The first major content update for Sea of Thieves is now available, as Rare has unleashed The Hungering Deep within the open world pirate game. The servers have gone live once more, with maintenance for patch 1.1.0 completed early Tuesday morning. The Hungering Deep introduces new content for Sea of Thieves players to discover.

Many of The Hungering Deep's new features have been detailed in past Rare developer updates including customizable flags, scars, and tattoos, as well as a new drum instrument, and the useful speaking trumpet. But more is to be found within Sea of Thieves' first major content update, as detailed in the newly released patch notes for The Hungering Deep.

To get started, players should keep an eye out for the pirate Merrick. Some say he was last sighted at the aptly named Sharkbait Cove. Alternatively, new Blige Rat NPCs can be found in taverns and will help point players towards various rumors and mysteries.

sea of thieves bilge rat

While most of the major features of The Hungering Deep have already been detailed, many of the smaller content additions are only now revealed. Rare is expanding several storefronts' merchandise, as well as filling in certain gaps in previously available rewards. Prosperous pirates can now acquire the following:

  • Shark Hunter Figurehead, Sails, Hull and Flag
  • Sailor Sail Tints - Affordable single-color sails now available in black, green, blue, red, and yellow.
  • Majestic Sovereign Clothing
  • Item Color Varients - Variant colors for the Grand Admiral, Castaway Bilge Rat, Ruffian Sea Dog, and Imperial Sovereign sets.
  • Pirate Legend Dress - A free dress option for all who have earned the title of Pirate Legend
  • Ghost Dress - Now also available to Pirate Legends
  • Pirate Legend Flag

With a variety of new clothing options for pirates, Rare decided to upgrade the Pirate Preview Camera when perusing the clothing and vanity chests. Pirate will now get a more cinematic view of their pirate as they model a pirate cosmetics.

Finally, as with every patch, Rare continues to optimize Sea of Thieves and fix what bugs it can. CPU performance will see some improvements when loading objects and pop-in for certain things like coral and plants won't be as obnoxious. And the nefarious forever-black screen that sometimes occurs when using a mermaid or returning from the Ferry of the Damned has been fixed. A new update always has the potential for new bugs, though, so keep in contact with Rare support as necessary.

The Hungering Deep marks just the first of future of content updates for Sea of Thieves. Four more major updates are planned for 2018 and beyond. Expect news of the next update, Cursed Sails, at E3. Until then, join The Hungering Deep's campaign before time runs out and it becomes just another legend on the Sea of Thieves.

Sea of Thieves is available now on PC and Xbox One.