Sea Bed of Thieves: 5 Undersea Ideas

Inspired by Sunken Curse

The most recent Bilge Rat Adventure, the Sunken Curse, had us searching the seabed around islands for Cursed Mer Artefacts to destroy, and it offered us the new opportunity to encounter loot there as well. Spending the duration of that event diving exposed us to the unique sights, sounds, risks, and rewards we get under the sea. Unfortunately, once you’ve destroyed 100 of these sunken statues and earned the Legendary Curse Breaker title, there’s no incentive to ever interact with them again, and the ocean floor will once again go largely ignored. So here are 5 Ideas to Improve the “Sea” in Sea of Thieves.

Ambient Wildlife

A larger variety of wildlife, both of consequence and simple background elements, is something Sea of Thieves dearly needs, and this is never more evident than while swimming beneath the waves. The sea beds and reefs of the game currently are home to only some schools of fish and the occasional shark. More background animals would really make the sea come alive. I’m talking things like sea turtles, manta rays, and sea horses, alongside more species in the schools of fish. Like the buzzards, parrots, and bats seen throughout the islands, these don’t necessarily need to be interactive- their presence alone would make the seabed drastically more interesting to wander through.

Clams Clutching Pearls

On the other hand, some wildlife should be added that directly impact gameplay. Another source of riches beneath the waves, alongside the random loot and mer statues, could be giant clams containing valuable pearls.

I’m always looking for more crap to deliver. ALWAYS

For some reason, whenever I’m diving in Sea of Thieves I pull out my shovel and want to dig. Nothing in Sea of Thieves asks us to use our non-weaponized tools underwater, and giant clams could change that. These monstrous mollusks could spawn at random in the dirt surrounding an island, with the only clue to their presence being a circling school of fish (mirroring the seagulls that point to sunken ship wrecks). Seeing these fish would cue you in to dig in this spot, which would reveal a clam that pops open to reveal a pearl. And like any good loot item, pearls could vary in value by the will of the Random Number Gods. From lowest to highest, they could be “Cracked Pearl”, “Cloudy Pearl”, “Shiny Pearl”, and “Lustrous Pearl”.

Merfolk Statue Loot Drops

“Cursed Mer Artifacts”, the subject matter of the Sunken Curse, are pretty cool. Their appearance, their varying levels of resistance to destruction, their unique sound that draws you in… if I find one in the world by chance, I want to interact with it, but as a Legendary Curse Breaker, there’s no reason to. There’s no reward, and considerable risk to spending time underwater away from the ship.

So why not drop some loot when they get destroyed? Of course they’d become much less common now that the event is over, but imagine something like a “Mer Heart” (credit to my friend Mitchell Wolfe for the name), a fancy title for the gemstone at the center of the statue’s chest, drops after destroying the artifact and is sellable to the Merchant Alliance. Of course they’d come in the three obvious varieties of ascending value, Sapphire Mer Heart, Emerald Mer Heart, and Ruby Mer Heart, with one further surprise drop called a Black Opal Mer Heart that can come from any statue at random and is the most valuable of all.

A reason to destroy statues aside from hating Archaeology

Actual Merfolk

More combat scenarios and enemies to defeat is also something sorely missing from the game- Skeletons can only get you so far. Both in and out of game, Rare have gone to great lengths to tease and expand on the lore of the game’s merfolk civilization, but thus far, only the benevolent half-transformed merfolk (which ferry you back to your ship) are found in the game.

I want to Fight This

I’ll most likely write a full blown feature just about these bad boys one of these days, so until then use your imagination as to how fighting them underwater might make for a fun new type of encounter.

Crabbos

Alongside the existing Chickens, Pigs, and Snakes, Crabs should be added to the wildlife of the game and the rotation of Merchant Alliance requests. With their own unique type of cage, pirates on Merchant voyages may be asked to retrieve one of four color varieties of crabs of differing value (white, red, black, gold).

What sets crabs apart is, they can only be found along the beaches and sandy shallows of islands. Like chickens, they spawn in groups and run when spooked, only they always run out into deeper water.