Sea of Thieves The Hungering Deep content update is now available

The first ever content update for Sea of Thieves, The Hungering Deep, is now available, bumping up the game's version number to 1.1.0. And as teased, the update introduces a new threat for players to face, a variety of new items, and more, with everything wrapped around a new quest line filled with "riddles and rumors."

While we will need to wait until some crews complete the voyage and find the new threat that is lurking in the seas to see what exactly it is, it is almost certainly a massive megalodon. During this quest, players will receive two new accessories as well, the Speaking Trumpet and the Drums. The former is an item that players can use to communicate with other crews over long distances, while the latter is a new musical instrument that is especially useful in the new quest.

Meanwhile, to let players know about new events that arrive for the game, new Bilge Rat NPCs have taken seats at taverns worldwide. Ship flags to announce intentions and tattoos to further customize pirates have also arrived. Scars are a new addition as well, however, they can only be earned via participating in special events like The Hungering Deep.

Here are the new items available on the customization front:

• Shark Hunter Figurehead, Sails, Hull & Flag - With the strange increase in shark activity in the seas, shark hunting is on the rise! Shipwrights have caught on early to this trend and now stock a new figurehead, sail, hull and flag.
• Sailor Sail Tints - Want a splash of colour on your ship but don't have the coin? Those Shipwrights are impossible to bargain with. Sailor colour variants for you more cost-conscious pirates are now being stocked. These include Black, Grass Green, Royal Blue, Red and Yellow.
• Majestic Sovereign Clothing - If it's time to freshen up your look, check out the new Majestic Sovereign set in the clothing shop, it may tickle your fancy! Remember stock is different from outpost to outpost, so you may want to check the Ancient Isles.
• Item Colour Variants - Purchased the Grand Admiral, Castaway Bilge Rat, Ruffian Sea Dog or Imperial Sovereign clothing sets but want matching items? Now they are here! Shipments have arrived at the equipment shops on outposts.
• Pirate Legend Dress - We heard feedback from our Pirate Legends that in the approach to summer, a breezy alternative to the existing Legendary attire would be appreciated. Future Pirate Legends will automatically be awarded this dress, and existing Pirate Legends can grab it in the Hideout for free.
• Ghost Dress - Arriving in the same shipment as the Pirate Legend Dress, pirates can now complete the Ghost set with the dress, stocked in the Pirate Legends Hideout clothing shop.
• Pirate Legend Flag - Are you even a legend if you don't have a flag to say so? Some say not. Rush to the Shipwright in the Pirate Legends Hideout to get yours!

Beyond that, the update has also brought along a performance boost for object load-ins, and here are the new fixed and known issues:

Fixed Issues

• Permanent black loading screens will no longer be encountered when returning from the Ferry or using the mermaid.
• Leaving and returning to the ship will no longer remove the tool-tip to unload cannons which are loaded.
• Upon starting a Merchant Contract or Bounty Voyage, the UI message will correctly state "Quest Received" rather than "Maps Discovered".
• Coral and plants will no longer appear to pop in when approaching the reef near Fools Lagoon.
• Light will no longer appear to flicker underneath the large eagle rock on Plunder Valley.
• Upon spawning at an outpost, an issue has been resolved which would occasionally cause the crew's Galleon to be missing.
• Resolved a known cause of some player disconnects.
• Multiple server and client crash fixes.
• Customer Support have resolved all known players who were missing downloadable content in-game. If you are still experiencing this, please refer to this Support Article, and if you still cannot find your items in-game, please raise a support ticket.

Known Issues

• Washed-up items, including messages in bottles, are still disabled.
• We are working on getting these switched back on as soon as possible.
• Dropping Skeleton Fort keys in water can prevent them from being picked up again.
• Athena's Fortune Bounty quest skeletons are sometimes unable to be found.

We are working to resolve issues on the reported islands; Plunder Valley and Thieves Haven. If you encounter this issue, please submit a bug report to our Player Support Team with as much detail as possible on your location.

The free update's download size weighs around 1.4GB on Windows 10 as well as the Xbox One family of consoles, and the servers are already up and running, so all interested pirates can sail into the newly updated world in search of the ancient shark right now.

Following The Hungering Deep, Rare plans to implement weekly events to the game that bring in new mechanics soon, and two more major content updates are planned for the summer.

Sea of Thieves is available for purchase via the Microsoft Store as an Xbox Play Anywhere title for $59.99. The game is also part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass program, which costs $9.99 per month.