Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life does a lot more than reference the Disney Pirates of the Caribbean movies. A Pirate's Life will bring the characters of Davy Jones, Gibbs, and of course Captain Jack Sparrow to the Sea of Thieves world along with a handful of other directly-movie-related crossovers. However, according to developers at Rare, it also takes a good deal of inspiration from the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.
Several new locations have been unveiled for the Sea of Thieves' highly anticipated crossover, including an explorable Sea of the Damned and the Sunken Kingdom. Players who go through the first Tall Tale in the game will be introduced to Sailor's Grave through a slow narrative sequence that leads them through the Sea of the Damned. In one particular segment, players will toss a lever and slowly make their way through a cave grotto as a voice talks to them in the background, as pirate specters are seen off to the side.
This introductory part of Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life is a direct reference to the narration, animatronics, slow movement, and overall tone of the original Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but the team at Rare didn't stop with a simple reference. Sea of Thieves creative director Mark Chapman told Game Rant during a preview for the game that they brought in the 1967 Disney ride's voice actors and used the ride's original sounds for A Pirate's Life.
"A big part of the authenticity that we wanted to bring these familiar locations to the Sea of Thieves is actually sourcing some of the original Audio that was in the original 1967 attraction," Chapman said. "It gives me goosebumps hearing dead men tell no tales in the dead man's grotto." Chapman then went on to say that some of the original voice actors worked with Rare to record new lines on "original vintage mics" from the '60s for A Pirate's Life. He also pointed out that ambient and weather sounds, like seagulls, thunder, and wind, were also taken directly from the ride.
There are plenty of obvious references to the Pirates of the Caribbean movies as well in Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life too, though. For example, Chapman revealed that Rare brought in one of the stunt doubles for Captain Jack Sparrow to help with characterization in his animation, and the iconic Black Pearl ship will be discoverable, too. Newer fans of the franchise might not have known that the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise started as a theme park attraction, but it looks like the ride was more influential on the design of A Pirate's Life than the films.
Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life will launch June 22, 2021 on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.