The big new addition here is The Arena, a PvP area that adds a much more competitive and high-stakes multiplayer experience to Sea of Thieves. The Arena is essentially a battle royale mode for the seafaring adventure, adding a ton more tactical difficulty to the combat in the game.
The Sea Dogs trading company and DeMarco Singh will introduce players to the new gameplay loop, offering you the chance to duke it out with other players for fabulous rewards. Groups of five crews are plopped into a map on a massive timed treasure hunt. As you blast your way through the competition, you’ll find special treasure troves, return these valuable items to the Sea Dogs ship to score points. The crew with the most claimed treasure at the end of the round is the winner, unlocking things like Commendations, Sea Dogs cosmetics and titles for their crew members.
But a new PvP section isn’t the only thing Rare has included with the new Anniversary Update. Players can also journey to the Shores of Gold. These new elements a series of nine story quests that impact the overall story of the game, introducing new baddies and factions for players to interact with. This is part of the Tall Tales series, and in Shores of Gold, players will take quests starting with a Mysterious Stranger, before eventually uncovering an ancient lost artifact and being sent on a sprawling quest on the high seas to reassemble it and unlock its powers. Can you find the Shroudbreaker and reach new heights of power?
In terms of new factions and other gameplay loops, there’s the Hunter’s Call Trading Company. These new buckeroos allow players to take quests for hunting, fishing and cooking. Now the more economically minded players have something that they’ve been asking for since the game first launched.
For you Xbox gamers, the update even adds 43 new Achievements to unlock, adding the potential for 1,000 new Gamerscore. Most them revolve around playing through the Arena and farming Commendations, just to give you some hints. And of course, there are also some cool new cosmetic items, like a badass parrot, to grab.
The 2.0 patch notes, which is the version number for this Anniversary Update, can be found on the main website.
Sea of Thieves is out now for PC and Xbox One. We included both of the trailers for the Anniversary update and the Shores of Gold questline down below if you want to check them out.
