Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2022
Leigh 'Lucky Day' Loveday (Editorial Lead)
Posted in: General Updates on 07 Jun 2022
May! A month stuffed to its extremities with Adventure, from the last stretch of 'The Shrouded Deep' to the opening gambits of 'Lost Sands'. And in the space between them we managed to pack in this Season's Community Day and the launch of the very first Sea of Thieves Mystery. There has, as DCI Taggart used to say, been a murrr-der, and it's better if we get these obscure British references out of our system here than in an in-game weapon description or something. Now then: let's recap!
Content Update
Yes, 'The Shrouded Deep' – our third time-limited Adventure, and first finale Adventure running to three weeks instead of two – still had half its runtime to go as we moved into May. Only when the monthly update landed on the 12th, with a suite of wild Emporium additions (Lionfish! Crab! Rat!) and bunches of bugfixes and improvements, did the grand Ghost hunt draw to a close.
It wasn't quiet for long, of course, with Mysteries making their Season Six debut as promised earlier in the year. So are we seeing things? Or hearing things? Who can say – Mysteries aren't about having the answers laid out in plain sight or explained in detail, so stay sharp for clues both in-game and out, leaving your deerstalker and/or handlebar moustache wax within grabbing distance. No, you maniacs, they're just detective references, not clues.
Two weeks after the end of 'The Shrouded Deep', our next update introduced the fourth Adventure, 'Lost Sands'. While the bombast of battling Megalodons has receded into a more prolonged power struggle, emotions are still running just as high. The fervent back-and-forth over whether to #SaveGoldenSands or #RuinGoldenSands has been stoked by updates on the state of play after the first weekend, and a breakdown of actions that players can take to swing the balance. The outcome won't be known until 'Lost Sands' ends on June 9th, so seize this opportunity to change the world and, just as importantly, blag some sweet Mementos while you're at it.
News and Features
In the world of words delicately whittled or sometimes rancorously hammered into the shape of news posts, 'Lost Sands' was preceded by the regular Adventures Ahead primer to get everyone up to speed ahead of the new Adventure, while our dedicated Mysteries article saw Creative Director Mike carefully set the scene without straying into a morass of spoilers. Upcoming social contest Style of Thieves got its own editorial exposé on Community Day, and we canvassed another convocation of artists and producers to give you a From Concept to Cosmetic breakdown of the Islehopper Outlaw set.
The Spotlight schedule didn't falter in the face of all this, adopting an accidental food theme in May as Captain Peachy rolled into the ranks of Community Spotlights while KatLikesTacos packed her single-item shopping list for a Creator Spotlight outing. Our second Spotlight Showcase settled into place on Steam too, rounding up all the recent Spotlight activity for news hunters of those geyser-pocked wildlands.
And – and! – we rolled out a whole new section to help folks stay on top of Who's Who on the Sea of Thieves, as our Adventures and Tall Tales and Mysteries continue to usher characters in and out of the limelight. And – and! – May's musical release returned to us from a Voyage deep into the pixellated past, as the enduring 'We Shall Sail Together' was adorably demade for a Retro Mix.
Videos and Streams
Plenty going on here in May too: central to it all was the double bill of Adventure-based trailers, with the 'Lost Sands' cinematic dropping a few days ahead of the Adventure to build hype before the launch trailer landed alongside the game content itself. Would have been weird if it didn't, really.
In the wake of a full introductory video for Mysteries, video clips have already gone on to become an integral part of how these stories will feed out hints and revelations – beginning with a clip that had no name except for a simple, sad skull emoji. RIP, you bombastic old peacock. We have no doubt that the truth of this tragic tale will eventually come to light, as the pirate community is bristling with eagle-eyed investigators.
Back before any of this in the first half of May, episode 7 of the Official SoT Podcast turned the tavern into a bathysphere exploring previous Adventure 'The Shrouded Deep', while a fresh episode of Sea of Thieves News divulged details of Community Day along with a bundle of end-of-month Twitch Drops, easing the transition as a knackered May tagged in June.
Social Channels
Community Day was of course May's pivotal point on our social channels, arriving as it does only once a Season, and arriving this time surrounded by orifice-sealing nervousness over the spectre of Strawberrybeards. Thankfully all was well from go-live time onwards, with Community Emissary Grade Five triggering a monster Renown multiplier well before the halfway mark, at which point we dropped some sweet, sweet stats. There was also free stuff to be had, sales, a fancy banjo – even a bespoke challenge list, checklist, score card and smart screenshot frames to help players share whatever they were up to. The latter idea then carried over to the 'Lost Sands' Adventure, where another clutch of assets assisted efforts to #SaveGoldenSands or #RuinGoldenSands.
It was a three-batch month for Community Hub updates, delivering new drops of player creativity at the start and end of May with one in the middle for luck. Early May #SoTShots, on the other hand, were only interested in Megalodons, with the shortlist as difficult as ever to whittle down even with separate sets of winners on Twitter and Instagram. Once more sticking to the spirit of the live Adventure, the next #SoTShot theme was Rivalry with more sets of winners currently on the cusp, the very cusp of being decided.
#TriviaTuesday kept it relevant to recent updates with info on Ancient Phantoms, the Veil of the Ancients and Ghost Garrisons, plus the Servant of the Flame's history and current cause. And for the weekend wind-down, #SundayVibes swept us all away to Fools Lagoon and Golden Sands, bookending a double appearance for Sea Dog's Rest, for reasons of... a Sea Dog... having a nice rest?
And that's an end to it! Thank you for your service, May – off you go, close the door on your way out but be sure to let the cat in first. In a dangerously brave plot twist, the cat's name is June. And if you want to keep up with June's cantankerous edicts then you'd better follow Sea of Thieves on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, the official Forums or our Discord server. And come back here for next month's round-up, when we'll be cross-hatched with cartoon scratch marks from trying to shove June off the chair so someone else can sit down.
