Sea of Thieves Season 11: Everything We Know

Rare Games' aquatic MMORPG Sea of Thieves is on the verge of receiving its newest installment—a brand-new DLC that will include vast new locations to pillage, quests to unravel, and fellow buccaneers to touch gloves with. That's right, the pirates of the seven seas are back for yet another adventure in Season 11, which means you'll need to wipe away those droplets of blood from your sword, bang a couple of boards on that ever-ungrateful vessel of yours, and prepare to set a course for a new horizon. Sea of Thieves is back, and its pockets are teeming with spoils from vast new waters.

So, what's new in Sea of Thieves? Will there be another chain of Tall Tales to embark on? Are we likely to spot Captain Jack Sparrow on an even stranger tide during our travels? Here's everything we currently know about Season 11.

What Is Sea of Thieves Season 11?

Let's get straight down to it. What is Sea of Thieves, and how will Season 11 look to shake up the near-six-year-old formula? Well, for starters, the newest expansion will add ‘Diving'—a fast travel feature that will allow players to move between anchor points around the map, but at the cost of losing all of their acquired loot. Will this make for a solid addition to the core blueprint? Who knows. Either way, with the option to sift through potential PvP battles without onboarding any damage, it could be that those in dire need of some naval warfare will be left rather short-changed. Swings and roundabouts, folks.

Of course, Sea of Thieves will still retain the swashbuckling first-person blueprint that brought it to stardom back in 2018. With that said, a new season arriving does mean that there'll be a bit more content to eat up — particularly in the quests and cosmetics departments. Curious to know what else the latest installment will entail? Then let's press on.

Story

For those who have yet to enter the swashbuckling domain of Sea of Thieves, Season 11 will incorporate a Quest Table aboard each vessel—a go-to hub with which players can examine to load up on all of the available Tall Tales and extracurricular voyages around the map. With the Fast Travel feature also being introduced, this essentially means that players will be able to slip from port to port, quest to quest, without having to embark on drawn-out expeditions.

Like most of the expansions that have been introduced to the base game, Season 11 will make way for new voyages across the many, many Trading Companies. And with new revamps to the Trading Companies in hand, we can also expect to see plenty more loot, rewards, and reputation to onboard, too.

Aside from all of the aforementioned updates, Sea of Thieves will still be plain ‘ol Sea of Thieves, in the fact that, story-wise, players will still be able to embark on Tall Tales all over the ocean. With the added Quest Table feature in tow, however, voyages will be a whole lot easier to locate and embark on.

Gameplay

As far as gameplay goes, Season 11 won't change all that much from the original blueprint. In other words, fans of the base game will still have full access to all of the original content, but with a few added perks, such as the ability to travel around the map without sailing, and a treasure trove of new voyages via the Quest Table.

Aside from the points featured above, Sea of Thieves fans will still be able to progress with their chosen Trading Companies through to Level 100. In addition to the revamped tabs on the Quest Table, players will also be able to strive towards earning a Distinction—a high-level reward that, once earned, allows fledgling privateers to sport a series of flashy pirate rings and other cosmetics. So, if you thought your time out on the water was just about done, then think again, is what we're saying.

For returning players, Sea of Thieves will include a wide selection of new customizable components, both for their characters and their chosen vessels. So again, plenty to onboard — especially for newcomers.

Development

Access the adventures you crave more quickly than ever before with Season 11's overhaul of Voyages and encounters!

Explore a redesigned Quest system, major expansions to most Trading Companies, new loot items and more with the Sea of Thieves at your fingertips from January 23rd. pic.twitter.com/g3x63TSq6S

— Sea of Thieves (@SeaOfThieves) January 16, 2024

Rare Games shed light on the news surrounding the eleventh expansion earlier this week, at which point the team made use of its streaming platform to post several new updates in a teaser trailer. Since then, fans of the MMO have flocked to the social boards to express their feelings towards the latest expansion, mostly to spark debate over the newly formed Diving feature. Win or lose, though, Sea of Thieves continues to boast thirty million users — so there's that.

The last we saw of Sea of Thieves was back in October of 2023, at which point Rare Games released its tenth season. Suffice it to say, there's still plenty of grog left in the barrel to scrape out, so be sure to keep your eyes posted on the starboard for future updates.

Trailer

As luck would have it, Rare Games did go on to post a short preview of the eleventh season earlier this year. Keen to see a bit more of the latest voyage ahead of its departure? You can check out the initial announcement trailer embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Sea of Thieves' newest update will be going live on January 23, 2024, on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Again, as Rare Games' MMO is exclusive to Microsoft, we won't be seeing Season 11 wash ashore in PlayStation or Switch's waters anytime soon. Sorry, Sony. Sorry, Nintendo.

The good news is that Season 11 won't be hidden behind a paywall of any sort. In short, this means that, if you have already purchased the base game on either Xbox or PC, then you'll be able to dive straight into the latest content right off the bat.

Interested in staying up to date with Sea of Thieves' ongoing updates throughout 2024? If so, then be sure to check in with the folks over at Rare Games via their official social handle here. If anything does change ahead of Season 11's global debut, then we'll be sure to fill you in on all the key details right here on gaming.net.

So, what's your take? Will you be playing through Sea of Thieves Season 11 when it arrives on consoles later this year? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.