Sea of Thieves Forsaken Shores: Release date, gameplay and EVERYTHING we know so far (Pic: XBOX)

(Pic: DS)

SEA OF THIEVES ARENA UPDATE

Rare has announced Arena for Sea of Thieves at Microsoft's Xbox XO18 Event in Mexico. It's a completely new mode in the game, that you will select from the start menu

Rare describes it as 'competition on demand'. The developer calls it 'Sea of Thieves concentrated', with all the game's key elements boiled down into a shorter, more intense game session designed for competitive players.

Apparently, it's a much more intense experience, dedicated to players that want a 'higher heart rate'.

The new mode doesn't have a release date just yet, but will be coming "early 2019".

Here's the official description from Rare:

"Announcing #SeaOfThieves: The Arena – a new competitive game mode coming in 2019. Prove your worth in the game's fifth free content update, test your pirating skills against other crews and impress the new Trading Company – the Sea Dogs!"

You can watch the trailer, below:

Forsaken Shores is coming TODAY (Pic: DS)

Sea of Thieves fans have had to wait an extra week for their new content to arrive, but today the games latest expansion, Forsaken Shores, finally goes live.

Of course, the new content won't go live until after the developers at Rare have taken the game's servers offline for a small period of maintenance.

It goes without saying then that all Xbox One and PC players will not be able to log on and play during this time.

For those wondering, the game is expected to be offline between 10am and 2pm BST.

Once the game is back online the new content should be available, together with patch notes listing all of the games changes and updates.

For a brief overview of what is new in the game though, you can read on below.

And as soon as patch notes become available, we'll have those changes for you on Daily Star.

Stay tuned for updates…

Sea of Thieves Forsaken Shores Update Delayed (Pic: DS)

Sea of Thieves – Forsaken Shores Release Date DELAYED

Sea of Thieves third content offering – Forsaken Shores – has been pushed back by a week.

Microsoft and Rare have announced that the new DLC will be shifted from a release date of September 19 to a slightly later date of Thursday, September 27, citing extra development time needed as the reason.

According to executive producer Joe Neate, the team wanted more time to “deliver a stable, polished and bug-free experience” with the update.

"Our goal this week is to resolve the memory issue and get enough Pioneer coverage so that we are confident we have resolved the issue, prior to releasing to all of our players", Neate wrote.

"As such, we are moving the release of Forsaken Shores to Thursday 27th September. This will give us time to implement fixes, test, and get builds out to Pioneers to gain confidence."

Sea of Thieves – Performance update

Microsoft has offered an update on the performance of Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2, noting that both titles have exceeded expectations for the company.

Despite some lackluster scoring and divisive comments on the internet about both games, Microsoft notes that each title has performed better than the company expected.

"Sea of Thieves is a big priority for us," Xbox head of marketing Aaron Greenberg explained in an interview with GamesIndustry. "Both Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 were, for us, breakout hits of the spring.

"They exceeded what we expected them to do. Sea of Thieves has over 5 million players, State of Decay 2 has more than 3 million players. They both sold more than we expected and drove a lot of great engagement with Game Pass."

Greenberg went on to talk about how Sea of Thieves' lifespan and status as a living product has helped fuel consumer engagement.

"For Sea of Thieves, Rare has dedicated teams that are building add-on content thats completely free.

"The entire community gets them. Theyve added new ships, gameplay, quests and things that is going to be great for engaged fans who want to keep playing, but every couple of months the game gets bigger, so it also enables us to go back to people who have never played and introduce them to it.

"Thats modern marketing. People dont need to get a new game to get new content and innovation.”

Sea of Thieves – Forsaken Shores teaser trailer

Rare and Microsoft have released a new trailer for the next DLC drop in Sea of Thieves.

The trailer once again shows off the rowboats that will be introduced into the game, as well as showing us new clothing, weapons, and ship livery.

There seems to be the suggestion that the new update will also add face paint to the game as a new cosmetic item, too – something that will allow you to customise your character even more.

A new type of treasure chest also seems to make an appearance… though its function remains to be seen.

Take a look at the trailer below.

(Pic: DS)

Sea of Thieves: Forsaken Shores – Behind-the-Scenes

A new video released by Rare and Microsoft has detailed the work that's gone into the upcoming expansion, Forsaken Shores.

After ditching the original roadmap of Sea of Thieves in order to iterate on what players wanted from the game, Rare could have easily gone adrift and been left listless, unsure of how to handle the game.

But the developer seems to have kept on an even keel, and the new video demonstrates the studio has its finger on the community's pulse and is committed to delivering more gameplay-centric, experience-friendly content in its Xbox One exclusive title.

Gamescom 2018

Microsoft and Rare announced that the latest DLC for Sea of Thieves – the Forsaken Shores – will be coming to the game on September 19.

During a live stream at Gamescom 2018, the developer and publisher revealed the next expansion to the pirate adventure game will be dropping into the game mid-September and will be bringing a variety of features to the title.

First up, a new location called Devils Roar will be added to the game – it's a place of great danger that will erupt with geysers, launch rocks at players and potentially even boil you to death if you fall in the water.

A new rowboat will be added to make it easier for players to navigate these new treacherous environments, and the Cargo Run mission type will be introduced via a new vendor that will provide players with new cosmetic items.

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(Pic: DS)

Sea of Thieves is an action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Studios for Windows 10 and Xbox One, and is the flagship co-op Xbox-exclusive game (no pun intended).

The game allows players to take the role of a pirate sailing the seas of a fantastical world either solo or as part of a crew of up to four players, and either co-operate or compete on the high seas, looking for loot to plunder and islands to explore.

The game launched back in March 2018 to mixed critical reaction, but by all accounts it has been a success for Microsoft: as of the release of the Cursed Sails expansion, the studio notes that over 5,000,000 people have tried the game (that number is undoubtedly helped by the game's availability on Xbox Games Pass)

Microsoft and Rare plans to keep the game alive with consistent updates and new expansions – and we've already seen a fair few release. Here's everything you need to know about the game so far.

(Pic: DS)

Sea of Thieves – Overview

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Rare
Format: Xbox One, PC (via Xbox Play Anywhere
Genre: Action-adventure

Sea of Thieves – Info

Sea of Thieves is a pirate-themed action-adventure cooperative multiplayer game played from a first-person perspective.

The game features cross-platform play between Windows-based personal computers and Xbox One video game consoles.

A group of players travel and explore an open world via a pirate ship and assume different roles such as steering, hoisting sails, navigation, and firing cannons. Players embark on quests, collect loot and engage in combat with other players.

Sea of Thieves is a shared game world, which means groups of players will encounter each other regularly throughout their adventures. The game has a cartoonish art style and an exaggerated physics engine that allow players to perform stunts, like being shot out of ship cannons. (Source)

(Pic: DS)

Sea of Thieves – Review

In our review for Sea of Thieves back in February, we noted that it was a decent game, however it was hamstrung by a few notable issues:

"You can really set yourself into this world and let it envelop you in its warm embrace. The non-existing user interface improves this. There are no big quests markers to follow or constant reminders to do other things.

"The graphics and performance of the game are nothing short of amazing. The water effects, in particular, are superb, rivaling Crysis and Witcher 3.

"The rest of the textures for everything else are minimal, even when playing on the highest setting with a Nvidia GeForce 1080 Ti. The cartoony aesthetic, reminiscent of Team Fortress 2, is welcoming.

"If anything we have learned from this generation it's that graphics aren't the be all and end all for making a game good (ironically, just a few months after Microsoft released the 4K beast that is the Xbox One X).

"But the graphics do not harm the gameplay. It is the experience that makes Sea of Thieves. As I sat alone in the Crow's Nest looking out I fully felt at one with this world."

You can read the rest of our review here.

Sea Of Thieves The Hungering Deep

Do the sailors on the Sea of Thieves face a new threat, or an ancient one? Hear the stories and steel yourselves for new challenges in the first content update for Rare's shared world pirate adventure.

1 / 10

(Pic: DS)

Sea of Thieves – The Hungering Deep Features

The Hungering Deep DLC adds these permanent new features to the ongoing Sea of Thieves experience:

New Threat! Such a monstrous peril won't be easily vanquished. The risk of encountering it out at sea will live on.

Drums! On the Sea of Thieves, it pays to bang your own drum. Pirate percussionists can let loose with this new instrument and play shanties with a bit more impact.

Speaking Trumpets! All that drumming drowning out your orders? Use the new speaking trumpet to be heard at a distance and find other crews on the same voyage.

Flags! Discover a new way to signal your intentions to other crews. Forge new friendships, or find new foes…

Tattoos and Scars! The Hungering Deep expands the vanity chest: choose your tattoos and scars to tell your own pirate story.

(Pic: DS)

Sea of Thieves – Cursed Sails Features

The second proper DLC for Sea of Thieves delivered a new campaign (similar to what we saw in the Hungering Deep) that saw you taking on skeleton-filled ships.

You'll were able to nick the skeletons' cursed ammo and use it on other players or threats in the world.

Players had to deal with the kraken, megaladon, skeleton ships and other players with cursed ammo if they wanted to progress through the new, choppy waters.

"Ready your cannons as Cursed Sails arrives, the second free update for Rares Sea of Thieves. The dead set sail for war on the Outposts, so eat your bananas, load your guns and prepare to meet skeleton ships in battle!"

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