Content Update
While the main content update of the month was still sneaking over the horizon – as much as an enormous, flaming warship can sneak, anyway – we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the camaraderie that makes this community what it is. To that end, the Flags of Friendship Event set out to reward players forming Alliances with an exclusive tattoo and tankard, as well as increased profits from any loot your allies sold.
Captain Flameheart’s grand return couldn’t be put off for long, however. With all the subtlety you’d expect from an infamous pirate skeleton, the legend himself made his reappearance with the launch of Season 13, bringing with him a newly rebuilt warship to outmatch anything else sailing on the Sea of Thieves.
Not only that, his loyal followers had been hard at work unearthing Ancient Temples across the map to steal the secret knowledge trapped within, setting up Skeleton Camps to protect their efforts. If you want to read up on the decidedly less secret knowledge of everything that’s new, changed and improved in Season 13, be sure to stop by the release notes, as always.
[previewyoutube=aVJxGzACJy4;full][/previewyoutube]
News and Features
Over on the News page, the main event was of course the launch day rundown of everything you could expect from the minty-fresh new Season. Before that, we’d kicked off the month in style – Style of Thieves, that is! Season 12’s themes were revealed on the very first day of July, so that pirates had as much time as possible to get their fiercest fashions ready. You can’t rush perfection.
In Spotlight news, we stopped by another fresh Stream Team member after Div_And_Inc’s prior instalment, this time in the form of another familiar face to many: Gosfather! If you’re looking for tips on how to create content yourself or help to lift up other content creators if you’re already in the business, his interview is a great place to start.
Then, fast forwarding to the end of the month, we closed things out with a topic near and dear to our hearts here at Rare: Disability Pride Month. Accessibility is a major part of everything we do in Sea of Thieves, so spare a few minutes for a glimpse behind the curtain at some of the work that goes into making the seas a welcoming place for all!
Videos and Streams
With the inevitability of all regularly scheduled programming, the first video we released in July was a fresh instalment of Sea of Thieves News. As you might expect, most of the episode was dedicated to highlights of the imminent Season 13, but it also discussed the importance of the Pirate Emporium, changes to certain in-game sounds and how Bone Caller Skeletons react to tucked players. Drew even revealed that pirates would be able to sprint while holding the Blade of Souls, proving once and for all that pirates aren’t caught up on basic classroom safety.
Before we got to Season 13, however, we realised that some pirates may not be all that familiar with Captain Flameheart, especially if they hadn’t been sailing long enough to remember his angry floating head days. To ensure everyone was up to speed before pledging themselves to fight in his name, our Video team helpfully provided a whistle-stop tour of his dastardly deeds to date.
And then it was finally time for the man himself to make his return! As always, a new Season meant a new launch trailer and an expanded content update video to explain everything you can do with the fearsome Burning Blade. There was even a 40-second summary for anyone who really couldn’t wait to get sailing and an epic soundtrack addition to get everyone in the fighting spirit.
[previewyoutube=ATL_J3wQFGU;full][/previewyoutube]
Social Channels
July was a big month for the community, with not one but two community-organised meetups taking place! Here in the UK, SoTFest had pirates descending on Walsall for a weekend, while across the pond we saw sailors gather in Ohio for Fest of Legends. Here at Rare, we were handing out glorious hats for a new round of Community Hub submissions, while the aforementioned Style of Thieves competition saw the best-dressed pirates walking away with snazzy new gloves. There was even a Movie Moments round of #SoTShot for all the budding photographers out there…
All that wonderful player creativity inspired us to undertake some creation of our own, but we quickly realised that we were better off delegating the important decisions. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for us to get distracted by the most important sporting event of the year and some fishy festivities to go along with it.
By the time the Burning Blade AKA Big Ship made its debut, we were more than ready to celebrate all the new game additions and changes, no matter how small. Even if the celebrations got a little… weird. Frankly, we’ve found it’s best not to ask. The last leg of the month was spent revelling in watching everyone experiencing Season 13 while throwing around free gold, identifying S-Tier unlocks and shrugging off the odd minor mishap.
And that, dear readers, was July. It was a hectic month with many moving parts, but well worth it to see everyone ultimately enjoying Season 13. And while you continue to do that, we’ll call time on another round-up! Until the next one, find us in all the usual places on Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, or via the official Forums and Discord. Let the Flame burn! Unless, you know, you’d rather it didn’t. That’s valid too.
Previously in 2024:
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: June 2024
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2024
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2024
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2024
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2024
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2024
