After playing the closed beta of Rare's Sea of Thieves, Tyler and I put together a wishlist of what we hoped we might see in the open world multiplayer pirate game. Rather than just hoping and guessing, a redditor named m4rx did some actual digging around in the game files and extracted a bit of information. While m4rx hasn't been able to decrypt the actual assets yet, the resulting post appears to confirm some elements we saw in the Sea of Thieves 'Pirate Legend' video and reveals a few new ones.
Let's begin with the Kraken because it sounds the coolest. In the extracted game files, under the heading 'Prototype', there is a list of animations (also prototype) for the Kraken including holding the player (presumably in its tentacles), ingesting the player, 'spitplayer' (presumably spitting them out, not necessarily spitting on them), and something called 'waterdunk' which is presumably just what it sounds like. There are also several animations related to sucking something, which we'll also guess is the Kraken sucking the players into its mouth. Or using it's suction-cupped tentacles. Or something. Have a look below:
Ship customization is also detailed a bit, and the files indicate you'll be able to customize the cannons, the capstan (the apparatus that lets you haul in your anchor), livery, mast, and captain's wheel. Also, under 'Ship Misc', a harpoon gun is listed, which is exciting and could be used for hunting sharks, fighting the aforementioned Kraken, or perhaps attaching boats together during a battle and pulling barrels out of the water. Or, just plain spearing other pirates for fun.
Also of note: mermaids, which appear in the beta when your ship sinks (or you fall off and drift far enough away) to spirit you back to your friends or a new ship, is apparently listed as en enemy along with the Kraken and skeletons. And, when it comes to food, coconuts, pineapples, and pomegranates will be joining the noble banana.
Of course, none if this is necessarily in the final game, and the list doesn't necessarily represent the full contents of the final game. But it does give us a general idea of what to expect.
The closed beta for Sea of Thieves has been extended for two extra days and will now end on Wednesday, January 31. There's no Kraken, but we've been having fun anyway.
