The third and final Sea of Thieves Anniversary Preview Stream just aired and we couldn’t be more excited! It was jam packed with Tall Tales details and also premiered the Tall Tales cinematic trailer! You can check the trailer below:

As for the stream, Jon McFarlane, Mike Chapman and Andrew Preston hosted an hour long stream going through what we can expect from the Shores of Gold while trying not to spoil anything. If you have an hour to watch yourself, you can view it here. If not, we have compiled all the juicy details in this article. Comprising of several Behind the Scenes videos and a long Q&A, here are the highlights mentioned during the stream:

The idea of Tall Tales began just as the game came out. The team started prototyping a few tales after the first batch of content updates were released.

These tales were centered around different emotions the team wanted the player to experience. There was a tale of love and a tale of wonder.

After developing three or four of the tales, the team started to look at a story to connect them all.

The team first introduced one tale to the Insiders. The Tall Tales benefited the most from Insider feedback.

One of the biggest new mechanics coming with Tall Tales is traps ! Wanted to bring that Indiana Jones perilous feeling to the tales. Two main systems behind traps: Triggers such as pressure plates Actions such as swinging blades or spikes One of the many technical challenges behind traps were synchronizing them across the crews games. Wanted to make sure things like swinging traps felt fair and that players wouldn’t unexpectedly get clipped in the back. There are a variety of traps: Swinging scythes Pressure plates Spikes Levers to pull that will deploy traps to hurt skeletons Traps will interact with AI as you would expect. The islands will always have traps even if there isn’t an active Tall Tale. The team will keep adding traps to islands after tall tales.

! Shores of Gold centers around the trope of finding a fabled island. It was a great idea to ground the story around.

The team started with what is the Shores of Gold to drive the story. This lead to the idea of the Shroudbreaker.

The quest book is Andrew’s favorite new mechanic Each tale has a unique quest book The quest books are very hand crafted

The Collector’s Chest is Mike’s favorite new mechanic A chest that you can open! Contains tale items but can also be used to store items

The Tall Tales allows the team to bring the feelings that a singleplayer game give players to a multiplayer game.

As mentioned before, the Tall Tales allow the team to hone in on a specific emotion.

Tall Tales give places on islands or objects in the world a story.

Voyages are based on a procedural system and campaigns like the Hungering Deep were authored. Tall Tales is somewhere in the middle of both.

There are cutscenes and voice acting. There is dialog from certain skeletons you can encounter while you fight them.

Cutscenes can be hard in a shared world. The team never wants to take away control from the player.

Once you vote on a book, the character by the book will introduce the the story. This character will be animated and be voiced. Players can leave the area and miss this if they please.

There will be specific quest objects for players to interact with.

There will be rewards that are related to the story that can be unlocked.

You will also get gold for completing a tale.

You can replay the Tall Tales at any time and they are not time limited.

Q&A time!

Will there be any new special cosmetics? Absolutely! Cosmetic rewards and gold rewards for completing the Tall Tales. There is a new cosmetic type that is directly related to a tale. If you complete all the the commendations for the Tall Tales there is a special cosmetic that is very rare.

Are the tales different each time you do them? The tales are highly authored though there are variations. There are different puzzles. There are some elements of the story that are the same, to make it memorable. And there are some parts like things to go do that can be different.

Do all the tall tales have to be played in order? The Tall Tales don’t have to be played in order but it is recommended. If your friends are ahead of you, you can play where they are. Each tale hands off to the next one naturally. The Tall Tale books are locked in progression. The second book is gated based off the first one. But if someone in your crew has it unlocked, it is unlocked for everyone.

Will there be new skeletons? There will be a few new skeletons that are very different looking and behaving.

Are the Tall Tales going to be time limited? No, the Shores of Gold is not time limited. The Tall Tales are a permanent resident of the Sea of Thieves world.

Will there be cutscenes? Yes. The cutscenes do not take control away from the player. The Tall Tale is like a voyage, you vote on it, if the vote passes the character near the book will frame the voyage with animations and voice acting.

How does progression work with friends? You start with the first tale already unlocked. They unlock sequentially in order. If a crew member who has them all unlocked, they will be unlocked for everyone in the crew.

If you die on a Tall Tale quest, where you do you respawn? The team doesn’t want to change the core systems, so you will still experience the same respawning.

Can other pirates interfere with your adventure? They can. There are some things that the team has done to protect you. One thing is there are multiple vault rooms. The game will assign you a vault that isn’t already being used or assigned. Quest keys are physical though so there is some risk to heighten emotions.

Will constellations be incorporated into the storyline? The idea of doing something with stars has been around for years. They will be incorporated.

Are the Tales dependent on your levels? The Tall Tales change on difficultly depending on size of crew but not level.

How will players get back and forth to the Shores of Gold? Shroudbreaker is key to the story.

Will you have to do the quest in one sitting to complete the story? You can do a specific tale in a session. Your completion will save and you can continue to do the next unlocked tale next time you log in.

Can we go to this new island whenever we want after we have the Shroudbreaker? Players can play the tale again to experience the new island.

Will we be able to reread all the Tall Tale books? Replay the tales to read the books.

What happens if you drop or lose a quest item? You would not be able to complete the tale. Collector’s Chest can help you protect the items.

How many items can you fit in the Collector’s Chest? Three items. You can have more than one chest though!

Are there any tales that require cooperation between crews? Working together would help you progress but not necessary.

How many tales are available at launch? 9 tales make up the Shores of Gold story.

Will there be all kinds of combat in the Tall Tales? Three is predominantly combat on islands. There will still be emergent AI like skeleton ships but the Tales don’t focus on this.

How easy is this for a solo player? The team has been working on balancing the combat sections for solo players. They will continue to balance based on feedback after launch. Collector’s Chest helps solo players handle items in tale.

Is the new island instanced or will there be other crews there? You can find other crews there who will be on the same journey.

Will we learn anything more about the Mysterious Stranger? Yep. You will also learn that he has a beautiful voice and wonderful laugh. Rare hired professional voice actors.

Are there new types of skeletons? Yes and they will challenge you in new and interesting ways in the form of Skeleton Lords.

Do you battle the Shrouded Ghost in the end of Shores of Gold? It could happen? The Shrouded Ghost can popup anywhere.

What’s a Shroudbreaker? It’s a fabled artifact. The Forsaken Shores kind of introduced this artifact with the crew that broke through to the Devil’s Roar.

Will all the Tall Tales be available on the 30th? All the tales in Shores of Gold will be available day one.

When you turn in the Collector’s Chest of three skulls, do you turn in the chest with the items or do you keep it? No, you need to drop the chest, open it and take out skulls one by one to sell. They did this to prevent players from accidentally losing the chest or items.

Are we able to level up the Hunter’s Call and other trading companies while doing tall tales? You can fish off the side of the boat and sell to the Hunter’s Call whenever you please.

Can you put all kinds of items in the Collector’s Chest like bananas? Yes, you can put cannonballs and bananas in the chest. The chests are also buoyant and will float like other items.



And those are the main highlights from the Shores of Gold Preview stream. If we missed anything or there is something in particular you are most excited about, be sure to leave us a comment below!