Season 12 is upon us at last! Bringing with it a wealth of new tools, our latest content update promises more ways to play than ever before. Looking for a new loadout? Two more weapons have been added to the Armoury to expand your options. Still not got the hang of boarding enemy ships? With the ability to run across harpoon lines, you’ll be hopping from deck to deck in no time. Alongside a host of other major and minor changes, Season 12 rewrites the rules of engagement on the Sea of Thieves.
Arriving with a bang on April 30th, this new Season follows in the footsteps of those before and includes another 100 levels of Renown to be climbed, with all the earnable cosmetics, gold, Doubloons and Ancient Coins that entails. As always, this release is free for all players – just make sure your game is fully updated on the platform of your choosing and you’ll be ready to set sail.
The central focus of Season 12 is expanding the tools at your disposal to make sure you can always be exactly the type of pirate you want to be, no matter what that looks like. To make that happen, we started with the cornerstone of all pirates’ day-to-day lives: combat. For the first time since launch, two new weapons have been added to your Armoury, offering brand new alternatives for approaching the likes of skeletons, Sirens, Ocean Crawlers and, of course, enemy crews.
The first of these incoming armaments is the Double Barrel Pistol, a variant on the existing pistol that, as the name implies, has the capacity to fire twice before each reload – or, if you’re very sure of your aim, you can unleash both bullets together in one charged shot.
The second is a slightly more hands-on, but no less deadly alternative: throwing knives! These compact blades can be used for light and heavy melee attacks if you get in close to your opponent, or hurled from afar if you’d rather keep your distance.
And, unlike misfiring one of your guns, a poorly aimed throwing knife isn’t wasted – instead, it will lodge itself into whatever it hits, ready to be picked up and rethrown. Just try to remember where they landed; there’s nothing stopping your opponent from taking that knife and throwing it back, after all…
Of course, combat isn’t just about the weapons in your hand, but the friends by your side! With the mystical Bone Caller, even pirates who prefer to sail solo will be able to call for aid and summon skeletons to fight beside them. For a time, at least. Skeletons aren’t known for their strong work ethic, you know.
It’s not only face-to-face battles getting a refresh either. The addition of scattershot adds a new twist to cannonball combat, inflicting multiple breaches on any ship it hits at the cost of reduced firing distance. At the same time, novel rope technology now enables pirates to hop onto their harpoon lines and dash across them to enemy ships in a high-risk, high-reward boarding strategy. As long as you can keep your balance!
All these new additions are accompanied by a wealth of other changes to your gameplay experience, including the installation of handy ziplines to add some spice and speed to island traversal, and the Horn of Fair Winds – an artefact that provides many perks from filling your sails and boosting your swimming speed to rebuffing enemies and putting out fires. There’s never been greater flexibility to establish your own personal approach to the pirate life!
As always, the latest update doesn’t just introduce gameplay changes but new cosmetics too! The new Season brings a fresh Plunder Pass, for determined players to unlock the myth-inspired Gorgon ship collection, Headband and two-stage Stone Curse.
Meanwhile, pirates with an eye for strategy – or just big, big fans of monochromatic fashion – will enjoy browsing the Checkmate ship set, weapons and clothing, while jellyfish enthusiasts should be delighted by the return of the Sting Tide collection from a previous Plunder Pass. And did someone say owls? Surely not the new owl pets we’ve been promising for ages? That’s right, owls are here at last, a choice of five from Barn Owl through to Black Banded Owl!
The arrival of Season 12 isn’t all about the new content – it also sees a new wave of players sailing in on PlayStation®5. While some were able to join us for the Closed Beta earlier in the month, and those who purchased the Premium Edition have been able to explore Early Access over the last five days, today’s update opens the floodgates for all pirates on PS5® to set out onto the seas.
A hearty welcome to all newcomers! To help celebrate the launch, players on all platforms who join us throughout Season 12 will receive the wonderfully symbolic New Dawn Sails. Fly them with pride! This new era for Sea of Thieves also had us contemplating our existing game trailers and deciding that now would be the perfect time for a refresh…
If you want to know more about any of the changes arriving with Season 12 – as well as those that we delivered last week as part of PS5® Early Access – be sure to check out our latest release notes. Otherwise, a new Season awaits! Get out there and enjoy it!
