Sea of Thieves Round-Up: September 2021

Slide into a Season of Sirens, Shrines and sunken secrets!

Wetsuits and flippers at the ready: Sea of Thieves had us diving deep underwater in September, with the start of Season Four and the full introduction of the Sunken Kingdom. Along with journeying several leagues under the sea, we celebrated the most important day in the pirate calendar, went hunting for jewels and mercilessly asked you to choose between animals. We already know someone with many thoughts on that topic. So grab your old-timey brass helmet, join us in the diving bell and let us descend into the depths of September’s delights.


Content Update

Acting as our lead-in to Season Four, the front half of September saw pirates playing pawnbroker and selling off as many Siren and Mermaid Gems as they could during the Jewels of the Deep Event. Novice divers were no doubt happy to know the next Event would take place mostly on land, as what would spooky season be on the Sea of Thieves without celebrating the Festival of the Damned?

All the Siren slaying in Jewels of the Deep certainly roused something below the waves, as it gave way to our announcement of Season Four and the reveal of the full Sunken Kingdom. This aquatic update came with our usual suite of goodies – a host of teasers, a jam-packed reveal trailer and an extra-special Deep Dive (hold your applause for the pun) into everything the Sunken Kingdom has to offer. It’s even got some of our lovely faces chatting away in it, aren’t you lucky?

While the start of our deep-sea expedition went fairly smoothly, we did roll out a quick hotfix following Season Four’s release, to make sure all the Siren Shrines and Treasuries were suitably waterproofed and tell those helpful merfolk not to squirrel away any treasures they carry up to the surface for themselves – the cheeky devils. For the full blow-by-blow of everything introduced in Season Four, take a deep breath and swim on over to the release notes.

Sea of Thieves Season Four: Official Content Update Trailer

Duration 6:02

News and Features

The pirate printing presses were back up to full speed in September, with our top nautical newshounds sniffing out stories from all over the ocean. Our master milliners at the Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame factory continued working away, as eight more hats were whisked away to those whose works found a place in our Community Hub. As always, please use the hashtag #BeMorePirate when sharing your fine creations on social media so our dedicated talent scouts can spot them.

Our Community and Creator Spotlights also continued apace, with this month’s headliners being screenshot-taker extraordinaire and Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame sporter NovaS Soul, along with the self-proclaimed Queen of Chainshots HappyKrakenX. We can just imagine this duo ripping down your mast and then taking a lovely photo of the wreckage.

Not that we need to remind you, but the most important day in the pirate calendar – Talk Like a Pirate Day – happens in September, so we would have been remiss if we didn’t celebrate accordingly. To mark this year’s festival of piratical lexicology, we gave away an award-winning emote, saw the publication of the final issue in the Champion of Souls comic mini-series (for free!), released the jaunty ‘Be More Pirate’ on music streaming services, held a Sea of Thieves sale for those aching to finally see what this pirate lark is all about and hosted a Gold and Glory Weekend, so pirates could rake in the moolah and Renown before the end of Season Three. A suitable celebration, we reckon.

Uh-oh, word has reached us that the segue klaxon is currently under repair so we’re going to have to manually announce our regular transition. Cover your ears for this one, as we yell out…

Videos and Streams

VIDEOS AND STREAMS! As previously mentioned, along with our usual spread of Seasonal announcements, we tried something different for Season Four and released both a teaser trailer and an in-depth look into what awaits players within the Sunken Kingdom. Complete with insights from designers, artists, musicians and more, we hope this gave you a tantalising peek behind the curtain into what goes into a Season and made you all the more excited to dive into Season Four.

Along with our other Talk Like a Pirate Day-themed festivities, we also put out a dedicated video primer on how to speak proper pirate lingo while out on the seas. We must admit 'mulligrubs' was new to some of us, and will be peppering our patter whenever we notice someone in our crew being a bit of a diva. You know who you are. We also squeezed in the long-awaited third episode of our Sea of Thieves Podcast, all about Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life. Due to the discussion of current (at the time) sporting events, please comment with your best guesses as to when it was recorded…

On the streaming front, Sea of Thieves Television continued its regularly scheduled programming, including a special accessibility-themed episode – featuring the new Nautical Narration option introduced in Season Four. We also announced new competitive series The Gauntlet in partnership with Twitch’s Crown Channel: each episode sees a popular streamer and hard-bitten pirate crew tackling devious riddles against the clock, all while a nefarious band of brigands attempt to thwart their progress. It runs every Tuesday throughout October, with special Twitch Drops available for viewers, so take a look!

Speaking of Twitch Drops, you couldn’t move for them in September. For Talk Like a Pirate Day, the Obsidian Speaking Trumpet was a festive prize for anyone watching (or streaming) Sea of Thieves on this most auspicious of days, followed by more crepuscular cosmetics on the docket to celebrate the release of Season Four. If you’re looking to put together a suitably dark and brooding ship in time for the Festival of the Damned, you’ll be halfway there by now.

A Deep Dive into the Sunken Kingdom: Sea of Thieves Season Four

Duration 14:57

Social Channels

Season Four had us all abuzz on the socials during September with teases, hints and shenanigans galore bringing some added spice and mystery to our regular content. After looking longingly at scenes in the sun, we turned our attention to fending off fiendish foes of all stripes. There were some truly fearsome sights in this #SoTShot contest – we’ve decided that we’ll relax with the next edition and enjoy some underwater photography. Dunking your head in a pond doesn’t count, we want to see a depth of at least 20,000 leagues, people.

#TriviaTuesday and #SundayVibes carried on valiantly, with the newest addition to the hashtag gang, #SoTGear, also bringing us some lovely beauty shots of sought-after pirate equipment. We started our Sunday pleasure cruise on the tranquil Mermaid’s Hideaway, then had a stopover at Shipwreck Bay before diving down to a mystery location in the Sunken Kingdom (answers on a postcard please), before finishing our underwater excursion in the Shrine of Ancient Tears. In #TuesdayTrivia town, we got the goss on the founding of Morrow’s Peak Outpost, an uneasy enemy alliance, the exotic wares of the Pirate Emporium and that larcenous ghoul, the Jack O’ Looter.

Meanwhile, #SoTGear curated the Silent Barnacle and Dawn Hunter sets, the Ashen Dragon Cutlass, the Merchant Alliance Eyepatch and the Shores of Gold Curse. If you’ve got all those rattling about in your inventory, we hope we don’t run into you with a Reaper’s Bones Emissary Flag held high.

Elsewhere on social, there were hijinks and horseplay aplenty: for instance, we asked you to explain Sea of Thieves in the worst way, bid a fond farewell to the page snake, called upon people to draw their pirate on a pineapple and, of course, remembered a fateful encounter between a man and a monkey. We also tried to make Flameheart Friday happen, but you lot weren’t ready for it. What, you prefer pumpkins?

Our diving bell has now reached the darkest depths of the Sea of Thieves, so all that’s left is for our intrepid crew to keep exploring. If you want the latest news from our expedition, you’ll want to have all eyes trained on Sea of Thieves social channels – that’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and the official Forums and Discord server. As we’re in the thrall of spooky season, next month’s round-up will be delivered by a friendly poltergeist who will spell it out for you via the medium of alphabet spaghetti. Don’t be alarmed if you run out, they’ll write it on the wall in tomato sauce.