Ashen Winds: Official Sea of Thieves Content Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdRRoXL8sD0
Lording It Up
July's update centres on the rise of the Ashen Lords: four of Flameheart's followers boosted by the blistering energy of the Ashen Curse, leaving them capable of causing huge destruction. These powerful skeletal foes have emerged across the Sea of Thieves and will strike back with fire, ash and flaming rocks at any pirates who dare to challenge them. The Ashen Lords have distinct personalities and different abilities to anything else seen on the seas, so seafarers must stay sharp at all times to ensure their defeat.
These emergent enemies will appear on islands indicated on the horizon by a raging tornado cloud, and will remain on the Sea of Thieves as a permanent threat to pirates. The Ashen Lords' fires are far from burning out, and their hot-headed ways are set to rain fiery terror down on players for months to come!
All the Hot Gossip
In combat, an Ashen Lord can spit flame at its opponents – but even after defeat, it's rumoured that the Ashen Winds Skull left behind is potent enough to use as a deadly weapon. Take the cursed cranium and aim it at your enemies to use its fire for your own purposes, but be warned: constant use will drain its power, and reduce its substantial value to the Order of Souls. So if it's the gold and reputation you're after, a little restraint will go a long way. If not... fire at will!
Accessibility Additions
In a continued push to open the seas to everyone, more accessibility options are being added to Sea of Thieves this month. The most notable is support for play with a single analogue stick, where players can opt to, well, play with just a single analogue stick. All ship, pirate and menu controls are moved to your stick of choice, allowing anyone not comfortable with a traditional controller to reduce the number of held inputs required to set sail.
In addition there's a new auto-centering camera option that ensures it always tends towards the horizon, and an auto-float mode to keep pirates with a dislike of the watery depths bobbing on the surface in a virtual lifejacket. With the number of options in the menu, there's also a handy button to reset all accessibility options to their default state.
Pirate Emporium Scorchers
Ashen Curse pets are sizzling onto the scene with July's update, and these charmingly charred critters are joined in the Emporium by new roleplay emotes for your pirates, based on the mannerisms of some of your favourite Sea of Thieves characters. If you've ever wanted to prop up the bar just like Duke or delve deeper into roleplaying as a Trading Company Emissary, you're in luck.
Meanwhile, if you've been hankering to dress your four-legged friend in something that reminds you of your many-tentacled enemies, look no further: Kraken cat outfits have reached the Emporium, so your cute kitty can trot about in a dapper new outfit inspired by a terrible behemoth!
There's also a sale coming to the ship livery aisle of the Pirate Emporium, with a range of Rare-inspired ship bundles (paying tribute to games as diverse as Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Piñata and Perfect Dark) getting a sweet 35% discount to mark Rare's 35th anniversary. Check out the Pirate Emporium page for all your window shopping needs.
Find Out More
For more information on the Ashen Winds update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. The update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Xbox One, on Windows 10 PC or via Steam, or players who have access to it with Xbox Game Pass. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access.
New to Sea of Thieves? Join the fun with our Maiden Voyage, a narrative-driven tutorial experience separate from Adventure and Arena modes. New Sea of Thieves players will begin their travels within this scenario, which provides guidance and information to fledgling sailors.
To see everything that's been added to Sea of Thieves since launch, head to the official What's New page.
Links
Sea of Thieves website: https://www.seaofthieves.com
Sea of Thieves Forums: https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum
Sea of Thieves on Discord: https://discord.gg/seaofthieves
Sea of Thieves on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeaOfThieves
Sea of Thieves on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeaOfThievesGame
Sea of Thieves on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SeaofThieves
Sea of Thieves on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/SeaofThieves
About Sea of Thieves
A pirate-themed shared world adventure game, Sea of Thieves is available now on Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and Game Pass, with enhanced features on Xbox One X. It offers an unforgettable pirate experience, packed to the seams with sailing and exploring, fighting and plundering, riddle solving and treasure hunting – everything you need to live the pirate life you've always dreamed about. You have complete freedom to approach the world, and other players, however you choose.
Released in March 2018, boosted by 2019's game-changing Anniversary Update and constantly supported with new free content, Sea of Thieves is a Play Anywhere title and offers cross play between Xbox One and Windows 10 PC players. It arrived on Steam in June 2020.
About Rare
UK-based developer Rare has been making golden memories and redefining gaming genres since 1985, and exclusively on Microsoft platforms since joining Microsoft Studios in 2002. Following an opportunity to celebrate its heritage with the Rare Replay anniversary collection in 2015, the studio has been forging ahead with shared world adventures in Sea of Thieves and is simultaneously building a brand new experience in Everwild, revealed at X019 in London.
Contact
For all PR inquiries: xboxpress@assemblyinc.com