Sea of Thieves Round-Up: November 2021

With the smell of mince pies wafting in and the Christmas jumper getting ready for its yearly airing, let’s reminisce about what went on in Sea of Thieves throughout November. For starters, we overindulged on the plenty of the seas as we celebrated the Feast of Bounty, teased a lot of Season Five’s fun features and righted a severe wrong – by allowing pets to be called Pedro again. So press play on the Christmas music, sit yourself down in front of a roaring fire and relax as we regale you with tales of distant November.

Content Update

November is traditionally a time when people give thanks and then celebrate with way too much food, and the Sea of Thieves is no different. While the Feast of Bounty table may have been turkey-free, pirates of all stripes did come together to say thanks, scoff as much shark meat as possible and then wash it all down with a tankard or 12 in November’s in-game Event. With the Challenges separated into Preparation and Celebration phases, there were bounteous cosmetics to be had for those who enjoyed the autumnal reverie – and we hope you’ve all left plenty of room for this year’s Festival of Giving and Grogmanay in December!

Otherwise, November chugged along nicely, with a mid-month update to iron out some creases and add some new emotes to the Emporium for those expressive types – along with Season Three’s Plunder Pass goodies following their earlier exclusivity. As always, the release notes were the place to go for all the updates in detail. We were in full teaser mode this month too, handing out delicious scraps of Season Five content for you ravenous seabirds to devour. From fireworks on Bonfire Night to the reveal of Cannon Rowboats, we had a steady drip-feed of tasty morsels to get you all psyched up to play. We’ll dig into it properly in next month’s round-up – but by the time you’re reading this Season Five will be available, so go have fun!

News and Features

Come rain or shine, snow or storm, you can count on the brave correspondents of our nautical news desk to be scouring the seas for the next breaking story. It was a celebratory month for Xbox as a whole, celebrating 20 years since that glorious green and black box arrived on the scene. As part of the festivities, we’ve extended the ability to get the luminous Duke ship set until the end of the year, just in case you were hoping for an Xbox Series S or X under the tree. And as a certain armoured naval officer will be setting out on a rip-roaring adventure into the infinite as you’re reading this, we also brought back our original Spartan ship set for a short time, along with the shiny new Noble Spartan sails and figurehead.

Pirates looking for a deal were able to snap up several in the sales around a certain crepuscular Friday – with Sea of Thieves merch, the game itself and a multitude of items in the Pirate Emporium all on offer. If you’re on the hunt for something to dazzle at the Christmas table this year, the Rare store has a new line of Christmas jumpers including a rather fetching one emblazoned with the Reaper’s Mark. You can even bag yourself a replica Ashen Key or an astonishing map-themed side table to pop your grog on. Can’t get going without your morning cup o’ joe? We also partnered up with Madrinas on a cold brew coffee blend that comes with a handy Ah! Coffee Emote. We’re running low on tea and biscuits at Rare HQ, by the way, so if there any brands reading, you know where to reach us.

Meanwhile, we handed out a mighty 12 Hats of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame this month via the Community Hub, meaning a dozen new entrants to our elite dinner club. The bright lights of the Community and Creator stage shone brightly too, as we invited distinguished Arrt Club president 0wl and host of The Gauntlet’s first season and all-round pirate luminary BBXH for a good old-fashioned Spotlight chinwag. We’ll wait for the Arrt Club’s interpretation of what the Community and Creator stage actually looks like – just be sure to include a theatre box so we can provide sarcastic commentary.

Now we’re hearing aggressively jingling bells and seeing the ominous flash of red fairy lights, so someone’s obviously changed the segue alarm to be more festive. Okay, take your places everyone and join in if you know the words, as we somersault gracefully into talking about…

Videos and Streams

Yes! Lovely. As is customary, November delivered a monthly Pirate Emporium showcase for all the new stock, along with that dedicated new Event trailer for the Feast of Bounty. Our jam-packed Season Five reveal managed to squeak in at the end of the month as well, giving pirates a tantalising look at all the new features arriving in December. We simply cannot wait to see what manner of tomfoolery you lot get up to with Cannon Rowboats and burying treasure.

We also managed to fit in another episode of the Sea of Thieves Podcast – this time, an enlightening listen all about accessibility and the tricky task of licensing Sea of Thieves merch. For those wanting a look at how the sausage gets made when it comes to branded controllers or tabletop games, this podcast is a must. We may have also teased that a second novel is on the way, but you didn’t hear that from us… If you have an absolutely burning Sea of Thieves question that simply must be answered, remember to use the hashtag #SoTPodcast so we can add it to the pile.

We’re always looking to mix up our video output, so we also put together a little something to help you pirates study and relax. Enjoy this lo-fi remix of ‘Becalmed’, complete with an incredibly cosy animation of Lesedi inspecting maps in the Captain’s quarters of a Galleon. Not only can you watch it on YouTube, this track is also available to stream on most major services so you can add it to your relaxation playlist.

The Gauntlet returned for another few weeks of streaming thrills and spills, this time over on our own Twitch channel, with a whole new crop of brave buccaneers hoping to conquer its riddles and avoid the wrath of a rival crew. If you need to catch up, VODs are still available! And in the realm of Twitch Drops, we released our final lot of Twilight Hunter equipment for the stream-viewing public – a set of instruments and a lantern arriving just in time for carolling around the seas in the depths of December.

Social Channels

Coming off spooky scenes at the beginning of the month, brave #SoTShot photographers then set forth on the cruel ocean to snap the best shots from stormy seas. We got seasick just from looking at some of these pictures, so a hearty congrats to all you fearless freebooters who put themselves at the mercy of the elements to get a prize-winning shot. It’s only natural that the next #SoTShot contest is all about festive fun, so get your glad rags on, roll out the barrel and have a knees-up when taking these snaps. We want maximum jollity.

Our triple threat of regular hashtags soldiered on through all conditions, providing you with a steady stream of extravagant equipment, obscure pirate minutiae and scenes that make you wish you were on your holidays. November’s #SundayVibes started down below with trips to Shrine of the Coral Tomb and Ocean’s Fortune, after which we emerged from the depths at Chicken Isle and dropped anchor at Galleon’s Grave. If you’re searching for the next tidbit to impress your pals while having a skinful at the tavern, #TriviaTuesday was a veritable Shrine history lesson as we learned more about the Shrines of Hungering, Flooded Embrace and Ocean’s Fortune, and snuck some lore in about the Wraiths and Pendragon’s lantern as well.

In #SoTGear world, there was plenty for rare item hunters as we marvelled at the Burning Blade and Ancient Vault Sails, took a swing with the mystical Sword of Souls and quailed at the Sharpened Teeth Tattoo Set. We’ll throw a fastball one week and put the lowly old Sailor’s Cutlass in, just to keep you all on your toes.

That wasn’t all from the social media smorgasbord – November had much more from us including a cheery hello to the Sloop’s lavish new bed, a shout out to the real-world Thanksgiving (while letting you all know it’s not Christmas yet) and of course, some pondering over when we’d finally get some Season Five news. Even as we were busy teasing features. What scamps we are.

Well, the heating’s cranked up to max, the Christmas biscuits are in the oven and we’re trying our hardest not to scoff our Advent calendars all at once while we work! If you’re absolutely chomping at the proverbial bit for the first drop of info from the news keg, get all the Sea of Thieves social media accounts followed: that’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and the official Forums and Discord server. December’s round-up will be delivered by three ghosts, each offering visions of past Decembers, the current December and the Decembers yet to pass. Having said that, they’re quite busy at this time of year so we might just chuck a scrap of paper down your chimney, attached to a lump of coal.

Previously in 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: October 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: September 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: August 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: July 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: June 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2021
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2021