Sea of Thieves Season Ten Brings Cooperation, Competitive Voyages, and Safer Seas

Sea of Thieves players are getting their first look at the much-anticipated Season Ten this week, with a new video showcasing Rare’s plans for this ambitious ‘Super Season’. With Season Ten due for release on October 19, this content breakdown offers an early opportunity to find out what new features you can expect to be enjoying later this year and when each update is scheduled to arrive!

Shared Progression

Unlike former Seasons, the content for Season Ten will be released in instalments over several months. First up is the introduction of a new way to play and share progress with your friends: Guilds. Launching alongside the new Season on October 19, this progression system is designed to help players form meaningful bonds beyond their immediate crew and unlock a series of rewards along the way.

Once a Guild has been formed by a Captain pledging an owned ship, up to 24 players can team up to work towards shared goals. Members of a Guild will be able to sail on other players’ pledged ships, complete with all their chosen cosmetics, and progress their Ship Milestones even when the vessel’s owner is offline. By doing so, they’ll help to contribute to the shared Guild Reputation and unlock brand new cosmetics for all their Guildmates to enjoy.

With customizable names, branding, and mottos, Guilds can be personalized to reflect their members and bring everyone together under the same banner. Through the new system, pirates will be able to more fully express themselves and their play styles, and create a much broader network of friends than has previously been possible with the standard four-person crew system.

Competitive Questing

The second major Season Ten update is also intended to bring players together, though in a slightly less collaborative manner! A new type of world event is set to arrive in November, as strange ghostly notes start appearing pinned to ships’ masts with directions for locating and retrieving a valuable new artefact known as the Skull of Siren Song.

There’s a catch, though: this unique Voyage is offered to all players sailing the seas simultaneously. All crews who accept it will share the same treasure maps, pointing them to the same chest and key necessary to claim the Skull. Being the first to reach a dig spot will leave you in possession of one of the two components, but it’s useless without the other half and as soon as you dig it up, it’ll emit a beacon for all other crews to see and give chase. Claim both chest and key for yourself, however, and you’ll be rewarded with this powerful ancient artefact.

Challenging as it might be, unlocking the chest and getting the Skull is only the first part of the battle. Once aboard, the Skull will place a curse on your ship to reduce its sailing speed, giving those enemy crews time to catch up and try to claim the prize for themselves. If you want to the be the one handing it in and walking away with the gold – and the glory – then you and your crew will need to man those cannons and battle your way back to land!

A New Way to Play

Just as we hope that the Skull of Siren Song will encourage competitive play, we recognize that for some players, a quieter, more independent experience can be preferable. That’s why, in December, Season Ten’s third major feature will introduce an entirely new game mode that grants players the ability to sail the Sea of Thieves alone or with a crew of friends, within their own private game session.

Safer Seas is intended to offer a gentler introduction to Sea of Thieves for new players, as well as providing a quieter map for existing players looking to pursue their own solo adventures. If you’re hoping to get some peaceful fishing done, or complete a few Tall Tales without interference, Safer Seas is the perfect choice. All applicable Commendations can be progressed in this game mode, so there’s a lot to work towards without needing to keep an eye on the horizon for enemy players.

At the same time, the reduced risks of Safer Seas mean that the rewards you can earn will be correspondingly decreased from the main game mode, which will become known as High Seas. Trading Companies will offer less gold and reputation for treasures handed in (although Seasonal Renown will be granted as normal), and the rank 40 cap means that Pirate Legend status cannot be attained while in Safer Seas, nor can Voyages on behalf of the Athena’s Fortune Trading Company be undertaken. Some other challenging and PvP-focused aspects of the game will also be out of reach, such as The Reaper’s Bones, the Emissary system and Faction battles.

While High Seas will remain the primary and most aspirational way to play Sea of Thieves, Safer Seas offers a complimentary way to explore and learn more about the pirate life in a more predictable environment. Our hope is that this broadens Sea of Thieves’ appeal and encourages ever more players to find their sea legs, before graduating to the High Seas and proving themselves as Pirate Legends!

Find Out More

For more information on the upcoming changes arriving in Season Ten, check out the full preview video on YouTube and keep an eye on Sea of Thieves social channels for future news. Season Ten begins on October 19 and will be free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10/11 PC or via Steam, or have access to it with Xbox Game Pass.

New to Sea of Thieves? Find out about the latest free content updates on our What’s New page, get familiar with Who’s Who or pick up some gameplay tips from our Pirate Academy, which provides invaluable information on topics ranging from sailing to swordplay as you prepare for your maiden voyage. Learn more about Sea of Thieves here, or join the ongoing adventure at www.seaofthieves.com where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

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