Happy birthday, Sea of Thieves – my most-played game of 2018, and, would you believe it, my most-played game of 2019 so far. Today, Rare’s piratical multiplayer sandbox adventure celebrates its first 12 months upon the waves, and – having brought the likes of giant killer sharks, marauding skeleton ships, and even a fiery hell pit of a new region beyond the Devil’s Shroud – it’s been quite the year.
Things did, however, get off to a slow start following Sea of Thieves’ launch on Xbox One and PC last March. On release, it offered a wonderfully polished, and enormously entertaining, foundation – but there’s no denying that it felt a little sparse. For a while, though, the simple pleasures of sailing, swashbuckling, and derring-do were enough to maintain momentum, particularly given Rare’s pre-launch promise of regular, live-service-style limited-time events, designed to expand and enhance Sea of Thieves’ core. Unfortunately, however, that new stuff was a long time coming.
It wasn’t until the end of May that Sea of Thieves’ first content update, The Hungering Deep, arrived – and by then, even I, usually perfectly content to splash about aimlessly on the waves, was starting to feel the itch for new things to do. Thankfully, The Hungering Deep was a promising start to Rare’s post-launch plans, bringing a number of fun additions – most notably a thrillingly cinematic communal boss fight against an ancient megalodon, and a wonderfully flavourful mini-quest introducing legless sailor Merrick and his obsessive search for the shark that devoured his crew. Merrick would depart once the event was over – and I still think it’s a real shame that Sea of Thieves’ lore vignettes, which add so much life to the world, are unceremoniously jettisoned after each update – but his legend lived on in the form of Alliances.
Official Sea of Thieves: The Hungering Deep Teaser Trailer Watch on YouTube
Sea of Thieves’ waters had, it’s fair to say, run especially red since launch, with pirates, desperate for new activities, passing the time relentlessly terrorising the waves – much to the chagrin of other, more benign pirates. Alliances were Rare’s canny answer to that, incentivising crews to join forces, while still enabling more dastardly sorts to indulge in betrayal and skullduggery. Its impact on the game and player interaction was profound, and the addition of Alliances offered the first reassurances that, with its focus on open-ended tools to empower pirates and create richer stories, Rare was heading in exactly the right direction.