Along with this, Rare has also said that it will be taking more community feedback into account when it comes to developing future seasonal content for Sea of Thieves. The reboot of the Sea of Thieves Insider Programme is slated to happen in 2026, and will add in a number of different community-centric programmes together.

“This is only the first step in opening us up to more community input, as starting from next Season we’re also planning a Seasonal Big Listen with our Insider Programme members.=,” said the studio. “We’ll be asking how you found the content we’ve recently released, and more broadly how you’re finding the whole package: performance, cheaters, bugs, enjoyability and more. This will allow us to better track sentiment over time and identify gaps for content that addresses a desire or opportunity within our current feature set. And, of course, in line with this focus on transparency, we’ll share the results of these surveys with you, our players.”

Rare has also revealed that it will be refining its approach to developing seasonal content for Sea of Thieves. To that end, the development team is being restructured, along with a change in how seasonal content for the game is made and released. Taking a three-month Sea of Thieves season into account, the cadence of released content will be split into three phases; one for each month.

On month one, new sandbox features and worldbuilding setup for the season will be introduced, while month two will follow this up with the headlining live event of the season making its debut, along with expansions to the game’s ongoing story and lore. The third month of the season will serve as a call-to-action for players that might be revisiting the game, and will involve a revitalisation for the sandbox gameplay content in the game.

Along with this, Sea of Thieves will continue to get live events, including a Community Weekend always being run in the first month of a season, and a Gold & Glory event in the last month. Since this will be a major shift for the studio, there will also be a transitionary period. Because of this, Season 16 will not be getting a Community Weekend, while Season 17’s Community Weekend will take place in early August.

Season 17, slated to be kicked off in August, will follow the aforementioned structure, with month one introducing the Smuggler’s League, along with new features like smugglers’ hideouts and new loot types, as well as Smugglers’ Runs. Month two will feature heists coming to Sea of Thieves as the headlining live event of the season, with season three focusing on refreshing the Skeleton Fort experience.

Rare has also teased that season 18, which will come to Sea of Thieves later in the year, will have a focus on Devil’s Roar, and the gameplay will revolve around boosting the role Emissaries play in the title.

Sea of Thieves is available on PC, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

“Join core crew members for the first ever Sea of Thieves Community Direct, where they’ll talk about upcoming Seasons, big Insider Programme changes and a much-requested feature that’s recently been ticking away in development,” wrote the studio in its announcement.

The announcement of this Community Direct comes hot on the heels of Microsoft having recently laid off more than 9,000 of its employees. Along with the lay-offs, several studios under the company also had to cancel many of their projects. Among those affected by this was Rare, which had previously been working on Everwild.

Considering all of the cancellations that have happened under Microsoft recently, Rare likely announced this Community Direct in an effort to ensure its fans that the fate of Sea of Thieves wasn’t tied up with the cancellation of Everwild.

Sea of Thieves was originally released on PC and Xbox One. It eventually made its way on to Xbox Series X/S, and last year, even came to PS5. With the PS5 release, the title started riding a new wave of popularity, becoming the number 2 best-seller in the US when it came out in Early Access on PS5, and even topping download charts.

For more details about the PS5 release of Sea of Thieves, check out our review.

The open-world racer is reportedly selling twice as fast as Sea of Thieves and “way faster” than Indiana Jones. A chart comparing their eight-day sales figures revealed that Sea of Thieves sold 657,300 copies. Meanwhile, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle managed 132,900 copies.

Perhaps most incredible is that Forza Horizon 5 beat both of those with its early access players alone. Since this is only available to Premium Edition owners, it means 702,400 players reportedly spent $100 on the title.

Either way, it’s an excellent result for Xbox’s first-party line-up. With Gears of War: Reloaded and The Outer Worlds 2 launching on day one for PS5 alongside Xbox and PC, they could perform even better. Stay tuned for more updates and check out our review for Forza Horizon 5 in the meantime.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Expectation was moderate following Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s announcement, perhaps given the mediocracy of Assassins Creed’s side-scrolling Chronicles games, but The Lost Crown, in fact, will be remembered as a modern platforming masterpiece. Deep combat, enthralling, satisfying platforming, and time manipulation powers to unleash upon a host of enemies render this action-adventure game an exhilarating must play.

]]> 605136 https://gamingbolt.com/30-best-ps5-games-of-all-time-2024-edition Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:33:36 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=604123 The PlayStation 5 has had its moments since launch, delivering several incredible first-party and third-party exclusives. However, with over four years on the market, one has to ask. Which are the best? Which titles continue to dominate the rankings and what are some of the newer challengers for the throne? Join us as we outline the 30 best PS5 titles as of 2024.

Until Dawn Remake

While the state of Ballistic Moon’s Until Dawn Remake baffled many fans of the original at launch, it’s since received numerous bug fixes and improvements. Granted, the altered lighting in some scenes is still odd, but the remake has otherwise done a great job with its overhauled character models, shadow quality, and revamped cinematography.

The newest weapon is the Blowpipe, which is almost completely silent and ideal for putting enemies (including other players) to sleep, leaving their loot ripe for the taking. However, you can also use explosives or lure darts to blow up or distract enemies. There’s also the Grapple Gun to pull enemies and items towards you or serve as a traversal tool (especially when descending from higher elevations).

Stealth as a whole has also seen some revamps. Crouching is more silent and hides your nametag, and there are new disguises like chests to sneak around in. You can also lay traps with fireworks, Cursed Cannonballs and other explosive materials. All of this is in addition to new Commendations and cosmetics (including some spooky options like the Coral Coven set).

Sea of Thieves is available for PS5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review of the PS5 version (which has reportedly sold over a million copies).

When you think of pirates, sneaking around is probably the last thing that comes to mind. Nevertheless, crouching generates less noise and hides the player’s nameplate, making it easier to give enemy crews the slip. You can also hang off the side of ships and use disguises like barrels and treasure chests to sneak, Metal Gear Solid-style.

Even the PvE-focused will find it helpful since enemies will notice them less easily. As for new weapons, there’s a Blow Dart Gun for putting enemies to sleep, poisoning, and even generating fake sounds to distract enemies.

Stay tuned for more details when Sea of Thieves: Season 14 goes live next week. The sea-faring action adventure is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5.

In its first month alone, Sea of Thieves on PS5 turned out to be incredibly successful, topping download charts in the EU and securing third place on the US/Canada charts. The following month, even the US/Canada charts saw Sea of Thieves climb to the top.

Shortly prior to its PlayStation release, developer Rare revealed that Sea of Thieves had crossed 40 million players since its original launch. The developer has yet to provide an updated figure following the game’s PS5 launch.

Sea of Thieves was one of four Xbox games to get released on other platforms, alongside Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and Grounded.

For more details, check out our review of the PS5 release of Sea of Thieves.

The company revealed an updated roster of titles appearing during the livestreams. August 21st will feature Diablo Immortal, Overwatch 2, Forza Horizon 5, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, and Dustborn. On August 22nd, we can expect to see Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Two Point Museum, The First Berserker: Khazan, Eternal Strands, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, and more.

Aside from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, August 23rd will feature  Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Path of Exile 2, The First Descendant, Tails of Iron 2, and Sea of Thieves. Stay tuned for more details when the shows unfold next week.

As per charts recently published by Sony on the PlayStation Blog, Sea of Thieves was the most downloaded game on the PS5 in both the Europe and US/Canada charts. The month prior, the game topped the charts in Europe, while coming in at No. 3 in the US/Canada charts.

Interestingly, the most downloaded game on the PlayStation 4 in both regions – Minecraft – was also a Microsoft-published title, so clearly the company is enjoying plenty of success on Sony’s platforms.

Recently, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed that Microsoft intends to continue releasing more games for non-Xbox consoles. Currently, the company has two upcoming multiplatform releases officially announced in the form of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which launches this October, and DOOM: The Dark Ages, which releases next year.