Merrick will offer a set of ship customizations including a figurehead, sails, and hull paint, along with a sharky drum and speaking horn. Merrick's shark-themed exclusives aren't the only time-limited rewards, however. The Hungering Deep will also have the Hungering Tattoo Set and some shark-bite scars made available for purchase in-game. And of course, if customizations are your pirate's fancy, there's likely more to c

I think we're only ever likely to cover a few months ahead to maintain mystery (so you can be surprised and delighted) and Read Home Page so we can be reactive. Things will change as Sea of Thieves evolves. We want to have the time to reveal what the features mean for players before we put them in their hands. We've taken a show not tell policy for the entire project so far and we're committed to t

Rare is well known for slipping Easter eggs into their games and Sea of Thieves is extreme in this regard. But now some of those Easter Eggs seem more like event foreshadowing. Several references to Banjo-Kazooie lie hidden among the islands of Sea of Thieves , but one island in particular is now drawing attention. On Plunder island, several references to Banjo-Kazooie are found -- a painting of a series of feathers, references to a Phoenix, giant statues of birds, and most important of all, a large painting of a very big bear with a red bird flying overh

Now, gamers everywhere have all kinds of mixed feelings about Sea of Thieves . The winning premise— piratical PvP? Sure as heckles don’t mind if we do— was let down by some unfortunate decisions on Rare’s part, and an egregious lack of content in the early days. If Street Fighter V taught us anything, though, it’s that you can release a game and then add the actual game to it later, via upda

Unsurprisingly, it's starting to look like Rare might feel the same way. Sea of Thieves ' first Bilge Rat Adventure, the Skeleton Thrones, will be ending on June 26. Another event is expected to pick up the same day, though Rare has yet to announce what it may be. Rare will have every opportunity to launch a Banjo-Kazooie event in Sea of Thieves , so long as they've planned ahead and laid out preparations. And at this point, most Sea of Thieves players will say, "A

Still, there's something that lacks within the library when compared to competitors' critical darlings like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn . Indeed, it appears as if the competition has a stranglehold on triple-A exclusive games, and in that light, Xbox's titles are lacking when placed head-to-head against the barrage of titles coming from Nintendo and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Admittedly, games like Sea of Thieves and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds have managed to garner significant player counts within their first few weeks of availability, and that's great news for the firm. But the long-term appeal of these games remains to be seen, and the initial quality is far removed from that of the immediate competitio

Fans of Rare are excitedly awaiting the anniversary of what might be the studio's most iconic franchise, Banjo-Kazooie . Originally launching on Nintendo 64 in 1998, June 29 will mark the 20th anniversary of the hugely popular 3D platforming game. Fans will be absolutely celebrating, but the question is whether Rare will be too, and what the studio has planned. Players of Rare's newest game, Sea of Thieves , think they might have an idea what's in st

In addition to the new region itself, Forsaken Shores brings a plethora of other interesting elements to gameplay. Rowboats are also new. You can find them washed up on beaches, claim them for your own, and sneak around largely unseen. As Destructoid reports, the uses of this in PvP are going to be as devious as they are hilari

To be fair, there's no overt evidence that Rare is planning a Banjo-Kazooie event for Sea of Thieves , only circumstantial evidence. Rare could end up doing nothing of the sort, Rare could just release a figurehead to pick up in-game without an event for it, or Rare could do something even crazier. Time will tell, but knowing Rare's love of its history (and fans' love too) don't be surprised to find a certain bear and bird celebrating their 20th anniversary in st

With little time left in 2018, Rare is already preparing for next year, beginning with a new PVP mode called The Arena . There is no release date as of yet, but players should expect it to launch early in 2019. According to Polygon , The Arena is not a Battle Royale mode, although the game mode will allow players to compete with one another quickly. The Arena will pit gamers against one another in a search for treasure. The new PVP mode will include a new tavern and a new trading company, The Sea Dogs, who will face off against the players as w

Sea of Thieves launched in March earlier this year and has exceeded Microsoft's expectations. Rare has since run its first major post-launch event, The Hungering Deep, and just yesterday Rare started the first of what it calls "Bilge Rat Adventures," which are smaller scale events that will fill in the weeks between major content releases. Rare's firing on all cylinders, and the studio seems like it's in its best condition in a decade -- it's the perfect time to throw a celebrat