Rare answered some of our most burning questions about the company's upcoming pirate adventure, Sea of Thieves, recently at its studio in the UK.

Sea of Thieves is a shared-world pirate adventure game set in a whimsical ocean full of mystery. You'll plunder piles of loot with your friends, trade goods with merchants, and hunt down the dreaded Kraken, all from the relative comfort of your living room. Many players have been wondering how character creation works and what pirats will aspire to throughout the game, and we're here to provide the answers.

Character customization

Sea of Thieves won't have dozens of sliders and dials, allowing you to finely tune the shape of your nose or cheekbones. Instead, Rare has attempted to strike a balance between customizability and accessibility. When you initially make your character in Sea of Thieves, you will be presented with a carousel of eight, completely randomly generated pirates, pulling from a potential pool of millions. The idea is that no two pirates will look the same, even if, like most players, you simply hit the "play now" button and go with whatever design you're given. Instead of asking players to do the heavy lifting, spending hours to design a unique and memorable pirate face, Rare will do it for you. Rare made the point that in many other games of this nature, players often simply stick with the default skin. In a game world that revolves around player-generated lore and personal legends, encountering pirates that look identical 75 percent of the time would potentially infringe upon that idea. Best VPN providers 2020: Learn about ExpressVPN, NordVPN & more Instead of asking players to do the heavy lifting, spending hours to design a unique and memorable pirate face, Rare will do it for you. But hey, if you're like me and you're the kind of gamer who will spend hours and hours customizing your dude or dudette in Fallout 4 until they look perfect, know that Rare doesn't completely remove control from the player. Hairstyles, beards, peg legs, hooks, and more transitory cosmetic options will be available in the vanity chest, found on ships or outside clothes shops. Additionally, Rare will let you reroll the pirate generator carousel an infinite number of times until you find the pirate that's right for you. It's important to note too that hitboxes will be normalized, so picking a smaller pirate won't help you. Be wary though, once you pick, that's it, you become locked in, and that character becomes tied to your gamer tag on Xbox Live. Rare wants player identity to truly matter in Sea of Thieves, to the point where specific players will be recognizable from their character models alone. Your deeds will go with you. Pirate hideout, legendary voyage "raids"

As you ascend up the ranks of faction rep with the game's various voyage traders, eventually you will be able to find a special hideout, available only to you and crew members you choose to bring there. The exact location of the hideout will be a mystery for players to unravel, but once they have, it'll become their personal hangout, providing access to higher-level quests and more epic-looking gear. The quests obtained via the hideout dubbed the Tavern of Legends, haunted by the ghosts of player pirate's past. The voyages obtained here were described to me as being an approximation to Sea of Thieves' "raid" content, granting the most exclusive outfits and rewards for completing the most difficult missions. And of course, like all voyages in Sea of Thieves, you will be able to share them with completely new players. Because you're a pirate legend, with access to those more complex quests, you will become a desired player. This will help you on your way to becoming a Pirate Legend. Rare noted that the first player to reach this level could become showcased among the community. The future: Ship Captaincy

A few months after launch, Rare is planning to drop its first major update, which will bring in a new system called Ship Captaincy. You will gain access to a new ship that will also sport unique forms of customization. Players who encounter you on the seas will know simply by looking at your ship that you're a veteran player. The impressive styles that will come with Legend-level customization should alter the dynamics of your interactions with other players. Players who have ascended to the hideout and have become Pirate Legends will later be able to become Captains, and this is where Rare will shift the focus from personal Legends over to crew Legends, allowing groups of players to become feared on the high seas, adding in new systems for dedicated teams. This will form part of the future content, as Rare moves the game towards the "Golden Age of Piracy." Skeleton outpost raids