you on moving forward in a world without The Arena.

We are committed to making sure that the efforts of our Arena-playing community are recognised and rewarded even after The Arena has gone, as detailed below.


What follows is an overview of how we plan to close The Arena, with details of rewards for people who have previously played, and answers to key questions we expect to arise from this decision.

The Arena will be closed at the start of Season Six, slated for March 10th, 2022.

To celebrate The Arena’s run and reward those who played, we will be making the most of the as yet unreleased ship cosmetics from this game mode.

Everyone who has already reached or passed Sea Dogs rank 5 will be rewarded with the following Arena ship cosmetics to use in Adventure mode:

• The Azure Scout
  
• The Flaming Jackal
  
• The Golden Chaser
  
• The Lucky Rover
  
• The Regal Hound

Those super-dedicated Arena players who have already reached Sea Dogs rank 50 will receive The Good Boy ship cosmetics as a rare bonus in addition to the sets listed above.

All six of these cosmetic sets consist of four items: hull, figurehead, sails and flag.

The cutoff point for being eligible for these rewards was January 27th at 6pm UK time. Rewards will be distributed after the closure of The Arena on March 10th.




Can I still play The Arena and earn Sea Dog cosmetics/Titles before March 10th?

• Yes, you can still play The Arena, move up through the ranks and unlock the ability to purchase cosmetics and Titles until we close this game mode on March 10th.

Can I earn retroactively any of the ship cosmetics listed above as part of The Arena’s closure?

• We have made the decision to give out these ship cosmetics as a reward for participation in The Arena up to the date of this announcement, January 27th, so you will no longer be able to head into The Arena and earn them. They are to show our gratitude to everyone who has supported and enjoyed The Arena up to this point.

What will happen to any Sea Dogs cosmetics I’ve already purchased when The Arena closes?

• Any items already purchased from the Sea Dogs will remain in your inventory and still be equippable.

What happens if I have unlocked Sea Dogs cosmetics or Titles in the shop but haven't purchased them before The Arena closes?

• You can still purchase the Titles and cosmetics you have unlocked from the appropriate Outpost shop.
  
• This also includes the Pirate Legend weapon set and Victorious Sea Dog Blunderbuss in the Pirate Legend Hideout.
  
• Any Sea Dogs items that you have not yet unlocked will no longer be visible to you in the shops.

What does this mean for the Pirate Legend weapons and Victorious Sea Dog Blunderbuss when The Arena closes?

• If you have unlocked these weapons for purchase, they will remain purchasable. If you have not unlocked these items, they will no longer be visible to you in the shops.
  
• To allow players to complete the Pirate Legend set, a new Pirate Legend weapon set is in production and will be made available for players to earn during Season Six. More information on how to earn the Legendary Fortune Flintlock, Eye of Reach, Blunderbuss and Cutlass will come later, so stay tuned for an update. These weapons will be available for all players to earn, so those who’ve already unlocked the original weapons will be able to earn the new variants too.

If I reach or have reached rank 50 with the Sea Dogs, will this still count towards Pirate Legend?

• Yes, reaching rank 50 with the Sea Dogs will still count on your journey towards Pirate Legend.

What happens to any Xbox achievements that could only be earned in The Arena?

• After thorough investigation, we were unable to find a fair and elegant way to repurpose the Arena-centric Achievements for use in Sea of Thieves’ sandbox Adventure mode. We were unwilling to compromise in a way that would disrespect the efforts of players who fully met the original criteria, so alongside retiring The Arena as a game mode, we will also be retiring the accompanying achievements. These will be marked as Legacy Achievements on Xbox, and will no longer be visible or earnable on the Steam platform after March 10th.

• The following two achievements will remain technically unlockable for Xbox players beyond The Arena’s retirement:

Master of the Arena

• Awarded to pirates who purchase the Arena Master Sea Dogs Promotion, available only to those who have hit level 50 in the Sea Dogs Trading Company.

Glorious Sea Dog

• Awarded to pirates who purchase the Glorious Sea Dogs Hat, Jacket, Hook and Gloves – items only available to those who’ve unlocked the Professional Sea Dog Grade V Commendation.

Both of these achievements are awarded based on the purchasing of Sea Dogs items, so those who qualify to purchase them can still do so after The Arena has been removed from the game. To be eligible, you must meet the stated criteria before March 10th to guarantee the availability of the items and associated achievements. However, please note that as mentioned above, this will not be the case for Steam players due to The Arena’s achievements being removed from that platform on March 10th.



I’d like to close by saying thank you for reading this far, and for your understanding as you take this news on board. We know that not everyone is going to agree with this decision, but we truly believe it’s the best one for the overall future of Sea of Thieves. We are genuinely excited about the plans for Adventure mode that we’ve talked about today, as well as some of the other amazing things we’re yet to reveal. We look forward to 2022 being another huge year for the game and we’re filled with excitement for the adventures we’re yet to have with you all!

Thanks again for your ongoing support for Sea of Thieves and the hugely passionate development team here who continue to give it everything they’ve got.

We’ll see you on the seas!

Season Five enters its final few weeks as we bring you February’s update, setting the scene for the Adventures unveiled in our recent 2022 Preview Event while making more improvements to the game experience and bringing fresh fire and lightning to the Pirate Emporium. If you missed out on Season Five's initial feature set, just watch this to get up to speed...


The original release notes here also offer an in-depth breakdown of Season Five’s December launch content. Now read on to see what's happening in this final phase of the Season!


With the next era of storytelling within Sea of Thieves commencing this month, big changes are already afoot both at sea and on land. Find out more about what’s shifted within the world already and how this could affect your adventures!

• As spectral activity increases across the Sea of Thieves, an eerie fog has rolled in, leaving islands enshrouded in its wake. One island touched by this fog is Golden Sands Outpost, which now lies in ruin with its inhabitants nowhere to be found.
  
• Golden Sands Outpost is no longer a starting point for new crews entering the world, and crews will no longer be given Voyages to deliver to this afflicted Outpost.

• As the fog takes hold, Captain Flameheart has mysteriously retreated from the skies over the Sea of Thieves and taken his Ghost Fleet with him.
  
• With this World Event no longer in rotation, crews taking on the highest-ranking Order of Souls
• Ghost Fleet Voyages may now encounter the Burning Blade during the final wave.

Last chance to pick up this Plunder Pass before Season Five ends! Also available now are the Ashen Curse Alsatian, more Thunderous Fury and Cutthroat items, new emote bundles and popular previous Plunder Pass rewards including Season Four’s Jack O’Looter range.

• Anyone wishing to take full advantage of Season Five rewards can still buy the Plunder Pass. Any rewards unlocked will become available upon purchase, so players who have raised their Renown throughout Season Five can instantly see their hard work rewarded before the Season ends.
  
• This Season’s Plunder Pass offers early access to an especially generous 14 items of upcoming Emporium stock, and can be purchased at any time through the Pirate Log, Pirate Emporium or Steam Item Store.

• With Season Four now a distant memory, the Jack O’ Looter ship set, weapons and costume from the previous Plunder Pass are now available for individual purchase from the Pirate Emporium.
  
• You can also attempt to get a grip on your nervous nature with the Vulnerable Weapon Pose emotes!

• Following its first appearance in Season Four’s Plunder Pass, this collection can now be completed with all ship items available for purchase.
  
• A Jack O’ Looter Essential Ship Bundle is also on offer, including just the core ship cosmetics at a discount.

• After thundering into Season Three’s Plunder Pass, this ship set now has an electrifying new Collector’s Figurehead and Collector’s Sails up for purchase.

• Hone your killer instinct with this set of four vicious-looking weapons.

• The Ashen Curse pet family gets a scorching new addition! Hopefully not too hot for you to handle...

• A Cannon Flare is now available for a fan-favourite Pirate Emporium ship set – check out the noxious green smoke emanating from the new Soulflame Cannon Flare!
  
• Players who already own all items in the Soulflame Ship Bundle will find the Cannon Flare added to their inventory as a little gift from the Emporium owners.

• Become a master of disguise with this prop-centric emote collection.
  Mystical Macaque Emotes
  
• Spread the enigmatic teachings of three sagely simians with this set of expressive emotes.

• When life just isn’t fair, feel free to throw a strop at your clueless captain.

• Only made available at this romantic time of year: a brooding menagerie of pets brought to life by darkly passionate magic.

• Available only from the Steam Store, this bundle contains the Cutthroat Weapon Bundle, Ashen Curse Alsatian, 1000 Ancient Coins and a free 25,000 gold bonus for use in the Outpost shops! Head to the Steam Item Store to find out more.

• Continue to unlock even more cosmetics throughout Season Five with Twitch Drops! Stay tuned to Sea of Thieves social channels to find out when Twitch Drops will be active for Partnered streamers, allowing players to earn more items from the Twilight Hunter set. Find out how to link your accounts and more on our dedicated Twitch Drops page.

• When equipping an instrument, holding the secondary interact button will now open the Shanty Radial directly, allowing players to easily switch between shanties.

• New filters are now provided when browsing shop stock, allowing players to cycle through all items, owned items and unowned items for easier access.

• When sailing the open sea in a storm, the strong current requires players to fight the wheel to maintain a course. However, when approaching an island or shipwreck, crews will now find that the current is less forceful and no longer causes the wheel to spin erratically.

• Within a Vanity Chest, players now have access to 10 pages where emotes can be equipped.
  
• Bringing up the Emote Radial and cycling through the pages will now only display pages which have emotes equipped.

• When raiding the vault of a Siren Treasury, crews will now find two gold piles with consistent gold rewards.

• The Outpost clothing shops now stock the Stygian Admiral clothing set, available to purchase for gold.

• Players can now access additional audio support when using the ship’s wheel. Within the Game Audio Settings, use ‘Enable Additional Wheel Turning Sounds’ (AKA the ‘Squeaky Wheel’ setting) to play a distinctive sound every quarter-turn of the wheel. The volume of this effect can be tweaked by using the accompanying volume slider.

• While aiming down sights with a ranged weapon, being hit with a sword attack from another player or lightning attack from an Eel-ectric should no longer cancel the player’s aim.
  
• Resetting the input settings to default will now also reset the input for Swim Up.
  
• The Full Billow achievement can now be unlocked when completing the required criteria.
  
• Defeating skeletons or Phantoms while under the effects of a Cursed Cannonball will now progress the Master of Cursed Iron Commendation.
  
• Skeleton Ships and skeletons using island cannons should now fire at targets more consistently without long pauses between shots.
  
• When sitting in a Rowboat, interaction prompts for nearby seats and objects are no longer shown as they cannot be interacted with until the player stands.
  
• Mouse users on PC can now enable the ‘Recentre Mouse in Menus’ setting to ensure the mouse cursor returns to the centre of the screen when opening full-screen menus.

• Performing the Stargazing Emote while wearing the Lodestar Costume now ensures the emote camera zooms into the correct location on the pirate.

• Players should no longer find areas within the Pirate Legend Hideout where they can trigger a safe teleport.

• An audible wood splintering sound can once again be heard when ships take damage from a range of external sources.
  
• Players should no longer encounter a multicoloured chequerboard effect on ship materials when loading into a session.
  
• Shooting while moving forwards, then sprinting and abruptly stopping, should no longer cause the weapon reload animation to be cut short.
  
• The Dark Adventurers Beard no longer clips into the player’s mouth when using a range of emotes.
  
• During an Ashen Lord encounter, when an Ashen Lord lunges at a player, they will now animate correctly during the leap.
  
• During an Ashen Lord encounter, the geysers resulting from a World’s End attack will now fade back into the sand.
  
• The visual effects when firing cannons are now triggered immediately, removing a perceived delay in launching cannonballs.
  
• Loading screens on PC will now display correctly sized images when using a 4K screen resolution.
  
• Capuchin and Barbary monkeys wearing the Cronch Outfits now fit correctly into cannon barrels when loaded.
  
• Players standing on the Sloop bed will no longer generate muffled sounds for others in proximity.
  
• Standing behind the Ferryman on the Ferry of the Damned should no longer cause their head to snap to the player.
  
• When wearing the Bell Brigade Gloves, the player’s hands should no longer clip into held items.
  
• ‘Dark Brethren’ – The water effects in the flume section now flow smoothly through the tunnel.
  
• When playing in windowed mode and resizing the screen during gameplay, using an Eye of Reach or spyglass zoom will no longer cause the screen to be off-centre.

• Steam players using Turkish language settings within Steam game properties will now find Sea of Thieves launches in Turkish.
  
• The Night-Time Spectacular achievement now correctly states the unlocking requirement of a display of five or more fireworks at night.

• When ‘Let Games Read to Me’ is enabled, the narration now clearly informs players when the game is loading.
  
• Enabling Circular Navigation now allows players to equip emotes from Vanity Chests when using a controller.

• Enhanced reporting has been added, helping identify scenarios where server performance can result in a reduction in hit detection accuracy.
  
• After being disconnected during a failed server migration, players should now be able to rejoin their session when prompted and return to their ship.
  
• Players on PC are now able to set the resolution scaling below 75% and have that setting persist across sessions.
  
• Server migration success rate has been improved, reducing the frequency of experiencing Hazelnutbeard while migrating between servers.
  
• Server stability has been improved, reducing scenarios where crews are removed from a game session.

• When progressing through Tall Tales or Siren Shrines, players approaching mechanisms previously used by other players may initially perceive them in the incorrect location or position until they are used. For example, a moveable walkway controlled by a lever may be shown in an upright position despite actually being lowered, causing players to fall through unexpectedly.

• 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.


Steam: 8.22 GB