Sea of Thieves developer Rare hosted a stream today previewing the contents of the game"s upcoming Smugglers Fortune update on September 11, which is slated to bring in an in-game store with premium cosmetics such as the long-time-coming pets, among other features.
The full stream can be seen above, though possibly its biggest highlight is that the real-life monkey the team had brought in decided to vomit directly on Rare"s Jon McFarlane, seen at the 27:47 mark.
Going back to the Sea of Thieves update, the introductory pets will be parrots and monkeys, which come in multiple breeds and colors. Just like pirates, these pets will be able to don costumes, letting players customize them even further. Critters will not only interact with crews in their adventures, but also lounge across various locations in the ship when sailing, and even go into hiding if a battle breaks out.
Watch a deep dive video regarding the pets and their mechanics down below:
As previously announced, these pets will only be available through the new Pirate Emporium store Rare is adding to the game. The new store lets players purchase Ancient Coins, a new form of currency that is gained primarily through spending real-world money, which can then be used to buy premium cosmetics.
However, Ancient Skeletons carrying bags of these premium coins will begin spawning across the world also. If a player manages to kill this rare and slippery skeleton, their whole crew will receive some Ancient Coins without needing to spend anything.
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In addition to the pets, the store will have new emotes and Banjo-Kazooie inspired ship cosmetics up for purchase at launch. Alongside expanding the freely earnable cosmetics roster, Rare plans to add more optional premium items to the Pirate Emporium going forward on a monthly basis.
The Sea of Thieves Smugglers Fortune update will also bring in the ability to join back into sessions after a disconnect - even for Sloop players -, aggressive skeleton ships, option to disable cross-play for Xbox players in Arena, and more. Though it doesn"t look like the leaked fire feature will be making its way to the game in this release.
The major update is slated to land on September 11 on Xbox One and Windows 10, and we will get more information on it when the patch notes arrive on the same day.