Soooo.... I've been scouring the interwebs trying to find a certain mention of a feature I really want to see, and in this, it got me thinking about all the features that have come up over the past nearly 3 years of discussing this beaut of a game that have never come to light. So I picked the only two I had time to find at work my favourite two 'pre-features'!
Rats
So way back when the game was a concept in our minds, shortly before the release of the Technical Alpha, the crew of Rare had discussed a feature of Rats a few times, that would snuggle up in your lower decks, and when you spring a leak, would squeal and run up to the top deck to escape the water.
Sea Of Thieves Comic-Con Panel where rats were discussed as a feature
This idea was a great immersive idea in my mind, it gives that audio and visual sign that there is trouble and could also be utilised in many other ways. This feature is probably one of my top favourite 'pre-features'.
Hiding in Barrels
Now this one was a little harder to find. I remember it being mentioned in passing in one of the videos Rare delivered to us during the early TA days. But I managed to find a source where the feature was also mentioned.
In this Metro Interview with Joe Neate and Mike Chapman from late June 2017, where Mr Neate said, "We’ll add more richness and variety until… just now they’ve been putting hiding in barrels in as a new emergent feature. So you can hide on someone’s ship and look through the little hole."
This feature has been brought up and leaked a few times over the years. I personally think this creates a load of potential and opportunity, although, I'd have to say that there would have to be a good way to ascertain which barrels have someone in as having somebody camp out in you barrels would be a nightmare.
It would be good to see these brought into game. There are obviously other features that have been mentioned/leaked/shown off from unity builds. A couple of honourable mentions from memory are checking the wind speed in the crows nest, lock-picking chests, and I believe at some point it was mentioned that mast damage was tested in the unity build.
What pre-feature... or 'Preature' do you remember and want to see in game?