A special preview event for Sea of Thieves has confirmed that players will be able to look forward to several big updates this year.
Rare shared a 20-minute, extensive preview with creative director Mike Chapman and other developers on the team, exploring how players can expect the game to evolve over the next 12 months. Starting off, the video dives into how seasonal updates will change by introducing Adventures and Mysteries–story-focused events that are designed to complement seasons by providing regular narrative-driven content for players to play alongside other content.
Adventures are time-limited events, arriving on a monthly schedule and will run for two-three weeks, with each one forming a chapter within an overarching narrative. These will feature cinematics and a finale Adventure that will cap off each narrative arc, with the first event–Shrouded Islands–beginning on February 17.
Alongside Adventures comes Mysteries that will remain part of the world for longer periods of time and will rely on the community to solve clues and riddles to move the story forward. More information on Mysteries will be revealed soon, but Rare hinted that players will attempt to solve a murder.
Beginning in March, season 6 will be headlined with new combat and exploration experience named Sea Forts, but seasons will continue to bring in new features and content along with rewards, Pirate Emporium stock, and Plunder Passes. Six Sea Forts will appear around the world, drawn through from the Sea of the Damned and protected by patrolling Phantoms. Players will need to battle and collect keys to fully explore the forts.
Later, season 6 will introduce new content for Pirate Legends which is planned to be a new, Legend-exclusive Voyage with story content and challenges.
Finally, Rare has confirmed that after “lengthy internal discussions,” it has made the decision to close down Sea of Thieves’ Arena mode within the next few months. According to the developer, as Sea of Thieves grows, it’s become difficult to maintain QA and bug fixes for both Adventure and Arena modes.
Source: Gamespot
