Sea of Thieves has become the biggest pirate-themed video game of this generation, letting players explore the seven seas across Xbox, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Nowhere else is this more evident than in its most recent free expansion, Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life, which introduced characters and locations from Disney's massive Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, referencing both the films and theme park ride. It turns out, Rare wasn't satisfied just bringing Pirates of the Caribbean content to the game, as fans have found a wonderful reference to LucasArts' beloved Monkey Island franchise in the new expansion.
The Secret of Monkey Island was first released in 1990 for PC platforms such as the Amiga, MS DOS, and Atari ST. The game was developed by Lucasfilm Games (later known as LucasArts), directed by Ron Gilbert, and written and designed by Gilbert, Dave Grossman, and Tim Schafer. Grossman would later go on to found Telltale Games while Schafer went on to found Double Fine Productions, the studio behind Psychonauts and Brutal Legend that was acquired by Microsoft in 2019.
Unfortunately, when The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, it closed LucasArts and seemingly killed the Monkey Island franchise. While even creator Ron Gilbert has not been able to get Disney's attention, it seems Rare has gotten Disney's blessing to use the Monkey Island franchise for Sea of Thieves as players have discovered the remains of a ship helmed by Captain Kate Capsize, a character that pirate protagonist Guybrush Threepwood briefly interacts with in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. It appears that Kate was out for revenge against Threepwood after the player frames her for a crime in order to solve a puzzle in Monkey Island 2, however she was unsuccessful and died in the sea of thieves.
This is an ingenious bit of lore added by Rare that is topped off by the beautiful rendition of the Monkey Island theme song that's sure to tug at longtime fans' emotions. What this could mean for future Monkey Island content in Sea of Thieves remains to be seen, it could be possible that Double Fine is planning to team up with Rare and Disney to add Monkey Island story content to Sea of Thieves. This could be looking too deeply into a heartfelt tribute for both Monkey Island and Sea of Thieves fans. Regardless, it's nice to finally see Sea of Thieves pay tribute to the previous generation-defining pirate game before it.
Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life is available now for PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.