Sea of Thieves looks like the ultimate pirate simulator.
For Microsoft’s press briefing this morning ahead of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, the Rare development studio showed a new gameplay trailer for its secretive pirate-themed adventure game (coming to both Xbox One and PC). In the clip, the developer (best known for games like Banjo-Kazooie and Battletoads), invited its community members to play an early version of Sea of Thieves. They were laughing and yelling at each other as they tried to figure out how to use a boat, got drunk on grog, and battled each other on the open sea.
Rare studio head Craig Duncan took the stage and said Sea of Thieves offers an “emergent experience with limitless adventures.” Players will explore rich worlds and fight fantastic creatures. Duncan didn’t mention a release date. He first revealed Sea of Thieves at last year’s Microsoft E3 showing with a brief teaser trailer.
Microsoft acquired the beloved studio in 2002. Rare celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2015 by releasing Rare Replay for Xbox One, which featured an extensive collection of Rare-made games (including titles that originally appeared on the Nintendo 64 and Xbox 360 consoles).