As expected, Sea of Thieves is an online multiplayer game in which players will cooperatively and competitively partake in traditional pirate activities. Those include running a ship by weighing anchor, unfurling sails, and laying down cannon fire on other ships, and island life – though that was left merely teased. Oh, and don't forget drinking ale. There's plenty of ale to be drunk as well. Mostly though, there was a lot of sea battles with other pirate sh

Delivering sword combat for a network game, especially as part of a first person experience, is particularly challenging. We’re busy prototyping sword combat to get it into exactly the right place before we add it to a build that some lucky players in the Insider Programme will get a chance to play and provide feedback on. We’ve tried a few different approaches and we’re getting closer to a solution we feel happy with. We know where it needs it sit in terms of the overall approach to combat, but we’re still keen resolve some remaining issues before its ready for a larger audience. As always, there will be much more to share in the fut

(Image: https://freestocks.org/fs/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/iphone_in_a_wooden_phone_holder_2-1024x683.jpg)Rare's Short Haul trailers are just one way the developer is continuing to communicate with its audience, whether they're excited for Sea of Thieves or not. There are several other short video series that are ongoing, like the Inn-side Stories series or one-offs created for special events, like Talk Like a Pirate Day. Perhaps this extensive amount of developer-to-player communication is another strategy to help bring players closer to the experience that Sea of Thieves will provide . Perhaps in knowing Rare, players will better know their ga

For the above to work, we’ve embraced the concept of aiming down sights as a special state – if you want to fire at a target, you must hold the left trigger / right mouse button and aim down the physical barrel of the

In one way, you’ve already seen some hints to this, both in how we’ve treated the Ship’s Cannons – which you’ve seen in a lot of videos – but also in some of the elements hinted at in the cinematic trailer from E3 2

While the closed beta only features sharks and skeletons as AI-controlled enemies, the datamine reveals a wider variety of enemies and creatures, some of which have already been featured in trailers for the game . The data implies that the full game will feature bats, chickens, fish, parrots, pigs, seagulls, sharks, and snakes. It's not currently known if parrots will be tamable, allowing pirates to mount a feathered companion on their shoulders as they guzzle down some grog. The datamine also reveals that mermaids will not always be friendly like they are in the beta, and that the Kraken will wrap its tentacles around the ship in a manner which will likely require the crew to work together quickly in order to surv

While the Sea of Thieves gameplay shown yet is not necessarily what the entirety of the game will deliver, Rare didn't want to just leave fans with an idea of what the game will be. As such, Rare put together a cinematic trailer to go along with the gameplay. This cinematic trailer captures what Rare intends Sea of Thieves to grow into between now and its launch, whenever that may be. Rare didn't give any promises on that front, merely stating that the team is working very hard and Sea of Thieves is growing closer to its vision every

The relative lack of gameplay shown compared to ways players can interact in basic ways was intentional, however. Rare would later state that the game is still mid-development on many gameplay systems, but that the team is so excited to show the game that everyone wants to show what's reasonable. For example the island adventuring, the customization features, and most important perhaps – the loot, are still in-development systems. Those features will be shown as soon as they're ready, as Rare intends to be as transparent as can be going forw

On that note of creating a unique and personal experience, there will be plenty of customization options both as for the pirate character and the ship. These customization items will be both cosmetic and functional to help ensure that the pirate I design with the attributes and look I want will not be the same pirate you create. The cartoonish art style hints that this site will be a more lighthearted and fun version of pirates as opposed to a more historically accurate bloodthirsty crew infected with scurvy.

Imagine taking the spirit of adventure from The Goonies, combining it with the immersive shared world experience found in the game Journey, and transplant it to a pirate ship. The result is what Rare is attempting to create with their next major game Sea of Thieves, which is a massive multiplayer pirate game . MMPG is not a recognized term in the gaming world, but it is basically what it sounds like. A group of friends get together on a pirate ship and do pirate things together. This can include exploring the seven seas, going on hunts for buried treasure, going to battle with other pirate ships, or just enjoying a rowdy booze cruise on the ship drinking and making music.