Sea of Thieves has come a long way since its debut back in 2018, where each and every step along the way it has retained its identity as a multiplayer pirate adventure unlike any other. In a new Special 2022 Preview Event covering what's in store for the year, we also learn that the game is showing no signs of slowing down. Or, you know, dropping anchor somewhere.

With over 25 million players, including five million sales on Steam, there's a lot on the cards. Let's break it down.



With Seasonal updates being a big part of Sea of Thieves in 2022 they're set to be expanded with new cinematic story elements. Adventures and Mysteries are described as "story-focused events designed to complement Seasons, providing regular narrative-driven content for players to dig into alongside the other gameplay features brought in by our Seasonal content drops".

Adventures will be time-limited, with the goal being episodic storytelling that will last for the entire year. One of the cool things will be the addition of cinematics to set the scene. The first Adventure ‘Shrouded Islands’ is set to launch on February 17. Mysteries on the other hand will lean into the side of Sea of Thieves where you need to piece together clues without a helping hand or on-screen prompt.

With Season Six kicking off in March there's a brand new combat and exploration experience coming in the form of Sea Forts.

Six Sea Forts will appear around the world, drawn through from the Sea of the Damned and protected by patrolling Phantoms. You’ll battle through these ghostly foes and collect keys to fully explore the Sea Fort, eventually taking down its toughest defenders and claiming the loot within the treasury.

Also coming in Season Six is a Pirate Legend-exclusive Voyage for Sea of Thieves veterans.

Multiple seasons, new modes, features, and cinematic stories are expected throughout the year -- culminating in a big finale.

Though it's not all "new things added" as the PvP focused Arena mode will be removed in the next few months. With Rare noting, "With the scope of Sea of Thieves growing larger and larger, the huge task of maintaining QA and bug fixes for both Adventure and Arena modes has become something we can no longer justify. We’re proud of what we achieved with Arena, but ultimately it wasn’t as successful as we had hoped, and a bespoke competitive mode with few dedicated players is hard to align with our future vision for Sea of Thieves."