Sea of Thieves adding anti-cheat, subscription-free solo play next week

Following the launch of Sea of Thieves’ radical structural overhaul last month, Rare is readying to release a new mid-season update next week that’ll add anti-cheat and subscription-free solo play to its swashbuckling pirate adventure. Plus, a big 2024 content preview is on the way as part of Sea of Thieves’ sixth anniversary celebrations.

Starting with anti-cheat, Rare has confirmed it’ll be introducing Epic’s kernel-level Easy Anti-Cheat solution – as used by the likes of Fortnite and Apex Legends – to Sea of Thieves next Thursday, 14th March. There’s not much more to report beyond its imminent arrival, but the news’ll probably bring some reassurance if you think you’ve been privy to suspicious behaviour out on the seas. And I’m not talking spyglass dongs.

Additionally, next week’s update brings an interesting expansion to last year’s Safer Seas mode. From next Thursday onward, it’ll be possible for pirates to play alone on a Safer Seas private server without needing a Game Pass Core or Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The key points to note here are that this isn’t an offline mode – Sea of Thieves is still intrinsically reliant on its servers – and any form of multiplayer, even in Safer Seas, will still require Game Pass.

Oh, and if you’re a PlayStation 5 owner looking forward to Sea of Thieves’ 30th April arrival, Rare has confirmed the new solo play option will work on Sony’s platform too, enabling a single pirate to enjoy Safer Seas without a PlayStation Plus subscription.

Elsewhere in next week’s update, there’s an item refresh for the premium Pirate Emporium bringing the likes of new emotes and cosmetics, plus some welcome new additions to Outpost stores, with Rare’s latest news update highlighting the rather stylish Maestro ship set.

More excitingly, Sea of Thieves’ sixth anniversary celebrations are almost upon us, and Rare will be marking the occasion on 20th March by, among other things, giving players a glimpse at what’s shaping up to be an exciting 2024 for the game – and you can read more about some of its plans for this “year of the sandbox” in my chat with creative director Mike Chapman and executive producer Joe Neate elsewhere on Eurogamer.