New Sea of Thieves trailer focuses on co-op play, watch it here

The latest “Inn-side Story” for Sea of Thieves has released, and this time it’s taking an in-depth look at the game’s co-op mechanics. Unlike many co-op games, Sea of Thieves has plenty of mechanics that seem like they just can’t function properly if you don’t have a crew of friends watching your back – this new video talks about why those mechanics are the way they are.

When you’re sailing your ship, for instance, not all of the information is available to any one crew member at any given time. For instance, when you’re at the wheel, you don’t have access to the map. It’s up to another crew member to go down to the map and shout “we have to go north!” or something to that effect. Similarly, the one at the wheel is the only one who can really survey the seas. It’s up to them to avoid hazards like rocks in shallow water.

The developers also talked about what it’s like to go treasure hunting once you’ve hit land. Just like on the ship, only one person has the map. If you want to help navigate, you can flip over the map and hold it out to show it to your cohorts. The experience of everyone huddling around the person with the map seems like it does a lot to cultivate team play.

When you do end up finding your treasure, everyone in your crew works together to shovel it up quicker. The developers also made a point to tell us that players need to watch each other’s backs when they go to cash in their treasure – another crew could come to overpower yours and steal your treasure.

It looks like Sea of Thieves is shaping up to be something that doesn’t really have an equal among other games right now. Combining the cooperative ship-based gameplay of Guns of Icarus with the cutthroat nature of DayZ, this game could end up being something truly special.

Further reading: Microsoft, Rare, Sea of Thieves, Xbox One