Sea of Thieves has been sailing comfortably since the Anniversary Update earlier this year, and Rare has just brought aboard an explosive new set of ways to earn gold and reputation. The addition of black powder stashes open up a range of new voyage types, and the game’s gotten a range of accessibility features and balance tweaks to make your adventures a bit smoother.
Black powder runs will be offered up for doubloons among Duke’s Bilge Rat wares, and will direct you toward Skeleton Forts that are now packed with gunpowder and stronghold kegs – and the odd skeleton horde to fight. For an extra challenge, Reaper’s black powder runs will ask you to do the voyages with your Reaper’s Flag enabled, so other crews can target you and try to steal (or blow up) your goods.
As you’d expect, there are new commendations and ship cosmetics to earn as a result, and this update also makes it so black powder kegs can be sold to the Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, and Merchant Alliance. They can also be used to build reputation at the Mysterious Stranger for Athena’s Fortune.
You can see a bit of the black powder additions in action through the trailer below.
There are also a range of balance tweaks that you can see in the full patch notes, but the highlights include easier story bosses for mid-sized crews, easier-to-read encounters with the megalodon, and reduced durations for all of the cursed cannonballs.
On top of all that, Rare has also added a range of accessibility options, allowing players to customise how the game asks them to tap, hold, or toggle buttons.