Sea of Thieves Receives First Update of 2021

The Pirates meet Game Seasons!

Are you still takin’ to the open waters in 2021? Enjoying the freedom of land-to-land travel that we have been unable to accomplish in reality due to COVID-19 precautions? Need more content to inspire you to craft your next sea shanty? Developer Rare has kicked off their 2021 release schedule by launching the first update for the year in their open-world adventure game Sea of Thieves.

This Sea of Thieves update implements seasons into the game. Available free of charge to all players, with the new Plunder Pass available for additional purchase to gain early access to premium rewards, over the coming months players will be able to work their way through 100 levels. You can read more about this, and other new content introduced in the new update, below:

Introducing Seasons

Seasons in Sea of Thieves are designed to run for around three months at a time and bring a brand-new layer of progression to the game. Making your way up through each of the 100 levels in Season One will unlock a reward each time, from gold and Doubloons to cosmetics and even Ancient Coins to spend on goods in the Pirate Emporium.

Ascend through the levels by increasing your Renown, which can be done naturally by sailing the seas and doing all the things you’d normally do. Renown is designed to ensure you won’t walk away from a session empty-handed, as you’re constantly being rewarded for play rather than being dependent on cashing in loot. You can also raise your Renown in leaps and bounds by completing Trials: themed sets of Deeds that cover almost every available activity in Sea of Thieves, from visiting every island in a region of the world to vanquishing Ashen Lords and sea monsters.

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Lost Shipment Voyages

Season One also launches with Lost Shipment Voyages, a new way to engage with the Merchant Alliance. These Voyages turn you into a seabound detective, seeking clues to precious deliveries that went down with the ship out there somewhere along the trade routes. Retrieve the Cargo Manifests to earn Merchant Alliance rewards and reputation, but find the key to the Captain’s cabin and you can also recover treasures from these written-off wrecks! These are due to be a permanent fixture of Sea of Thieves going forward.

Pirate Emporium Plunger Updates

With a single purchase, the pool of rewards available to earn through Seasonal progression gets a significant boost. Picking up the Plunder Pass adds 11 premium Pirate Emporium items to the rewards obtainable during Season One, including many that are previously unreleased – such as the Dark Warsmith Blunderbuss, Eye of Reach, Pistol and Cutlass, along with the proud Silver Skull Sails.

Elsewhere in the Emporium, a new year is marked with exotic Lunar Festival gear including a ship livery and weapon bundle, plus an all-in-one pirate costume and matching pet outfits. Flamboyant new emotes let you flaunt your weapon skills or just your unshakeable confidence, while the eerie Order of Souls Possessed Pets will appeal to cat connoisseurs.

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Performance Mode for Xbox Series X

With this release, Sea of Thieves running on Xbox Series X gets a Performance Mode option – enabling 120 frames per second at 1080p for pirates who want to prioritise fluidity. Found in the Settings menu, this mode requires players to have a TV capable of supporting 120hz before it can be switched on, but those who do will be able to activate 120fps at 1080p as an alternative to 60fps at 4K.

Sea of Thieves is available on the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Windows PC, and is a free game as part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.

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