I might nearly scent the gloomy caverns of Sea of Thieves this week. Moments earlier than assembly Captain Jack Sparrow in a shock Disney crossover, I felt like I used to be crusing alongside within the Pirates of the Caribbean experience at Disneyland. “Dead men tell no tales,” warns the spooky and acquainted voice, simply as you navigate caverns filled with skeletons and water. I might really feel the thunder from the Disney experience, spot the identical seagulls dotted round, and expertise phantom smells that jogged my memory of the damp and darkish setting that’s a key a part of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom attraction.

As Captain Jack Sparrow graces the shores of Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life this week, developer Rare has created a crossover with Disney that brings Pirates of the Caribbean characters to life within the good setting. It’s the results of a yr of labor throughout a difficult pandemic and what seems like a major and free growth to Sea of Thieves.

Rare has teamed up with Disney to make this a actuality, and as a substitute of opting for easy skins or a primary character look, there’s an entire narrative round Pirates of the Caribbean characters getting into the Sea of Thieves. It’s resulted in some sturdy fan service, due to a shared appreciation between Rare and Disney, and Captain Jack Sparrow preventing alongside gamers in A Pirate’s Life.

“Disney actually reached out to us at E3 2019,” says Mike Chapman, Sea of Thieves inventive director, in an interview with The Verge. “We met with Disney and they were huge fans of the game, so they reached out as huge fans of Sea of Thieves … and that alone was kind of mind-blowing.”

This first assembly led to a possibility to deliver Captain Jack Sparrow to Sea of Thieves in a method that respects the digital pirate world and the story of Pirates of the Caribbean. “Essentially they summarized it as ‘you’ve made the game that we should have made, we’d love to make a Pirates of the Caribbean game but you’ve kind of made it with Sea of Thieves.’”

Rare has crafted 5 episodes as a part of the growth, or Tall Tales as they seem in Sea of Thieves. These adventures let gamers discover some new environments and luxuriate in assembly acquainted Pirates of the Caribbean characters. While the story content material lasts round eight hours in complete, in case you’re new to Sea of Thieves or getting back from months or years of not enjoying, you’ll be able to bounce into the Pirate’s Life story freely.

The opening episode sees gamers meet the Cursed Captain, an animated cranium that you would be able to carry round to unlock clues, lore, and elements of the journey. The Cursed Captain is a part of a splendidly animated setting, with some enjoyable puzzles for gamers to determine. The Black Pearl additionally makes an look right here, and Captain Jack Sparrow will make it easier to fireplace cannon balls to defeat it.

Fans of Sea of Thieves can even be delighted to go to some key places within the recreation this season. There’s an enormous underwater Sunken Kingdom that enables gamers to swim to the very depths of the ocean and take part in underwater fight. It’s right here you’re launched to a brand new weapon, the Trident of Dark Times, that’s used to defeat Sirens beneath the seas.

You’ll additionally battle hoards of brand-new enemy sorts within the Sunken Kingdom, together with bipedal crustaceans that assault from land or sea. Crabs, eels, and hermits will all show difficult to defeat, and so they’re the primary non-skeleton enemies because the launch of Sea of Thieves three years in the past. The Kraken can even lastly present its face within the murky depths of the Sunken Kingdom.

A Pirate’s Life additionally coincides with season three of Sea of Thieves, with an improved development and reward system. Seasons are nonetheless a brand new system in Sea of Thieves, however this newest one has opened with essentially the most memorable content material within the recreation’s historical past.

Rare can be experimenting with how solo gamers and teams of mates expertise the story. The multiplayer, open-world side of Sea of Thieves has usually turned solo gamers away from the sport. Some gamers don’t need to meet rival pirates on the seas that may fortunately sink their ship and damage hours of progress. A Pirate’s Life makes an attempt to reply that by cordoning off elements of this new marketing campaign from the shared open-world. It means that you can take pleasure in assembly Captain Jack Sparrow in peace, with out having to fret that you simply’ll be sniped within the head or that somebody is blowing up your ship and stealing all of your bananas behind your again.

A Pirate’s Life seems like a giant step ahead for Sea of Thieves, and a mixture of a number of modifications to the sport over time. I initially began enjoying Sea of Thieves at launch in March 2018, hitting the max Pirate Legend rank inside weeks. While the jolly open world was intriguing at first, the novelty of crusing the excessive seas quickly wore off for me on account of an absence of issues to do. Returning to play Sea of Thieves once more this yr has been a delight, and the digital seas really feel like they’re now actually alive with content material. I’m hoping we see Rare ship extra of this pleasant storytelling in future seasons of Sea of Thieves.

Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life is accessible now on Xbox One, PC, Xbox Series X / S, and on Xbox Game Pass.