Sea of Thieves Pulls New Stealth Features From the Game

Summary

Rare has disabled the Sea of Thieves stealth features introduced in Season 14.
Mechanics like crouching have (re)introduced a wide variety of exploits to the game. Rare is working to fix these high-priority issues next week.
Sea of Thieves fans appear to be frustrated with Season 14, not least because the game had plenty of rocky season launches in the past.

Sea of Thieves has disabled its recently introduced stealth features due to a variety of issues that they have caused. The new mechanics, including disguises and crouching, launched as part of the latest Sea of Thieves season.

Sea of Thieves Season 14 kicked off on Thursday, October 17. Officially called Pirates of Mischief, this seasonal content drop introduced new achievements, tools, cosmetics, and stealth systems, among other content.

But some of these novelties have now been pulled from the game on Tuesday, October 22. Ahead of this move, Rare posted a video update in which Production Director Drew Stevens apologized to Sea of Thieves players for the fact that the new season's debut has been mired in technical issues. "We're really unhappy about the quality of Season 14's launch, and we're going to be taking some pretty drastic steps to get us back in control," the studio official said.

Sea of Thieves Stealth Mechanics Introduced a Bunch of Exploits

These drastic steps include disabling the stealth systems that debuted as part of Pirates of Mischief. These include disguises, crouching, traps, and the ability to hang from ledges. Based on early player feedback, Rare learned that crouching has caused a number of unintended consequences, like (re)introducing Sea of Thieves exploits such as quick switching and "air control from cannons." It also enabled an invincibility exploit, the studio official said. Rare hence opted to temporarily disable these mechanics to prevent their current implementations from impacting the community while it's working to address the newly reported issues.

We're really unhappy about the quality of Season 14's launch, and we're going to be taking some pretty drastic steps to get us back in control.

As for when this fix might come out, Stevens said that the developer is working on a patch that will eliminate multiple high-priority issues next week. Since Rare doesn't usually roll out Sea of Thieves updates over weekends, this stated time frame suggests the hotfix will most likely debut between October 28 and November 1. While the exact scope of the patch remains unclear, Stevens vowed that the update will introduce a "meaningful" number of changes.

Sea of Thieves fans' reactions to this turn of events appear to be somewhat polarized. While some players have taken to social media to say they appreciate Rare acknowledging the problems and apologizing, others said the company has done this same song and dance all too many times by releasing broken content and then saying it's sorry. Some of the more frustrated fans have started calling for Rare to take a step back and reconsider its approach to Sea of Thieves seasonal updates, arguing that its current development strategy just isn't working.

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OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 69 /100 Critics Rec: 37%

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Released: March 20, 2018
ESRB: T for Teen: Crude Humor, Use of Alcohol, Violence
Developer(s): Rare
Publisher(s): Microsoft Game Studios
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Multiplayer: Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
Cross-Platform Play: PC, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

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Sea of Thieves offers the essential pirate experience, from sailing and fighting to exploring and looting – everything you need to live the pirate life and become a legend in your own right. With no set roles, you have complete freedom to approach the world, and other players, however you choose. Whether you’re voyaging as a group or sailing solo, you’re bound to encounter other crews in this shared world adventure – but will they be friends or foes, and how will you respond?

A Vast Open World: Explore a vast open world filled with unspoiled islands and underwater kingdoms. Take on quests to hunt for lost loot, forge a reputation with the Trading Companies and battle foes from Phantoms and Ocean Crawlers to Megalodons and the mighty Kraken. Try your hand at fishing, make maps to your own buried treasure or choose from hundreds of other optional goals and side-quests!

Become Legend: On your journey to become a Pirate Legend you’ll amass loot, build a reputation and define a unique personal style with your hard-earned rewards. Adventurer. Explorer. Conqueror. What will your legend be?

Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
Genre(s): Adventure
How Long To Beat: 130+ Hours
X|S Optimized: Yes
File Size Xbox Series: 89 GB (December 2023)
OpenCritic Rating: Fair