Rare‘s been drip feeding info on its massive upcoming title, Sea of Thieves, for some time now. Today, the team dropped an 8-minute video outlining the progression systems of various play styles, offering a glimpse into how much goddamn fun this game’s gonna be.
For those not acquainted with the idea, Sea of Thieves is a pirate game set in a massive open-world which encourages you to play with friends. While solo play is certainly an option, it’s pretty clear that teamwork is at the heart of Rare’s intentions. It’s been kicking around the gaming convention scene for a couple of years, but not much has been revealed about how players will be levelling or progressing in the world until now.
At its core, the game challenges you to become a “pirate legend” through building your reputation, but how you do that is entirely up to you. There’s three different play styles on offer here based on the types of NPC traders that hang out at outposts. Gold Hoarders will give you rewards for bringing them treasure, the Merchant Alliance will offer you contracts to ferry goods around the world, and the Order of the Souls are after skulls of fallen pirates.
In other words, you can hunt for treasure, complete transport missions, or carry out combat-focused objectives. It doesn’t look like you need to choose one of the three exclusively, so everything’s up for grabs, but you can certainly focus your efforts on one to become a master of the craft.
While progression is based on individual exploits, there’s nothing stopping people with high levels playing with their newcomer pals, something other MMO games tend to ignore. Catch an intricate look at the details in the video below.
Sea of Thieves is due for release on March 20, 2018 on Xbox One and PC.
