The shared-world adventure Sea of Thieves has been out for a week drawing an insane amount of treasure hunters and adventurers looking to take to the open waters. The game does not hold any hands and figuring out what to do can be a little bit of a challenge at first, including sailing with fellow comrades. This guide is here to help new scallywags begin their pirate experience by learning how to become legends on the open sea.

To start, the shared world of the game is one of freedom. The freedom to explore islands, shipwrecks, and skeleton-patrolled outposts. The freedom to hunt other player-controlled vessels and taking their plunder, or even the freedom to satisfy the requests of traders at your leisure, all the while protecting your haul from would-be thieves. Unfortunately, because of the vast amount of freedom within the game there isn’t much that tells the player what you actually do. Also due to the game’s intentionally simplistic nature, some may find it frustrating for the lack of goal and direction. That’s where we come in.

While there are no “quests” per say, the game offers a pirate experience through Voyages players can choose and embark upon. These are located at each of the three vendors found within the game. These will allow players to sail out to designated locations in search for treasures and various goods which can be turned in for gold, the player’s only source of income. First, you’ll will need to find them somewhere on the island you spawn on. Thankfully, they’re all located nearby:

• Gold Hoarders
  • The Gold Hoarders send players out to collect treasure chests which can be found through a riddle or map with an X that marks the proper spot to dig
• Order of Souls
  • The Order of Souls tasks players with locating and destroying skeleton Captains for their skulls
• Merchants Alliance
  • The Merchants Alliance requests that players source and deliver goods found throughout the Sea of Thieves such as pigs, snakes, chickens and more

Once you’ve picked up three voyages, it’s time to start your adventure. Just because you have these requests from the various trading companies doesn’t mean it’s active yet. To get started on a voyage, you’ll will need to head to your ship where you’ll be able to find a table to vote for the voyage to begin. There are two main types of ships at this time, here’s where to find your map:

• Sloops,
  • Located on the right-hand side as you enter the middle deck
• Galleons
  • Located within the Captain’s Quarters.

After proposing and voting a voyage, players can then begin to set sail for their agreed-upon destination and the pirate experience can be seen in full.

Sailing takes a lot of work, the less people in your crew the more work you’ll have to do. To get the full pirate experience, players would do well to pick roles on board the ships to make sailing efficient and easy. From working the sails, to navigating, or even steering the ship – without proper teamwork the ship is sure to sink before you know it.

As you’re exploring and collecting grandiose hauls of loot it’s important to note that until you return to the Outposts located throughout the world, any other vessel controlled by other players can choose to attack you for that loot. You’ll be able to see a ghostly green name above your crew indicating they’re friendly, while white indicates another player who may or may not be dangerous. In this type of game, it’s safe to just assume everyone is after your cargo and taking down your ship.

Players aren’t the only danger out there on the open water. Skeletons can be found throughout the many islands in the game including Skeleton fortresses, which are indicated by a glowing skull cloud in the sky. There are a few variants of skeletons and knowing which is which can be a powerful tool in eliminating them.

• Normal Skeletons, or Blue Skellies, are the standard and most common skeleton variant
  • they wear blue bandannas or eye patches indicating how tough they are
• Treasure Skeletons, or Gold Skellies
  • Covered in golden treasures make them tough to kill.
    • Weakness: Water
• Ghost Skeletons, or Spooks
  • Most powerful in the dark
    • Weakness: Light
• Plant Skeletons, or Flowers
  • Appear as regular skeletons with an overgrowth of flowers covering them.
    • Weakness: Land

With any luck, hopefully that will help you get started on your own pirate experience. For additional bonus tips, be sure to check the Outpost locations for some quick and easy resources such as bananas, canon balls, and wood planks which will be crucial on your journey. Learning sailing lingo isn’t necessary, but it is a lot of fun and more immersive to be able to shout out sailing terms such as Port, Starboard, Bow, and more. Is that necessary? No, but it is a blast and keeps the experience true.

Sea of Thieves is available exclusively on PC and Xbox One. The game also supports cross platform play giving players plenty of options to team up with friends. Interested in checking out more? You can see live footage of a few of the DFTG team getting down on this online title over on our Twitch channel here.

Let us know some of your favorite pirate experiences so far in the comment section below! As always, don’t forget to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter for 24/7 coverage of all things gaming and entertainment.

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