New Sea of Thieves Developer Video Shows Off Character and Ship Customization

Sea of Thieves is a shared-world adventure that has very quickly moved up on our list of titles we can't wait for. The sky really is the limit with this game when teaming up with pals and taking to the open seas for booty, friendship, and showing off that pirate swag. The latest inside look we've been give for the upcoming title has the developers showing off something that many interested players are looking forward to: Customization.

For me personally, I am a huge sucker for character customization. Give me the option and I will spend an obscene amount of time tweaking my character to perceived perfection, only to turn around and start all over because the nose was too big. It may not be for everyone, but it does add an additional layer of immersion to the game, especially one so heavily social such as this.

Characters won't be the only thing customizable either. What's a pirate without their ship and that ship needs to be worthy of such wondrous adventures! In the video above, Rare's Sam Chester (character artist) and PC design lead Ted Timmins sat down to tell us a little bit more about what we can expect later this month.

"Of course you wouldn't be a pirate without a hook for a hand or a peg for a leg, and that's been a major part of how we've built out this system," says Timmins. "When we talk about horizontal progression, what we're talking about is your reputation level within the world of Sea of Thieves, and as you're moving up towards pirate legend, you're not power-progressing—it's very much that this item of clothing is the exact same as this item of clothing, apart from the cosmetics. We want you wear whatever you feel represents that, and I guess chop and change as you go."

There will also be ranked incentives, not unlike games such as Grand Theft Auto Online where certain cosmetics will only be available to higher ranking players; a special way to humble brag in-game achievements:

"It's like, if you see someone wearing the red admiral hat, you know that they're of a different reputation level to you and that that mean something in the world. Of course you can completely roleplay the opposite. You could be pirate legend and wear 'the worst' build rack clothes and no one would notice. You could equip the sailor title above your head, people will be like, oh, what a noob. And then you do a 360 no-scope and prove otherwise."

We're pretty excited. Lots of reasons to grind, lands to explore, and grog to drink ... count us in! Sea of Thieves drops for Xbox One and PC players on March 20th.