Sea of Thieves season 8 sets sail later this month

The Sea of Thieves season 8 release date has been set for November 22, Rare has announced.

In a tweet, Rare announced a stream that'll reveal the content in the new season as well as the collective decision made by the Sea of Thieves community in the current Adventure, Return of the Damned. That stream will take place on Sea of Thieves' official Twitch channel on Friday, November 18 at 8am PT / 11am ET / 7pm GMT, a day after Return of the Damned ends its run.

Although all we have is the release date right now, it's safe to assume Sea of Thieves season 8 will be massively impacted by the decision of the Return of the Damned, which asks players to choose between siding with Belle or the Servant of the Flame. If more players vote to side with Belle, the long-prophesized return of Flameheart will be thwarted and Pendragon will be saved, likely becoming the main villain of season 8. On the other hand, if Servant of the Flame gets more votes, Flameheart will be resurrected at last to become the new season's primary antagonist while Pendragon will be condemned to a dark void.

In addition to a new big bad, expect Sea of Thieves season 8 to usher in a bunch of new gameplay and quality of life features, new Adventures and Mysteries, a new Plunder Pass, plenty of new rewards to unlock, and probably much more. 

Notably, we know from a recent podcast appearance from Sea of Thieves creative director Mike Chapman that "Season 8 is focused firmly on PvP" although "that feature set will have a knock-on effect to PvE, in a way that we actually hope will take some of the heat off PvE players."

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