Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2022

Is it March already? Time flies when you’re having fun, they say, and we did our best to whip up plenty of that for the Sea of Thieves faithful in February. Amongst other things we paved the way for all our pirates to explore ‘Shrouded Islands’, held a 24-hour charity stream as part of GameBlast ’22 and tackled some hard topics in the latest episode of the SoT Podcast. Yes, we did talk about hit reg – cue the gasps. So if you’re sitting comfortably, we shall begin with our rip-roaring retrospective of February’s fun!

Content Update

Obviously, the month’s main content update was designed to turn on the ethereal fog machine, put Flameheart back in his box, ring Belle’s bell and open up our first Adventure – ‘Shrouded Islands’. We’ve had a debrief with the Phantoms after the Adventure, and they’ve promised to calm it down a bit on the snoop shouting. A new Adventures page on the SoT site ushered in this latest era, as did our debut Adventures Ahead primer article written to set the scene. If you’re awaiting the next chapter in the unfolding story of Golden Sands Outpost, be sure to come back for ‘Forts of the Forgotten’ later in March!

Along with the thrill of Adventure, we had our usual freshening up of monthly stock in the Pirate Emporium – with the wider availability of the Jack O’ Looter cosmetics from the Season Four Plunder Pass, some truly Cutthroat weapons and outlandish Props Master emotes, among other things. As always, pirates with an eye for detail should head on over to the release notes for the blow-by-blow breakdown of February’s update, Adventure and everything else.

News and Features

While a cohort of pirate journalists were busy writing salacious stories about the ghostly haze covering islands, our own intrepid newshounds were out on the prowl for the biggest scoops this side of the Devil’s Shroud.

February update, new episode of Sea of Thieves News and a juicy podcast all in the space of a few days? Got it covered. More entries in our programme of enlightening Spotlights? Yep, in February it was the turn of Boatswain and Voyage-avoider DrBullhammer along with Aussie plunderer Micromads. Work also continued apace for our artisan headwear makers as eight more Hats of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame flew out of the doors and onto the heads of deserving pirates. We’ll have to branch out further in more haberdashery – we’d love a new set of gloves.

As we celebrated the Lunar New Year, pirates looking to show off their stripes (don’t groan, it’s a classic) could pick up special Year of the Tiger merch over on the Rare Store. We also announced the new Legendary Fortune weapons on the way in Season Six, filling out the suite of flashy Pirate Legend cosmetics following the closure of The Arena.

With Season Five Community Day firmly in the rear-view mirror and a certain jam-adjacent pirate back in his jar, we took the time to pore over all the community’s amazing creations on the day in a dedicated lookback article. There was no missing the chance to be all lovey-dovey on Valentine’s Day either, with a special round-up of romantic activities. The main draw this year was, of course, our rousing rendition of the crooner’s classic ‘It Had to Be You’, sung valiantly by our Senior Audio Director. Some people might prefer chocolates as a gift, but we politely beg to differ.

If you’re feeling up for a song yourself, why not join in with our segue anthem? All together now as we effortlessly transition to…

Videos and Streams

VIIIIIDEOS AND STREEEEEEAMS. You in the back row, a little flat on that last note – practise for next month. The pirate video shop was mighty busy in February, as we had podcasts, reveal trailers and newsreels in our ‘Coming Attractions’ section. For starters, following on from the cinematic trailer last month came a gameplay trailer for ‘Shrouded Islands’, offering a quick taste of the adventures you’d be having on this… Adventure.

After a brand new episode of SoT News which highlighted some of February’s main beats, we donned our flame-resistant suits and dived straight into the fires of controversy in the newest edition of the SoT Podcast. Hit reg, spawn camping, weapon balance – if someone’s written a long forum thread about it, we did our best to tackle it in this no-holds-barred discussion moderated by our very own Head of Community, Christina. One note for the next podcast – work on the winking.

If live video content is more your bag, February brought plenty of streaming action with three new episodes of The Gauntlet going live on SoT TV. Rather than Sea of Thieves Partners filling the hero role this time, it was the turn of actual Rare staff members to triumph over devious rivals and riddles. You bet we made the riddles extra tough, just to see if they really knew their stuff.

We also joined in on the GameBlast action at the end of the month, hosting a 24-hour charity livestream to help raise money for SpecialEffect. With a crew of Rare staff and SoT Partners giving it their best, we’re happy to say almost £10,000 was raised – thanks to all you generous souls! If you were tuning in to Twitch throughout February, you may also have also picked up more Twilight Hunter gear in our ongoing Twitch Drops campaign. Yes, there was a little snafu with the shirt, but the pirate costumier who caused the mix-up is now wearing nothing but a barrel as punishment for their crimes.

Social Channels

While parts of the Sea of Thieves were gripped in a ghostly haze, our social channels remained a shining beacon of quality content, freebies and maybe just one or two memes. One long-awaited nugget was that if you’re active in a local Sea of Thieves fan community, you might soon have a chance to earn the new Affiliate Alliance sails. On Valentine’s Day, we offered specially made artwork and a repurposed Quest Board for the pinning of pirate love notes. We also celebrated a newfound calm after the disappearance of a certain flaming head, taught everyone the difference between Belle, Bel and a bell, berated some rats, spared a thought for a poor soul left behind and revealed that the Soulflame Captain is actually a massive Sea of Thieves fan.

A steady port in any weather, our trio of regular hashtags kept up the interesting factoids, beautiful scenery and loot showcases to make you green with envy. #TriviaTuesday was naturally focused on facts surrounding ‘Shrouded Islands’, with info on Belle’s previous showings, Flameheart’s fleet and the Soulflame Captain, while #SoTGear invited admiration of items like the Legendary Treasure Seeker Costume and Jacket of the Damned.

As if we were advertising pirate pleasure cruises, February’s #SoTShot contest encouraged players to go see the sights of the Sea of Thieves, with views that would get anyone down to the travel agents post haste. But we’re swapping sun-drenched views for gloomy vistas in March’s competition, putting out a call for pictures of the best Misty Moments. Our #SundayVibes tag would be a good stop for inspiration, with February’s selections touring the fog-blanketed Golden Sands Outpost, Devil’s Ridge and Shipwreck Bay.

The temporal train is picking up speed now as we start to barrel through 2022! It’s going to be non-stop for the remainder of the year, so follow our social channels to avoid missing any precious crumbs of info. If you need reminding, you can find Sea of Thieves on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and the official Forums and Discord server. As we’ll be full of the joys of spring next month, you’ll have to find the next round-up by breaking open the various Easter eggs we’ve hidden around your house. Either that or we’ll hire a giant talking rabbit to read it to you.

Previously in 2022
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2022