As previously reported, Sea of Thieves is ramping up their adventures with the latest community choice. Similar to Lost Sands earlier this year, the new Return of the Damned adventure is putting the story of the game in the player’s hands. Unlike most adventures, these player choice adventures have easily repeatable goals, allowing players to contribute points to their preferred side in a bid to affect the outcome. So how do pirates participate in this new player-driven adventure?
Both Pendragon and The Servant of the Flame are performing a ritual to draw forth Flameheart’s spirit from the Sea of the Damned. Pendragon plans to conjure Flameheart away from his physical body and use the opportunity to seal him away once again, meanwhile The Servant wants to restore Flameheart into his skeletal body. So our objectives are one in the same, the only difference is who we deliver the prize to.
Players wanting to save Pendragon and seal away Flameheart need to retrieve Bewitching Dolls from the Sea Forts scattered across the Sea of Thieves. These dolls provide progress towards each team depending on if they’re turned in to Belle at Shipwreck Bay, or The Servant at The Reaper’s Hideout. The Sea Forts are spread all across the map and both The Reaper’s Hideout and Shipwreck Bay are close to the center, making it a relatively fair race when turning in a doll; but there’s more to this adventure than just collecting dolls.
The Sea Forts are also locations of power for the ritual. Players can receive flags from Belle or The Servant which can be raised at a Sea Fort after it’s been conquered. Raising the flag will spawn Ancient Warriors or Ghostly Reapers depending on which flag is raised. These flags will act as a multiplier when turning in Bewitched Dolls and the more forts a faction controls, the more their dolls are worth in the conflict between Pendragon and Flameheart.
In addition, Flamesoul Captains will also spawn randomly on Sea Forts. These evil ghosts will empower Bewitched Dolls, making them worth even more when turned in. Players will have plenty of opportunity to take sides in Return of the Damned. Whether that’s capturing forts, defending them, or ambushing pirates trying to sell their loot at The Reaper’s Hideout or Shipwreck Bay.
Rare’s intention for the adventure is for players to fight over Sea Forts all across the map. Lost Sands was a more localized adventure and even that one didn’t see much PvP. Sea of Thieves reduced their max server size to five ships not that long ago, and with players fighting all around the map it’s possible this “PvP Adventure” might not have all that much player interaction. We’ll see when Return of the Damned begins on November 3, the adventure will end on November 17.