Originally published March 22, 2019. Updated March 21, 2019.
Rare has released an Anniversary Update trailer one year after the launch of Sea of Thieves on the Xbox One and PC, which shows a variety of new gameplay mechanics that will be available upon the update’s release on April 30th.
Rare have not specified exactly what will be coming in the update but a look through the trailer and their developer blog shows us what to expect. The biggest addition coming in the update appears to be an Arena mode. From the looks of things this will purely be a PvP experience that is separate from the main Sea of Thieves open-world environment. It is unclear whether there will be a single game mode in Arena or whether it will have multiple playlists as other multiplayer games often do. Ship combat is getting an overhaul too. We can see a ship’s mast is destroyed by sustained cannon fire in the trailer.
It also seems players will now have new gameplay mechanics to engage with. The trailer shows players hunting sea creatures with both a harpoon gun and a fishing rod: other players can also be seen cooking food on a fire. This all seems to relate to the new Hunters School that is being added in the update which will likely add a new variety of missions to complete as well as a new faction to earn reputation with.
You can also see a mention of the Tall Tales which will be in the Anniversary Update. Tall Tales is the most unclear element being introduced on April 30th, but the developer blog suggests that it will provide a variety of new story content to explore.
If you want to find out more information about the Anniversary Update, Rare are going to be hosting streams on April 10th, April 16th and April 23rd. Each stream will explore one of the new features being added.
