Season Five carries us into 2022 with starry new Pirate Emporium offerings, the allure of the first online Sea of Thieves Community Day and another trove of fixes and improvements! Remind yourself of Season Five’s headline features with the content update trailer...
This Season’s original release notes here also offer an in-depth breakdown of all that December launch content. Now read on to find out what’s being delivered in this next phase!
Game Events
For those seeking something a little more focused than the wide-ranging Trials and Deeds, Season Five has so far delivered a number of time-limited Events offering their own rewards. Find out what you can take part in this month!
Season Five Community Day (January 30th)
- All players jumping into the game on our first ever Community Day will be gifted the exclusive Season Five Community Day Flag and new Power Chord Emote. Be sure to fly that flag when you set sail!
- For the first time ever, gold, reputation and Renown multipliers will be in your hands! Tweet using the hashtag #SeaOfThievesCommunityDay to play your part in boosting the Community Emissary Grade and multiplying rewards earned by all players across the seas.
- Tune in to participating streamers on Community Day and earn the Gilded Phoenix Tankard. Head to our Twitch Drops page now to link your accounts!
- Finally, visit the Sea of Thieves merchandise store for a celebratory sale where SoT products will be discounted by 30% using the code COMMUNITYDAY at checkout. For the icing on the cake, look out for the exclusive new Community Day T-shirt – only available for purchase on January 30th!
- Find out more about Season Five Community Day here.
Twitch Drops
- Continue to unlock even more cosmetics throughout Season Five with Twitch Drops! Stay tuned to Sea of Thieves social channels to find out when Twitch Drops will be active for Partnered streamers, allowing players to earn more items from the Twilight Hunter set. Find out how to link your accounts and more on our dedicated Twitch Drops page.
Pirate Emporium
January’s Emporium restock boasts some real star power: the expansive Lodestar collection includes not just a new ship set but a matching costume, weapons and even pets. There are new emotes too, and Season Five’s Plunder Pass is available until the Season ends!
Season Five Plunder Pass
- Anyone wishing to take full advantage of Season Five rewards can still buy the Plunder Pass. Any rewards unlocked will become available upon purchase, so players who have raised their Renown throughout Season Five can instantly see their hard work rewarded before the Season ends.
- This Season’s Plunder Pass offers early access to an especially generous 14 items of upcoming Emporium stock, and can be purchased at any time through the Pirate Log, Pirate Emporium, Microsoft Store or Steam Item Store.
Lodestar Ship Collection
- Sail on a sea of stars with the Lodestar Ship Collection! In addition to the main Lodestar Ship Bundle, a stellar Collector’s Figurehead and Collector’s Sails can be purchased separately.
- A Lodestar Essential Ship Bundle is also on offer, including just the core ship cosmetics at a discount.
Lodestar Weapon Bundle
- Light up your foes with these four new astral armaments!
Lodestar Spyglass
- Look up at the heavens in quieter moments on the seas with this star-decorated spyglass. Lodestar Costume Set
- Embrace your inner starchild with this cosmic costume. Players will receive two variants, one with a starry hairstyle and one without!
- This costume also comes with a Stargazing Emote which can be performed whenever the costume is worn.
Lodestar Pet Collection
- Invite two celestial companions into your collection: the Lodestar Parrot and Lodestar Cat! Wedding Party Emotes
- Celebrate a pirate’s special day with these matrimonial emotes. Lunar Festival Costume Emote
- When equipped, the Lunar Festival Costume now includes a unique Lunar Scroll Emote!
Time-Limited Lunar Festival Pet Outfits
- Ensure good fortune in the new year with these Lunar Festival Pet Outfits, back on Emporium shelves for a limited time.
Freebie Something Stinks Emote
- What’s that smell? Show your distaste for foul odours with this free emote.
Celestial Companions Bundle (Store Only)
- Available from the Steam Store, this bundle contains the Lodestar Costume Set, Lodestar Cat, 550 Ancient Coins and a free 25,000 gold bonus for use in the Outpost shops! Head to the Steam Item Store to find out more.
Outpost Cosmetics
Seafoam Castaway Bilge Rat Set
- The Outpost clothing shops now stock the Seafoam Castaway Bilge Rat clothing set, available to purchase for gold.
Figurehead of the Silent Barnacle
- Long thought lost, the Figurehead of the Silent Barnacle has finally reached the Outpost shipwrights, locked behind the Hoarder of Barnacled Gold Commendation.
Gameplay Improvements
Island Enemy Encounters
- While exploring islands, crews who encounter and vanquish individual Ocean Crawlers, Phantoms or skeletons from a group of enemies should find that they call in reinforcements less frequently before the group is defeated.
- After vanquishing a group of Ocean Crawlers, Phantoms or skeletons, crews should now enjoy a much longer respite period before encountering them again on the same island.
Hit Registration on Distant Targets
- Improvements have been made to how hit detection calculates bullets affected by gravity, providing a small improvement to hit registration for ranged weapons when firing at medium- to long-distance targets.
Selling Firework Crates
- Firework Crates can now be sold back to the Merchant Alliance and Reaper’s Bones even when no longer full – but expect a reduced payout!
New Player Onboarding Improvements
- When new players arrive on the Sea of Thieves, after listening to the Mysterious Stranger in the tavern, they will now be directed to the signposts which will help guide them around the Outpost.
- New players will now receive a notification after selling items to the Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls or Merchant Alliance for the first time, informing them that they can purchase Voyages from these Trading Companies that will lead to additional loot.
- Players collecting fish or meat for the first time will also receive a notification, directing them to The Hunter's Call where they can sell their catch. The notification will also inform players of how to use their ship’s map to locate a nearby Seapost.
- New players purchasing their first cosmetic items will be informed how to use the various cosmetic chests to access these, including clothing, weapons, equipment and ship parts.
Accessibility
Rolling Dice Emotes
- When one of the Rolling Dice Emotes is performed, the result is now shown in the notification window as well as the player’s hand. Players using ‘Let Games Read to Me’ will also have the result narrated.
Updates
Spatial Audio Support
- Players on supported PCs can now enable Spatial Audio and experience full immersive surround and elevation audio for both headphones, and Atmos-capable Home Theatre systems.
- To enable Spatial Audio on supported PCs, first head to the Windows Sound Control Panel and within the Properties for the preferred Playback Device, enable Spatial Sound. Then navigate to the in-game audio settings and enable Spatial Sound there.
Optimising Server Performance Using Player Limits
- Sea of Thieves servers are now able to optimise performance by enforcing limits on the number of players on a server. This approach allows servers to maintain an ideal number of ships to ensure encounter rates between crews remains high without negatively affecting performance.
- With January’s update, all servers return to supporting six crews, but now also enforce a limit of 16 players. When starting a session or migrating, servers will now actively matchmake six crews of different sizes in order to meet both the six-crew and 16-player limits..
- The team will continue to monitor server performance following launch and adjust the player limit outside the update process to optimise the experience.
Loot Haul Memory Controls
- When notable hauls of different loot items are gathered in a single place, the game will reach a threshold where it will optimise performance by changing the appearance of some items. Players on PC will now have the ability to configure how much system memory can be allocated to these loot hauls, ensuring higher-spec rigs can show a wider range of treasure.
Fixed Issues
Gameplay
- Achievements have now been re-enabled, allowing all previously earned achievements to be granted when players next log in to the game.
- Shots fired from the Royal Revenge Pistol now more accurately land in line with the barrel of the gun.
- Players attempting to glitch through a ship’s hull from the water will now be safe-teleported away from the ship.
- Jumping while attempting to reload a ranged weapon from an Ammo Crate will no longer cause the weapon to subsequently fail to reload, and will also no longer prevent players from eating food.
- After equipping the Party Boat Cannons on a Brigantine, players fired from the cannons should now travel in the intended direction.
- Using a heavy sword strike while standing on a ship’s harpoon should no longer cause the player to gain extra range on their jump.
- When browsing a barrel or crate with mouse and keyboard, moving the mouse quickly between the crate and inventory should no longer cause the crate to lose mouse focus and become unresponsive.
- When a Rowboat’s storage chest is emptied, the tooltip now updates to show ‘Empty’ without needing to open it.
- The Legend of Buried Treasures Commendation should now unlock upon completing all other associated Commendations.
- Crews will no longer be awarded the Gunpowder, Treason and Plot Commendation after setting their ship on fire, and instead will need to complete the required criteria.
Megalodon Encounters
- When a Megalodon attacks a player’s ship, it should no longer intersect with the ship and cause it to be thrown into the air.
- Defeating a Megalodon when it is close to a ship should no longer cause the ship to be thrown into the air.
- Upon encountering a Megalodon, it should no longer become stuck when following close behind a player’s ship and should change direction before attacking.
- Pursuing Megalodons should now navigate more smoothly around the rocky arches found out at sea.
Buried Treasure
- Burying a Broken Emissary Flag and digging it up will no longer cause it to lose its gold value when cashed in with The Reaper’s Bones.
- Digging up and quickly burying booby-trapped treasure should no longer cause any enemies to retreat back into the sand.
- Taking items from a Collector's Chest while holding a Map Bundle should no longer cause the item to disappear.
- Crews should no longer receive additional Renown for bringing treasure on board when retrieving, burying and digging up treasure multiple times.
- When attempting to bury something in the same spot as an already buried item, the tooltip shown while wielding a shovel will now inform players clearly that the item cannot be buried.
- Crews are no longer able to retrieve a buried treasure map from Quest Boards while in an Arena contest.
- Tall Tale items should now have appropriate pop-up notifications when buried or dug up.
- Buried treasure maps of The Sunken Grove should now be accurate and no longer show some areas of land as water.
- Players burying items within the Pirate Legend Hideout will no longer receive a treasure map.
Fireworks
- Fireworks should no longer work while in the Tunnels of the Damned, and any activated prior to entering will automatically be cancelled.
- A player’s first launched firework can now consistently be heard flying through the air.
Sitting and Sleeping
- Players sitting or sleeping can no longer avoid idle timers and should now be removed from the game after a period of inactivity.
- Players who are sleeping will now consistently take damage from ranged weapon fire.
- Some pirate body types should no longer find excessive clipping occurring when sitting in various locations.
- Ancient Spire and Plunder Outpost taverns should no longer have a sitting spot located in the floor.
- Rocks around a firepit on Cannon Cove should now have a sitting interaction.
- The first-person camera should no longer face the incorrect way when attaching to interactable objects after standing from a seated position.
- When sitting on the Captain’s chair on board a ship, switching to the third-person camera will now always move to an appropriate camera position even while the ship is moving.
- Sitting spots in the Tavern of the Damned no longer overlap with the ghosts of pirates in the tavern.
- Sitting spots at Hidden Spring Keep Fort now place the pirate correctly on the floor when viewed by others.
- Sitting in various locations like the end of the Brigantine bed and some benches found on Outposts should no longer cause the camera to move into an incorrect position.
Rats on Ships
- Rats should still be present on a ship with water in it even if the player leaves the ship and returns.
- When a Galleon’s lower and middle decks fill with water, rats will now be seen using the stairs to evacuate to the top deck more clearly.
Tunnels of the Damned
- Players should no longer be able to interact with a docked Cannon Rowboat while travelling through the Tunnels of the Damned.
- Players can now freely move emote and sitting cameras without being affected by invisible walls while travelling through the Tunnels of the Damned.
- After passing through the Tunnels of the Damned, players performing their first emote will continue to see themselves clearly when adjusting the view.
Sunken Kingdom
- Players should still be able to open the Captain's quarters from a Lost Shipments Voyage shipwreck after storing the key in a Sunken Merfolk Statue.
- In Siren Treasuries, the Vault Master should no longer reappear after it is defeated should the player subsequently be killed and return from the Ferry of the Damned.
- After completing a Siren Treasury and returning to restart the encounter, crews will no longer find the Vault Master appears prior to the final wave.
- Shrine of Ancient Tears – Areas within the Shrine should now load correctly, no longer causing sections to quickly flash.
- Shrine of Ancient Tears – Cursed Voyage items can no longer be dropped onto coral, making them inaccessible.
- Shrine of Ocean’s Fortune – Treasure retrieved from the Sunken Merfolk Statue near the top of the Shrine should no longer cause items to float off the edge of the platform.
Tall Tales
- Rowboats can no longer be pushed into the Castaway’s hut.
- Ammo pouches on a harpoon should no longer be carried through the Tunnel of the Damned.
- ‘Shores of Gold’ – Killing the Gold Hoarder without entering the final room should no longer cause another to appear on the throne.
- ‘The Sunken Pearl’ – Visual effects should no longer be missing from the smaller air-giving plants.
- ‘The Sunken Pearl’ – Players should now get a notification in the correct language informing them when they have failed the Silver Blade battle.
- ‘Captains of the Damned’ – Braziers can now more clearly be seen from the watchtower at all graphics quality settings.
- ‘Captains of the Damned’ – The rock formation in the bayou should now have the correct collision and players should no longer be able to walk in the air.
- ‘Captains of the Damned’ – Cancelling the Tale after the exit portal to the Tunnels of the Damned has been summoned will now move players through the portal and back to the Sea of Thieves.
- ‘Captains of the Damned’ – Players should no longer respawn back in the Pirate Legend Hideout during the Tale if they started the Tale while inside the Hideout.
Player Input Handling
- Further improvements to the responsiveness of radial menus on lower-spec hardware.
- Rebinding sprint controls to the right analogue stick no longer requires players to hold the stick down instead of just clicking.
Environment
- Improved player collision with the geometry around the tables at the top of the Sea Dog Tavern in Adventure.
- Upon reaching the Ferry of the Damned after drowning, the Well of Fates correctly shows that no Flame of Fate can be acquired.
- The Well of Fates on the Ferry of the Damned now has appropriate tooltips telling players that they need to raise their lantern to collect a Flame of Fate.
- Players are once again able to read Grace’s Journal when discovered on Ashen Reaches.
- The ship’s map of Thieves’ Haven now shows the location of the newly added platforms.
- Players should no longer be safe-teleported when firing themselves out of the cannon on the northern shore of Devil's Ridge.
- On Shark Bait Cove, players should no longer be launched into the air when passing between two rocks on south-eastern side of the Island.
Visual and Audio
- When performing the Sand Angel Emote on a moving ship, the sand visual effects will no longer trail behind the player.
- When players attack various surfaces with a sword, other players will now see and hear the intended visual and audio effects.
- Throwing water at another player on a moving ship should now show the water effects behaving correctly.
- When players stop rowing and set down the oars, the audio effect will no longer play for longer than intended.
- The Tattoo of Ancient Gold now appears correctly on a range of large pirate body shapes.
- Players standing next to a fire on board their ship will no longer see an extended distance through a fog bank.
- The Old Boar Firework now has appropriate audio effects when fired.
- The Curse of Sunken Sorrow is now displayed correctly when players are wearing a range of Admiral shirts.
- When performing the Coin Toss Emote with a hook equipped, the coin now correctly rests on the hook.
- Some pirate body types should no longer be shown with disconnected limbs when viewed from a distance while wearing items from the Bell Brigade, Midnight Blades or Party Boat clothing sets.
- Players should now be able to see the visual effects when another player hits the wood placed in a campfire.
- When returning to a ship from the Ferry of the Damned, the ropes holding a docked Rowboat should now be shown correctly.
- Players will now hear appropriate audio effects when digging up artefacts and Ashen Winds Skulls.
- Aiming down sights with the Victorious Sea Dog Blunderbuss should no longer clip through the camera.
Accessibility
- When using ‘Let Games Read to Me’ alongside ‘Narrate Changes Only’, adjusting sliders within the Settings menu will now narrate the full value when stopping.
- Improvements to font sizing and line spacing within the Custom Server Create Session screens to improve readability.
- When using ‘Let Games Read to Me’, navigating the Settings menu using both mouse and controller should no longer incorrectly identify controller movements as a mouse hover.
Text and Localisation
- Long item names should now appear correctly formatted when using pirate phrases.
Performance and Stability
- The systems which load and manage audio across the game have now been optimised, providing a sizeable improvement to memory usage on PC.
- Following audio memory optimisations, older consoles and lower-spec hardware should no longer experience scenarios where sounds may fail to play on cue due to low audio memory.
- Client stability has been improved, reducing scenarios where the game hangs during active gameplay.
- Optimisations made to how emergent island threats move and attack, improving responsiveness and server performance.
- Improved handling of music within Siren Treasuries to improve server performance.
- Improved server stability when players are transferring items from storage crates while exiting the game.
- Improved server stability when multiple players are interacting with Quest Boards at Outposts.
Known Issues
Ranged and Melee Weapon Hit Detection
- In areas of intense action, players may find themselves firing shots or landing strikes that do not cause damage to their targets. While small improvements continue to be delivered during our regular updates, we are continuing to investigate and identify further improvements to the player combat experience.
To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our Known Issues support site article.
Download and Installation
Download size:
Steam: 6.77 GB