There’s an Elite controller for everyone. No matter what games you like to play, the controller provides you with the best experience to fit your gaming style. To highlight this, we’re introducing Xbox Elite Cereal, which puts passionate gamers at the forefront of popular culture in a way that’s reserved for traditional athletes and celebrities. While not a real cereal, it’s a metaphor for all the ways any gamer can be Elite with their own perfect Elite Series 2 controller.
We’ve partnered with gaming influencers, Chica, Myth, and Loserfruit to celebrate the unparalleled value, choice, and diversity of the Elite Series 2 lineup. They will share more about their experience with Elite and this new partnership on their respective TikTok channels throughout the rest of this month.
Of course, if this was a real cereal, it would need to come complete with an Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 inside as a prize. We’ve even come up with some fictional flavors for Xbox Elite Cereal, each representing the three different members of the Elite family:
Wheat Flakes: Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2
Frosted Wheats: Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 – Core in white
Mallos: Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 with Xbox Design Lab
Every good cereal also needs its own jingle and mascot. Inspired by the iconic characters and catchy tunes of classic cereal advertisements, the Xbox Elite Cereal commercial introduces our new Elite mascot, who’s here to help everyone choose the Elite Series 2 controller that’s best for them. Watch the official Xbox Elite Cereal commercial below/here:
Visit the brand-new Elite Family page on Xbox.com to learn more and find your own Elite Series 2 controller.
I went hands-on with Redfall, playing a solo mission twice to discover how much of a difference your character choice will make.
Redfall launches with four characters, each with wildly differing abilities and upgrade paths, making each paythrough different.
Redfall arrives on May 2 for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC, and will be part of Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass on day one.
Arkane has always been a studio that puts player choice at the heart of its ideas. Dishonored gives you huge choice about how to approach your hapless targets. Deathloop, created by Arkane Austin’s sister studio in Lyon, lets you tackle its story in a close-to-infinite number of ways. Prey offers you tools to uncover the mystery hidden at its core, but doesn’t stand in the way of you using them however you’d like. It stands to reason that Arkane Austin’s newest project, Redfall, would live by the same code. But the way it’s approaching that player choice is strikingly new – your approach to taking back a vampire-strewn Massachusetts island will be defined as much by the character you choose to play, as it is your actual interactions.
Redfall’s cast of four playable heroes is the largest an Arkane game has offered. After playing through a 90-minute demo twice, using two different solo characters, it becomes abundantly clear what the team is aiming for here – Redfall is a game that opens up in very different directions based on who you play as – in mechanics, in combat, in exploration, and even in the way it tells its story.
The story mission I was presented with was fairly simple. Get to a mansion on the edge of town, enter a scientist’s lab, and discover his connection to the vampire plague that’s seen you trapped on the island. Getting to that mansion is the tougher part. I chose to make a beeline through the heart of Redfall, passing through Vampire Nests and violent cultist territory, and eventually into the mansion grounds – patrolled, as you’d expect, by a large number of enemies. Much of your route is urban by design, meaning tightly packed streets, high walls, and not a huge amount of room in which to manoeuvre.
Each character comes with a range of upgradable skills and, as I discovered, they make an enormous difference to that journey. I played this same mission with two characters – Devinder Crousley and Remi de la Rosa – and found that the way played was affected entirely by that choice. Here’s how those playthroughs went:
Playing With Remi
An elite Navy rescue team member, Remi is the prototypical action star of the bunch. Having spent her life on combat frontlines, she’s equipped to take on Redfall’s many monstrosities with brute force. But she’s also an engineer, and has brought along a robot buddy, Bribón to help her do so with more finesse than simply “stake anything that moves”.
As you might expect, Remi’s toolkit is designed to let her take down groups of enemies from close range (and she has passive upgrade that allow her to increase close range damage, pushing you further down that path), and to keep her alive while she does so. Her most aggressive ability is a sticky C4 charge that can be detonated remotely, letting you damage multiple enemies at once, or set traps as you guide enemies you grief into its path. To help you with the latter, Remi can also use Bribón (who is a separate AI character, with its own healthbar and attacks) to set off a siren, letting you alert multiple enemies and draw them to you.
Combining these two abilities became key to how I got through Redfall’s streets smoothly. After spotting enemies, I’d throw down a C4 charge and set off Bribón’s siren – a group would charge the robot, while I snuck around cover and flanked them. Having upgraded my siren ability to let me do more damage to enemies that had been attracted by it, I’d then finish off the group with a shotgun, using its attached stake to take down any vampires I put into a vulnerable state.
Playing with Remi as a solo character turns Redfall into an action-packed experience, asking you to balance risk and reward constantly.
If things got too hairy, I could turn to Remi’s ultimate ability, Mobilize, creating a rally point that healed me while I was inside its radius. In these moments, I played like a classic tank, absorbing lots of damage while dealing even more of my own. Most vampires can’t be killed with bullets alone, so in battle with multiple monsters, I’d switch out my shotgun-and-stake for a weapon that fired a UV beam – useless against human enemies, but able to turn vampires to stone in short order, letting me shatter them with a simple melee attack.
I cleared vampire nests (psychical spaces that offer big rewards in return for taking on their challenges) and unlocked a safehouse, which offers safe harbour, a new fast travel point, and extra missions. But attracting so much attention on the streets also increased the attention of the island’s Vampire Gods. As I approached the mansion, a lightning storm erupted around me, and saw the appearance of the Rook – a brutal, melee-focused mini-boss sent to kill me for doing so much damage along the way. It’s a lovely, emergent touch, and an extra trial designed to test you after you’ve begun to master combat.
With the experience I earned from taking down the Rook, I also upgraded my C4 charge to let me ‘boom jump’, taking no area of effect damage and eliminating fall damage, but I used this mainly as another means to get behind enemies while they were distracted – and once I entered the mansion grounds, I combined my abilities to clear out as many enemies as possible in its gardens because of how much aggression I could absorb, before entering its winding corridors with a stake launcher (able to one-shot most vampires) to take down any stragglers.
As you can tell, playing with Remi as a solo character turns Redfall into an action-packed experience, asking you to balance risk and reward constantly. But playing as Devinder offered a very different vibe while engaging with the same mission.
Playing With Devinder
Think of Devinder as, essentially, all four Ghostbusters rolled into one – he has the scientific expertise of Spengler, the wonder of Stantz, the cool demeanour of Zeddemore, and the wit of Venkman. A filmmaker and author with an audience interested in the paranormal, his kit revolves around inventions he’s created to find and document supernatural entities – but he’s now had to upgrade it to kill them off as well.
Devinder’s kit is very different to Remi’s. His Arc Javelin is a mid-range attack that acts as a combined stake and area-of-effect attack, sending electricity out to incapacitate enemies (and vampires can be outright killed by being hit by its lightning). His ultimate, Blacklight, is a super-powered UV beam weapon, which can transform an entire area of vampires into stone near-instantly – very useful for getting out of a tight spot.
And this is the interesting thing about playing as Devinder – the final piece of his toolset is as much about avoiding attention as it is dealing with it. The Translocator is Redfall’s closest analogue to Dishonored’s Blink, a throwable device that lets you instantly transport to where it lands. As a result, instead of getting into action on the streets, I spent most of my journey getting onto rooftops, quietly taking out Watchers (a Vampire form that act like roving security cameras) with my Javelin, and sneaking past larger groups.
Think of Devinder as, essentially, all four Ghostbusters rolled into one.
Like with Remi, I took out a Vampire Nest on my way – but instead of running in guns blazing, I carefully scaled a church roof, entering a belltower and creeping into the encounter instead of taking down the guards around it. And without attracting so much ire, I also didn’t have to take on the Rook, who would have been a sterner challenge with a set of weapons built more for long-range combat.
Even the more manicured mansion grounds played out differently with Devinder. Instead of entering through the front gates, I used my translocator to sneak into the back garden, bypassing deadly areas of Blood Mist that had forced Remi to use the front door. It felt like playing the same game made by a different set of developers, with different interests in how to challenge you, adding a puzzle layer on top of its meaty gunplay.
But perhaps my favorite part of playing with Devinder wasn’t mechanical at all – it was how he told the story along the way. As a para-scientist, Devinder’s interactions with all of this weren’t defined by anger, fear, or triumph as much as they were by fascination. Every new type of vampire I met was greeted by Devinder talking about their physiology or behavior, ending with him giving them a name – a Watcher, a Shroud, and so on (clearly, Devinder is the member of the group creating the vampire taxonomy that the rest of the team use). It’s a lovely choice, making playing with Devinder as much of a documentary about the vampire plague as it is an action story.
Mixing it Up
Of course, the two other characters, Layla and Jacob, would have changed this experience for themselves. And this is just in solo play – every character also comes with abilities designed for co-op play (which also increases the number of enemies you need to fight as you go). Remi can upgrade Bribón to heal the whole team is they stay close by, while Devinder can up allies’ damage through ‘Color Commentary’. I’m just as fascinated to see how these disparate toolsets work when combined as I am to try them all solo.
Even at this early stage, this spin on Arkane’s traditional openness to player expression is intoxicating, enlivening both solo and co-op play. I’m very excited to try out those other characters and delve deeper into how Redfall will let us experiment with its tools.
Redfall is an open-world, single player and co-op FPS from Arkane Austin, the award-winning team behind Prey and Dishonored. Continuing Arkane’s legacy of carefully crafted worlds and immersive sims, Redfall brings the studio’s signature gameplay to this story-driven action shooter.
Dig your teeth into the Bite Back Edition and receive the Redfall Hero Pass, the Throwback Outfit Pack, Laser Beam multi-weapon skin, and the Tactical Knife Stake weapon attachment for close-range fights. The Redfall Hero Pass gives you access to two future heroes with unique powers and gameplay. The Throwback Outfit Pack includes a unique outfit and backpack for each of the four base heroes inspired by their lives before Redfall.
INCLUDES:
– Redfall Base Game
– Redfall Hero Pass with Two Future Heroes
– Laser Beam Multi-Weapon Skin
– Tactical Knife Stake Weapon Attachment
– Northern Expedition Devinder Outfit
– Eyes in the Dark Jacob Outfit
– War Clothes Layla Outfit
– Engineer Volunteer Remi Outfit
Pre-order or play on Game Pass to receive the Vampire Hunter Pack, including:
– Level 2 Unrivaled Grim Tide Shotgun
– Polar Vortex Multi-Weapon Skin
– Blood Ravager Stake weapon attachment
FEATURES:
Uncover the Truth, Take Back Redfall
The island town of Redfall, Massachusetts, is under siege by a legion of vampires who have blocked out the sun and cut the citizens off from the outside world. Explore the open world and immerse yourself in a deep story campaign as you unravel the mystery behind the vampires’ appearance. Ally with a handful of survivors against the creatures threatening to bleed the town dry.
Slay Alone or Squad Up
Redfall blends single- and multiplayer options seamlessly, allowing the player to venture into the darkness alone or to squad-up for up to four player co-op. Teammates can try different hero loadouts and combine their strengths to find creative solutions to the vampire apocalypse. You will collect an arsenal of specialized weaponry and customize your character with unique upgrades and abilities to suit your playstyle for guns blazing, stealth combat, and everything in-between.
Unconventional Heroes Vs. The Night
Created by science experiments gone wrong and gifted with psychic abilities, Redfall’s vampires will challenge you and your squad to get creative. You will choose from a team of diverse heroes – each with their own character-specific abilities – to overcome the vampire legion and their brood of maniacal followers.
– DEVINDER CROUSLEY – The Verified Cryptid Hunter: A cryptozoologist and aspiring inventor. Armed with weapons of his own creation, he’s on a mission to prove himself.
– LAYLA ELLISON – The Telekinetic Threat: A biomedical engineering student who volunteered for a medical trial where something went very wrong, leaving her with intense telekinetic abilities.
– REMI DE LA ROSA – The Ingenious Ingeniera: A brilliant combat engineer who has spent her life on the frontlines. With the help of her robot cohort, Bribón, she’s determined to help rescue Redfall’s survivors.
– JACOB BOYER – The Deadeye with an Undead Eye: An ex-military sharpshooter turned private contractor. Strange happenings on Redfall have left Jacob with a mysterious vampiric eye and a spectral raven that’s never far from his side.
The Open World of Redfall
Redfall is a true Arkane experience set in a rich world that blends the familiar with the extraordinary. Redfall’s open world is handcrafted by the master level designers behind Prey’s Talos I space station and Dishonored’s Dunwall. From the town’s once-bustling downtown and the haunted forest to the decimated seaside boardwalk and beyond, you will fight through cultist outposts and supernatural psychic spaces as you piece together Redfall’s many mysteries.
Redfall is an open-world, single player and co-op FPS from Arkane Austin, the award-winning team behind Prey and Dishonored. Continuing Arkane’s legacy of carefully crafted worlds and immersive sims, Redfall brings the studio’s signature gameplay to this story-driven action shooter.
Pre-order or Play on Game Pass to receive the Vampire Hunter Pack, including:
– Level 2 Unrivaled Grim Tide Shotgun
– Polar Vortex Multi-Weapon Skin
– Blood Ravager Stake Weapon Attachment
Upgrade to the Bite Back Edition to receive:
– Redfall Base Game
– Redfall Hero Pass with Two Future Heroes
– Laser Beam Multi-Weapon Skin
– Tactical Knife Stake Weapon Attachment
– Throwback Outfit Pack (Unique Outfit for Each Hero)
FEATURES:
Uncover the Truth, Take Back Redfall
The island town of Redfall, Massachusetts, is under siege by a legion of vampires who have blocked out the sun and cut the citizens off from the outside world. Explore the open world and immerse yourself in a deep story campaign as you unravel the mystery behind the vampires’ appearance. Ally with a handful of survivors against the creatures threatening to bleed the town dry.
Slay Alone or Squad Up
Redfall blends single- and multiplayer options seamlessly, allowing the player to venture into the darkness alone or to squad-up for up to four player co-op. Teammates can try different hero loadouts and combine their strengths to find creative solutions to the vampire apocalypse. You will collect an arsenal of specialized weaponry and customize your character with unique upgrades and abilities to suit your playstyle for guns blazing, stealth combat, and everything in-between.
Unconventional Heroes Vs. The Night
Created by science experiments gone wrong and gifted with psychic abilities, Redfall’s vampires will challenge you and your squad to get creative. You will choose from a team of diverse heroes – each with their own character-specific abilities – to overcome the vampire legion and their brood of maniacal followers.
– DEVINDER CROUSLEY – The Verified Cryptid Hunter: A cryptozoologist and aspiring inventor. Armed with weapons of his own creation, he’s on a mission to prove himself.
– LAYLA ELLISON – The Telekinetic Threat: A biomedical engineering student who volunteered for a medical trial where something went very wrong, leaving her with intense telekinetic abilities.
– REMI DE LA ROSA – The Ingenious Ingeniera: A brilliant combat engineer who has spent her life on the frontlines. With the help of her robot cohort, Bribón, she’s determined to help rescue Redfall’s survivors.
– JACOB BOYER – The Deadeye with an Undead Eye: An ex-military sharpshooter turned private contractor. Strange happenings on Redfall have left Jacob with a mysterious vampiric eye and a spectral raven that’s never far from his side.
The Open World of Redfall
Redfall is a true Arkane experience set in a rich world that blends the familiar with the extraordinary. Redfall’s open world is handcrafted by the master level designers behind Prey’s Talos I space station and Dishonored’s Dunwall. From the town’s once-bustling downtown and the haunted forest to the decimated seaside boardwalk and beyond, you will fight through cultist outposts and supernatural psychic spaces as you piece together Redfall’s many mysteries.
Hello there, fellow Agents! It’s been a long time coming, but I’m incredibly excited to announce that Deceive Inc. – my studio’s brand new social stealth PvP extraction shooter – is out now on Xbox Series X|S!
As Deceive Inc. Agents, you’ll be dropped into exotic locales – tasked with remaining undercover, gathering intel, and competing with rival Agents to thwart each respective evil villain’s plan for world domination. Secret agent caper? Nah! Just another day at the office.
Deceive Inc. is not your typical multiplayer game. One of the shining examples of this is in how we approach map design. Each map in Deceive Inc. effectively serves as its own tiny open world. Crawling with NPCs, secret corridors, a VIP villain, and more, the maps we’ve designed at Sweet Bandits Studios are purpose-built to feel uniquely alive and full of discovery.
To prepare you for your new life as a secret agent, I threw together this summary of all four maps available at launch. Just don’t tell IRIS, they may get mad at me.
Hard Sell
In the regal home of information broker-turned-supervillain, Sebastian Garcia, Agents must infiltrate an auction to steal the Bull’s Eye: an art piece containing a hard drive full of secret government data.
In operation Hard Sell, you’ll find yourself navigating Garcia’s Super-Villa as attendees and party-goers await a high-profile auction. As a tried-and-true super villain, Sebastian Garcia has retrofitted his mansion with loads of corridors and secret passageways to discover.
Silver Reef
As two disruptors in the world of high-fashion bulletproof fabric, the Evensen Twins know how to show up in style. Which is why they’ve booked the luxurious Frozen Coral Hotel for the unveiling of a brand new prototype. Fashion is serious business. Especially for Deceive Inc.! Which is why the Agents have been tasked with preventing this prototype from hitting the market.
A shining example of the extravagance and excess of high fashion, Silver Reef is a hotel resort designed to be pure spectacle, but it also serves another purpose. This map is the only one to feature two VIP characters, the Evensen twins. Having two VIP characters to disguise yourself as makes it twice as hard for players to sus out who could be a player, and who is the NPC. Use this tactic to your advantage.
Diamond Spire
Jati bin Teh is a force to be reckoned with. As a business mogul, actor, musician, and athlete; his sphere of influence has inflated to an incredibly dangerous level. His Aspire by Jati Tower contains a R&D Laboratory where they have reportedly synthesized a highly addictive secret ingredient for the entrepreneur’s new sports drink. Jati has become big enough. It’s up to Deceive Inc. to balance the market.
Diamond Spire is the Deceive Inc. map with the most verticality. How you approach exploring the map’s many levels will determine your success during the insertion phase. Choose your gadgets wisely, and you may find that the increase in mobility will help you sweep through this skyscraper quicker than your rival agents.
Fragrant Shore
For this mission, Deceive Inc. is sending you to San Flores – a gorgeous tropical port city in the Caribbean. Intel suggests that this quaint island getaway is also where fragrance maven Luana is synthesizing her new eau de parfum. Not only will it make you smell amazing, it will also give her complete control over your mind. If you don’t mind, follow the scent, and extract this toxin, agents. We’re counting on you.
Fragrant Shore takes place primarily outdoors. There are tons of alleyways to take cover in if you find yourself overwhelmed in a firefight. Once it comes time to infiltrate the vault, you’ll find that there are less places to hide, and you may come across a bottleneck that brings you face to face with your rival agents. Make sure you explore all of your options for entering the vault, as the most obvious option may not be the best one.
Stay up to date on Deceive Inc. by following @PlayDeceiveInc on Twitter and Instagram, and also make sure to join the top-tier agents over on our Discord! Most importantly, play Decieve, Inc.on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One today!
Go undercover as the world’s greatest secret agents in this multiplayer game of social stealth and subterfuge. Disguise yourself as anyone to blend into the crowd, deploy high-tech gadgets to gain the upper hand, and extract the package before the competition takes it for themselves! No trick is too dirty when you work for DECEIVE INC.
Game Features:
MEET THE SPIES – Pick your play style with a roster of diverse agents, each with their own customizable weapon and skillset. From world-renowned burglars to up-and-coming espionage sensations, DECEIVE INC. prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer.
GEAR UP – Create your loadout from a plethora of highly versatile gadgets. With agent’s favorites like the Inflatable mat, holo-mimic, and bulletproof umbrella, our world-class R&D department has you covered. Literally.
MASTER YOUR DISGUISE – Use your trusty holographic watch to avoid detection and infiltrate restricted areas by disguising yourself as one of the various types of NPCs. Or equip the holo-mimic gadget to fully blend in by taking the form of inanimate objects like toilets, chairs, plants, and more!
VISIT EXOTIC LOCALES – While working for DECEIVE INC., you’ll visit many locations all over the globe. Teeming with sophisticated NPCs and full of secrets for you to discover, every map comes to life the minute you load into a match.
CHOOSE YOUR MODE – Squad up with other agents and craft the perfect heist in Teams mode, or squash the competition as a lone wolf in Solos.
DECEIVE INC. also features support for gaming in 4K HDR at 60 FPS on Xbox Series X|S
Want to get a taste of what it’s like to work at DECEIVE INC.? From November 11th to November 13th come join us for an invite-only Closed Alpha Internship! (Unpaid and potentially unsafe, of course)
After the destruction of the Antonov An-225 “Mriya,” the team behind Microsoft Flight Simulatorendeavored to recreate it in-game and begin the process of helping rebuild it in real-life.
We spoke to Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann to learn how this ambitious project got off the ground.
Available in the in-game store, you can fly the Antonov An-225 “Mriya” today in Microsoft Flight Simulator on both console and PC.
I’m a big fan of airplanes. Large ones, small ones, medium sized… Each one is extraordinary in their own way when you take a step back and consider how incredible it is that these manmade machines can conquer the sky. There have been thousands of unique aircraft designs that have taken flight; the SR-71 “Blackbird” for its otherworldly look, the P-38 “Lightning” with its unique H-shaped design, and the iconic B-17 “Flying Fortress” which lives up to its namesake as a literal fortification in the sky, are some personal favorites. But none have been quite as impressive as the Antonov An-225, affectionately known as “Mriya.”
Designated as the An-225, since it could carry up to a colossal 225 tons of cargo, the Mriya (which translates to “dream” in Ukrainian) was the largest and heaviest aircraft in the world. Originally created to transport the Buran-class orbiters in the 1980s before being retrofitted to carry oversized payloads, it housed six turbofan engines across its immense wingspan, two large vertical stabilizers, and a 32-wheel landing gear assembly — there was truly nothing like it.
Needless to say, it was upsetting when news broke in early 2022 that the only existing Mriya was destroyed during the Battle of Antonov Airport, at the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
So, when I first heard the news the team behind Microsoft Flight Simulatorwas moving forward with an ambitious goal of not only recreating the aircraft for everyone to enjoy in their world-class flight simulator, but equally determined to bring the real Mriya back to life, I had to learn more. I managed to catch up with Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann, shortly after the announcement of the aircraft’s launch in Microsoft Flight Simulator, to discover more about this amazing project.
“There was an outcry in the flight sim community that day [February 27, 2022] and all of us were really affected by the news,” Jorg recounts upon first hearing of Mriya’s destruction. “In our team meeting, there was an outpouring of sadness and shock. Personally, it struck me deeply as the Mriya had also been a symbol of mankind’s ingenuity… it was in that meeting that I quite emotionally said we need to preserve the memory of this great aircraft in our sim.”
“Personally, it struck me deeply as the Mriya had also been a symbol of mankind’s ingenuity.”
After the meeting, Jorg contacted Chief Pilot for Antonov Airlines Dmytro Antonov via LinkedIn and reached out to their Microsoft office in Ukraine. At that time, no one in Ukraine was able to talk to about digital preservation of the An-225, but one key contact, Alexander Matsko, embraced the idea of bringing Mriya into Microsoft Flight Simulator.
“It was delightful news for us, considering the high professional level of the Microsoft team and their high international reputation,” described Deputy General Director for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines Viktor Avdieiev, upon hearing the news that Microsoft was trying to bring the An-225 back in a flight simulator. “This aircraft occupied a special place in global aviation history; no such other plane exists… Thanks to this product, many people get to know this powerful bird and will love it as we do.”
“We kept in touch over the tumultuous months,” Jorg described. “[Matsko] later introduced us to Antonov Company and really was instrumental in making this happen. On our side, I contacted Ubaid, the head of iniBuilds, a close partner of ours that had just completed an excellent rendition of the Airbus A310-300. He and his team of experts were equally enthusiastic, and work began shortly thereafter.”
It was that team of 17 at iniBuilds that brought the An-225 to life in Microsoft Flight Simulator. You can really get a sense of the passion they poured into the finished product because it’s such an extremely hyper-detailed recreation of the Antonov An-225, and players can now experience it on both Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC.
“This aircraft occupied a special place in global aviation history; no such other plane exists.”
“They [iniBuilds] did lots of online research initially, and collected open questions in a detailed list that was then sent to Antonov,” Jorg told me. “Antonov filled in all the blanks, which is why we were able to reach such a high degree of authenticity.”
“The specialists had the opportunity to visit Mr. Antonov and several other Antonov Company engineers in Leipzig, where they flew the digital plane together,” Avdieiev describes. “Antonov Company provided the original recordings of the An-225, and An-124’s engines were recorded to make digital Mriya sound realistic.”
iniBuilds had the full support of the Antonov Company and Mr. Dmitry Antonov, the Chief pilot of the An-225. Mr. Antonov also made a video series with lots of incredible detail that helped Jorg and his team to initially get going on the digital re-creation. Other details were filled in when the team met him and other Antonov pilots for a test session in Leipzig.
“It was truly an enlightening experience talking to the pilots who flew the Antonov An-225,” Jorg said. “The most unique point we learned was understanding the handling characteristics of such a unique large aircraft! Their feedback allowed us to make the aircraft fly as close to reality in Microsoft Flight Simulator.”
The pilots of Antonov gave the team real insight into the various areas of the plane and the uses they had. For example, they advised that being such a unique aircraft, the Antonov An-225 carried its own towbar to maneuver safely out of any airport it flew to around the world. One was specially modelled just like it for the simulator and can be seen in the cargo bay of the version found in Microsoft Flight Simulator.
“What if they could bring Mriya… back to life?”
But the team at Microsoft Flight Simulator were not merely satisfied with a digital recreation of the aircraft. What if they could bring Mriya… back to life? That’s when discussions with the Antonov Company went deeper on how they could find a way to help contribute to the rebuilding of this aircraft.
“We decided to give 100% of the gross receipts from the sale of the digital An-225 for one year after launch directly to Antonov Company so the money could be used to rebuild the An-225.” Jorg said. “If Antonov determines that rebuilding isn’t feasible, then the funds can alternatively be used to create a memorial to the plane.”
Proceeds from the in-game DLC will go toward rebuilding the An-225 and currently this is the only method through which the sim and gaming community can contribute to this effort. Still, it’s a lofty goal and if it doesn’t come to fruition, there are plans to find other ways to honor the aircraft’s legacy.
“We did not set a minimum donation but instead opted to give Antonov all the money we receive. We feel strongly that we want to help restore a national treasure to its former glory and highlight the resilience of Ukraine. So far, we’re thrilled with the reaction from the simmer community.”
“We feel strongly that we want to help restore a national treasure to its former glory and highlight the resilience of Ukraine.”
Asking Jorg what he hopes simmers take away from the experience of piloting this incredibly unique aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator, Jorg was insightful in his response.
“The Mriya is not just the world’s heaviest plane that broke, and still holds, a large amount of aviation records. Like much of [the aviation community], to me, it stands as a monument for what we as humans can achieve. The dream of flight goes back a very long time, and it was realized over centuries by brilliant minds around the world. The Mriya was, and is, a significant milestone in that aviation history and in the history of human ingenuity. I hope simmers will appreciate the engineering marvel of this aircraft and dream that the Mriya will one day fly in our skies again.”
This March, some great rewards are coming to hit games from the EA catalog, such as Apex Legends, FIFA 23 and multiple others through EA Play. Here are this month’s rewards for EA Play members:
Battlefield 2042 Hand Cannon Epic Weapon Charm – Now to April 1
Apex Legends Prowler’s Fortune Weapon Charm – Now to April 10
NHL 23 WOC Roman Set – Now to March 31
FIFA 23FUT Hero Jerzy Dudek Tifo Set – Now to March 31
FIFA 23 FUT EA (Re)Play: Vol. 3 Stadium Set – FIFA 23 – March 23 to April 27
FIFA 23 VOLTA K League Anniversary Apparel and Coins – Now to March 30
FIFA 23 Pro Clubs 80s Skate Zig Zag Mask – March 17 to April 28
FIFA 23 Adidas Run for the Ocean White Tee and Coins – March 17 to April 28
FIFA 23 FUT Season 5 XP Boost – Now to April 28
Madden NFL 23 MUT March Pack – Now to April 3
In addition to these rewards, EA Play members can access a growing library of fan-favorite games, including the gripping F1 22, the next generation of all-out warfare Battlefield 2042, as well as Madden NFL 23 where players can experience innovative gameplay features including the game changing impact of FieldSense – a new foundation for consistent, ultra-realistic gameplay. EA Playmembers also get access to select new-release EA games for up to 10 hours, such as the latest trial for Wild Hearts. The EA Play trial allows hunters to play up to the gates of Minato and battle the mighty Kemono; players who decide to purchase the game will have their progress carry over to the full game.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Game Pass PC members receive EA Play at no additional cost with their Game Pass subscription. Members enjoy great player benefits, including in-game challenges and rewards, special member-only content, trials of select brand-new titles, access to a collection of EA’s best-loved series and top titles, and 10% off purchases of Electronic Arts digital content.
Welcome back to my favorite surprise, what games are you playing next? If you missed it, we announced an additional game that you’ll want to get into your download queue (Looking at you Ghostwire: Tokyo). For now, let’s get to the games!
Available Today
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom – The Prince’s Edition (Cloud, Console and PC) Once upon a time, there was a world torn by endless war. But then came a great king who would change this world forever. Join the young king Evan to found a new kingdom in the Prince’s Edition, which includes all DLCs.
Coming Soon
MLB The Show 23 (Cloud and Console) – March 28 Available on day one with Game Pass: MLB The Show 23 gets you closer than ever to living your baseball dreams on the diamond. Shock the game and own the show with your favorite players, your favorite rivalries, and all your favorite MLB moments. Want to hit the field early? Game Pass members can get four days early access on March 24 including additional in-game items with the purchase of the Early Access Bundle. Read more about the new updates and features coming to MLB The Show 23 here.
Infinite Guitars (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 30 Available on day one with Game Pass: The metal war machines have reawakened—and only your electric guitar can turn their technology against them! Gather up your party, tune up your favorite axe, and get ready to rock in Infinite Guitars, a rhythm RPG featuring vibrant anime-inspired art, adrenaline-fueled Mech battles, and a blazing original soundtrack.
In Case You Missed It
Ghostwire: Tokyo Coming to Xbox Game Pass April 12 Explore a modern metropolis amidst a massive paranormal event in Ghostwire: Tokyo, coming to Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S and PC April 12! Join a ghostly ally to confront spirits, myth and folklore come to life in this supernatural action-adventure from Tango Gameworks, complete with the new Spider’s Thread update. Learn more here.
DLC / Game Updates
Cities: Skylines – Hubs & Transport – March 22 Cities: Skylines World Tour – The Last Stops begin on March 22 with new Content Creator Packs including Shopping Malls, Africa in Miniature and Sports Venues, along with radio stations – 80’s Movies Tunes, Pop Punk Radio & JADIA Radio.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Scribes of Fate DLC – March 28 Xbox Game Pass members can save up to 10% on Crowns in the Xbox Store! Discover two new four-player dungeons and begin your Shadow Over Morrowind saga in The Elder Scrolls Online: Scribes of Fate. Investigate a Telvanni anomaly in Bal Sunnar and battle for the soul of a Daedric cult in Scrivener’s Hall – available March 28 on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S!
Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure – March 29 Your Forza Horizon 5Rally Adventure is coming on March 29! Drive purpose-built rally monsters and conquer the rugged Sierra Nueva. Attack Horizon’s most thrilling routes in Timed Rally and Multi-Car Races. Feel the intensity of massive dust trails and deformable roads in 10 new cars. Game Pass members can save 10% on the Premium Add-Ons Bundle and get immediate access on March 29.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks
3-Month Free Trial of Apple TV+ – Available until March 31 Ted Lasso is back! The Emmy-winning smash series returns for a third season with more optimism, determination…and biscuits. Claim your Perk for 3 months free of Apple TV+ and stream now. Hurry up though! You have until March 31 to score this great offer.
Leaving March 31
The following games are leaving the Game Pass library soon. It might be worth clearing your gaming schedule this weekend to jump back into these games, but you can always use your membership discount to save up to 20% on your purchase before they go!
A Memoir Blue (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Chinatown Detective Agency (Cloud, Console, and PC)
ClusterTruck (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Double Dragon Neon (Cloud and Console)
Kraken Academy!! (Cloud, Console, and PC)
MLB The Show 22 (Cloud and Console)
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (Cloud, Console, and PC)
As always, we’ll have more news, more perks, and more games for you here and on @XboxGamePass and @XboxGamePassPC on Twitter. Talk to you here soon!
From now until March 27, 2023, a dozen demos are available to play as part of the ID@Xbox GDC Online Demo Event.
From a multiplayer horror FPS to a live action mystery, there’s something for everyone included.
If you’re attending GDC, you can find these demos at the ID@Xbox Sponsored Kiosk in the IGF Pavilion.
GDC 2023 is here, and this year we’ve got a special treat for everyone! Starting today and running until March 27, 2023, a dozen demos are available to play as part of the ID@Xbox GDC Online Demo Event. We encourage you to continue to check them out all week before they disappear. Oh yeah, and don’t forget you can provide feedback to the developers, too!
All the demos are available Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and show how varied the ID@Xbox line-up is – from a multiplayer horror FPS to a live action mystery, there’s something for everyone included. Keep in mind that most of these demos are an early look at gameplay and may not represent the full game at their release, including the availability in each country as developers continue to update and refine their title ahead of launch.
If you’re searching for the games on console, visit the Microsoft Store on Xbox, select the Search button, type “Demo,” press Enter, then select Demos to find these games. Alternatively, you can click on any of their title links below in the post to be taken to their respective game pages.
If you are checking out GDC in-person, you can find these demos at the ID@Xbox Sponsored Kiosk in the IGF Pavilion (Booth: N2431) at the Moscone North Hall. The IGF Pavilion is open Wednesday, March 22 through Friday, March 24.
Below is the diverse list of games that will be available to try!
Reset an AI gone rogue as you traverse the space station, The Arc, in this beautiful Cyberpunk-styled action-roguelite set in the far future! Start each run as an augmented, cloned human and save The Arc from destruction!
A truly creative strategic puzzle game. Manipulate four threads of time to guide your band through perilous predicaments. Manage squad resources to maximize your score. Experience a homage to 1990s ensemble dramedies. Customize your music with audio effect pedals and playing styles.
Indulge in a delicious adventure as you choose to battle or befriend your enemies to save the day your way! Personalize your cupcake hero and meet charming friends along the way. Leave the world better off than you found it in this turn-based RPG.
The villainous Conductor Chaos challenges you to become the next star player of Booom-Slang! You will need to master a myriad of single-player and multiplayer modes to make it to the top. Mashing together stylized low-poly art with zany FMV sequences, get ready for top-down, twin-stick shooting, catastrophic chimera madness!
Boxville is an adventure puzzle game about speechless cans living in the city of boxes and drawing doodles on cardboard to tell their stories. Boxville is good for either playing alone, allowing you to dive into the atmosphere and challenge your brain with sophisticated logic puzzles and riddles, or playing with a friend or family member to share unique audio-visual experiences and solve the puzzles together.
Evil Wizard is a humor-filled action RPG that puts you in the shoes of a former Final Boss. Rise from defeat, rediscover long lost powers, and fight to reclaim your castle from an army of so-called heroes. Evil Wizard has also won the GDC Best in Play 2023 accolade.
New jobs can be tense – especially when you’re about to become a doctor! Join Finley on an original narrative adventure as you take your first steps in a new and exciting world. Together, experience the last days of summer before a change of seasons stirs up the sleepy town of Porcupine.
Live the memorable experience of a first-person, story-driven adventure and puzzle game. Avoid traps, use your jetpack and taser gun to think your way through zero gravity puzzles in a mysterious space station. In the end, what are you really trying to escape?
The round-based co-op survival FPS and spin-off to the award-winning British horror game, Maid of Sker. Play solo or with up to four players to survive the supernatural onslaught of the Quiet Ones. Face hordes of new and familiar enemies, supercharged elites with unique supernatural powers, upgradeable steam-punk weapons, interchangeable spine-chilling masks, and mysterious story objectives.
Burn your soul! Soulvars is a pixel art turn-based deckbuilding RPG where your party of Soulbearers face off against invading Dominators in dynamic high-speed battles.
An absent father must rescue his teenage daughter from an eclectic cult before their final night at the Isle Tide Hotel. Players investigate the strange events that unfold to save Eleanor Malone in this live-action interactive mystery game, where every decision affects the story.
Join Ludovik in a 2D Stealth Platformer and Graphic Adventure set 20,000 years after the extinction of humanity, as he explores the jungles of a futuristic Babylon to discover the secret behind the Library of Babel’s sudden lockdown and the mysteries behind their mythical creators.
Head over to your console and start enjoying these super rad game demos on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S! And yes, we’d love to hear what you think. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord, Twitch, and YouTube. And make sure to stay tuned to Xbox Wire to read more about ID@Xbox games throughout the year. learn more about what Team Xbox has planned during GDC.
On the fifth anniversary of Sea of Thieves, we spoke to key members of the team to learn about the very first ideas that sparked this project.
This exclusive retrospective includes never-before-told stories about the game’s creation.
Stay to the end to learn about everything Rare has on offer for the game’s fifth anniversary.
If you listen to enough developers talk about how they made their games, you’ll hear a phrase pop up repeatedly. It will sound something like this: every game that reaches release is a minor miracle. The act of creating a game, particularly a modern AAA game, is a turbulent process – the industry is full of stories about an early idea that undergoes huge transformations: genres change, settings shift, mechanics are invented and dropped. Many projects stop here, unable to fulfil their promise. Of those that make it through, many games – possibly most – will be released as something fundamentally different to how they were imagined in the first place.
Sea of Thieves does not share that story. Go back and read early interviews with the team at Rare, and you’ll realize this very quickly. Its developers were openly discussing features that would come to the game, years before they were playable, or sometimes even in development – not all of them even made it to the launch version, but almost every single one would eventually reach its pristine waters.
Celebrating its fifth anniversary today, Sea of Thieves is a very different and (excuse the pun) rarer kind of miracle. It’s a project that set up its core vision from the very beginning and – through a wild prototyping phase, a full shift in game engine, the choppy waters of launch, and its enormous growth since – never lost sight of the unique game it wanted to be. I had the chance to visit Rare ahead of the anniversary, and spoke to six people who were a part of the project from the very beginning, talking through how they made this miracle happen, the challenges they faced, and how, despite almost 10 years of development, Sea of Thieves only continues to grow.
The original talk wasn’t about an open-world adventure game about pirates. It was a very different game about spies.
Spies vs. Pirates
In 2013, in a meeting room set at the heart of Rare’s leafy, countryside campus, a small group of minds set out to decide what was next for the studio. After three Kinect Sports games, there was a desire to try something new, something radical. The fruits of that conversation are playable right now in the form of Sea of Thieves, a success story for Rare that changed how the studio makes games, how it thinks about new ones, and even the company motto. But on that day, the talk wasn’t about an open-world adventure game about pirates. It was a very different game about spies.
“The earliest germ of an idea came out of us playing a party game called Werewolf, which is all about subterfuge,” says Creative Director Mike Chapman. “It’s about a game that showcases soft skills: verbal communication, social dynamics, player psychology. We were thinking: Is there a game that could showcase things like that?
“And we actually started with, ‘wouldn’t it be cool if it was about secret agents?’ Wouldn’t it be cool if I’m there completing my mission with you, but then you get a voice over the intercom saying, ‘Drop him.’ And you’ve got players tearing each other apart.”
The key idea here was about freedom, the ability to not just complete missions the game sets you, but set your own personal missions in a world with other players. The team came up with a mantra to encapsulate this: “Players Creating Stories Together.”
Some of the earliest Sea of Thieves concept art, when it was still known internally as ‘Athena’.
Some of the earliest Sea of Thieves concept art, when it was still known internally as ‘Athena’.
Some of the earliest Sea of Thieves concept art, when it was still known internally as ‘Athena’.
Some of the earliest Sea of Thieves concept art, when it was still known internally as ‘Athena’.
A month into the process, the team decided that the theme of spies wasn’t quite right, and didn’t offer the range of experiences Rare were looking for – but that Players Creating Stories Together very much did. So they went back to the literal drawing board. They toyed with various settings: games about dinosaurs, vampires, and more. But one idea stuck fast:
“What we liked about pirates is that the roles are defined,” explains Studio Head Craig Duncan. “The term ‘crew’ is already a small group of people going on adventure together. You could almost take the principles of the game we were thinking about and go, ‘Well, yeah, there’s no roles and goals – pirates play by their own rules, governed by their own sense of adventure.’ That can be motivated by wealth, or the spirit of the sea. So once we locked pirates in it was like, ‘That’s it. That works.’ And then you start all the hard work.”
It’s at this point, in early 2014, that Sea of Thieves was truly born. Four years ahead of launch, the team already had the driving force that makes up the entire game we know today – a game that offered a sea-blue slate to write your own stories on, and one that would evolve with the players over time, feeding new ideas into the mix as it grew. Now they just needed to find some designers to make it.
Thankfully, a solution was about to literally walk through their door. Around the same time, Rare had organized a game jam, and now-husband and wife design team Andy and Shelley Preston had assembled a group to work on a prototype they called Dead By Dawn.
Andy explains the concept: “It was a multiplayer experience where you had two teams within a map, and it was basically ‘build in the day, survive at night. But it had Sea of Thieves’ physicality, players running around together cooperating, using physical props to work together.”
A three-day jam saw Andy and Shelley’s little team get so wrapped up in their idea that they broke the rules and dedicated a month to the project, turning a tiny idea into a fully playable demo through relentless prototyping. Eventually, they decided to pitch it to Rare’s higher-ups – who happened be the people behind those early Sea of Thieves talks.
Andy grins as he recalls how well it went over: “[Producer Joe Neate] instantly said to [Creative Director Gregg Mayles], ‘See, this is what we should be doing, we should be building something. We shouldn’t be theorizing over paper one-sheets, we should actually be trying to build an experience together.”
Dead By Dawn was deemed a little too far outside of Rare’s normal output – but the way it had been made was exactly what the team behind the new pirate project had been looking for. Not long later, Andy and Shelley were called up to a boardroom, and told what they would work on next, with a familiar mantra at its heart:
“I can remember them standing in front of a whiteboard,” recalls Shelley. “It basically just said: ‘Players creating stories, sailing a pirate ship together.’ Everyone was really creatively open to what that could be like, and there was no real set remit. We just kind of jumped into a prototype and started creating.”
“Everyone was really creatively open to what that could be like, and there was no real set remit. We just kind of jumped into a prototype and started creating.”
Tools Not Rules
If you’ve watched Rare’s new documentary, you’ve seen the prototype. Created in the Unity engine, it was scrappy, ugly but, crucially, easy to work with. The team was able to come up with new ideas, and have them playable within the same day. It meant that Sea of Thieves emerged from the design depths incredibly quickly.
The game’s approach to ships – turning traditional gaming vehicles into something more like a level design players could move around through co-operation – came first. Then came the idea for a practically UI-less experience, asking players to interact with the world around them, not just follow a directional marker. Physical treasure, weather effects, and more emerged at high speed. The foundations of Sea of Thieves were set from the very beginning.
Andy and Shelley came up with a design principle for all of this: “Tools Not Rules”, the idea that everything presented to the player could be used more or less freely. You didn’t walk to a glowing marker on a mini-map to earn some coins – you consulted an actual map, rigged your ship, used a compass, scoured an island for clues, dug up the treasure, and returned it to an outpost. But along the way, you might accidentally head to the wrong island, find a different map, meet another set of players, and have an entirely different experience – an entirely different story.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
Images of the Sea of Thieves prototype.
The team was able to create a game so quickly that they became convinced they were onto something unique. In fact, they were so convinced by their ideas, they took another unusual step: they kept it a total secret, even from Xbox’s most senior leadership:
“The executives knew there was something,” Duncan explains. “But it was like, ‘Hey, we’ll let you know when we when we’re ready to let you know.’ And of course, when you do that, you create some veil of secrecy, which means people want to know more. And then it’s about how you play that to your advantage.”
Six months into prototyping, they finally revealed the game to their bosses, with Head of Xbox Phil Spencer and Creative Director Kudo Tsunoda asked to fly to Rare to finally find out what the team had been up to. But instead of simply watching a PowerPoint presentation, a controller was eventually put in their hands. Appropriately for the game in question, Rare didn’t want to just tell them a story – they wanted them to make their own inside the prototype.
You can watch a clip of that first ever playthrough below:
The executives played a version of Sea of Thieves that, visuals aside, was strikingly similar to the core of what you can play today. After that, they were shown an in-engine art diorama to see what it would look like – another facet of the game that stayed remarkably consistent from the earliest days of the project.
This isn’t the way games are normally revealed to executives – and it worked beautifully. Instead of talking about the business aspects of the game, the new players swapped stories about what had happened in their playtest. Spencer had played by the rules, and set out to find treasure with his crew. Tsunoda, on the other hand, betrayed his crew, stole their treasure and then jumped overboard to swim to another ship, and swung it round to start a battle. Rare hadn’t planned this out, but the tools they’d offered allowed it to happen organically.
The theory was proven out, and Sea of Thieves was formally greenlit.
The team was so convinced by the prototype, they took an unusual step: they kept it a total secret, even from Xbox’s most senior leadership.
Ripping Up the Roadmap
After this came the tough part. Sea of Thieves was intended to be made in the separate Unreal engine, so much of the work after this point became not about improving on what the team had, but recreating the Unity version in Unreal. It was a far slower process than they had been used to, forcing them to unite the mechanics, art, online elements, and more, rather than steam ahead on design alone.
In pure mechanical terms, the version of Sea of Thieves that emerged at launch was in some ways less advanced than the prototype it had come from. Some features had to be deprioritized in order to get the game out in time, leading to a version of Sea of Thieves that offered the spirit of what Rare was aiming for, but not at the scale it had planned for. The response was tough, but fair – players liked what they had, but didn’t feel like they were able to do enough with it. Rare changed approach:
“We ripped up our roadmap,” says producer Joe Neate. “As soon as we launched, we were like, ‘Okay, a whole new captaincy system, that’s not what people want right now.’ They want more of the ingredients in this world, right? They don’t want another system to just build on top of the ingredients you’ve got – and so, straightaway, we changed our plans then.”
The original concepts for Sea of Thieves’ pirates, and their final looks.
For a time, development became primarily about responding to players, not building back to the prototype vision. The Megalodon was added to allow for PvE interactions between players. AI ships were added to allow for more combat opportunities without griefing other players. The team began working on the narrative Tall Tales, to give players a goal, without compromising on the more organic story ideas the game world offered.
But, as time went on, the team began to find opportunities to build back what they’d been playing behind closed doors for so long. The prototype, and the clarity of that original idea, was so strong that it became a blueprint for what was to come.
Everyone I speak to on the team has a different answer for exactly when Sea of Thieves matched their original vision for the game, but it’s generally agreed that the one-year Anniversary Update was a watershed moment. A year after launch, the game wasn’t just matching the prototype for mechanics, it was introducing ideas the team never would have thought about in the same way without the influence of its players. This was truly the evolving experience the team had dreamed of, a game and a world that reacted to the people inside it, and a space where players really could create their own stories.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
The Sea of Thieves team works on the Unreal version of the game.
From there, the process of continuing to develop Sea of Thieves has been a mix of building on those original ideas, and adding ones the team never could have foreseen. Ship fires, captaincy, and burying treasure for other players to find came out of the game’s earliest plans. Meanwhile, game-wide votes on the future of the Golden Sands outpost, and the enormous, unexpected Pirate’s Life update – a crossover with Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean – emerged as new opportunities and technical advances popped up.
But key to every one of these additions is that you can categorize them all as new ways for Players to Create Stories Together. No matter how difficult the challenge, or how wild the idea, Sea of Thieves has lived by its own game development code, as steadfastly as its pirates stick to their own.
“I think 10 years of Sea of Thieves will feel like a long time – but also, we’ll blink and be there. And I still think we’ll have unfinished business when we get to that point.”
Sailing for the Horizon
That unique vision has led to another unusual situation: 5 years in, Sea of Thieves still doesn’t truly have imitators. While it sits within an increasingly busy world of game-as-service titles, there’s nothing quite like this game, from its mechanics, to how it releases new content, to its community.
“There was a time before the game came out when we were kind of looking over our shoulder going, ‘Someone is going to beat us to the punch,’” says Art Director Ryan Stevenson. “And even while we’ve been out, no one else seems to be doing it.”
“It’s not a template is it?”, adds Shelley Preston. “It’s not an easily copyable idea. It’s a reflection of a group of people in a certain time and their creative way of thinking around our take on a pirate game. That’s very unique to us.”
That ability to make a game that’s so unique to Rare that it doesn’t exist already, and continues to be unique, was such a lightbulb moment for the studio that Rare even changed its company motto in order to make more games like it. Head to the bottom of its website, and you’ll read: “We create the kind of games the world doesn’t have.” Sea of Thieves was the starting point for that ideal – and it’s one that’s helping to guide the still-mysterious Everwild, and whatever else the team might cook up in the future.
But Sea of Thieves’ tale is far from a closed book. At five years old, there’s much the team wants to add. In fact, they recently had a meeting to plan out the next five years. I hear about ideas for smuggling mechanics, the option for players to be rewarded for protecting other players from griefers, and even a mechanic for ‘painting’ screenshots that Chapman once told me about, two years before the game had even launched (and you can even see in the gallery of prototype screenshots above).
The beautiful thing about a vision as clear but as horizon-wide as Players Creating Stories Together is that the team feels like they’ll never truly run out of ideas – they’ll keep making new things as long as there are players to enjoy them. Chapman puts that drive to keep creating succinctly:
“I think 10 years of Sea of Thieves will feel like a long time – but also, we’ll blink and be there. And I still think we’ll have unfinished business when we get to that point.”
Anniversary Activations
The Sea of Thieves team are doing plenty more to celebrate the game’s fifth anniversary. Here’s what’s going on for the rest of the month:
The feature-length Voyage of a Lifetime documentary made to mark the fifth anniversary premieres today, March 20, on the Sea of Thieves YouTube channel: youtube.com/seaofthieves
There’s still time to pick up the Lustrous Legend Figurehead as a free anniversary login bonus – just take to the waves in Sea of Thieves before 10am UTC on March 22.
Set a course for New Golden Sands Outpost to find the time-limited fifth anniversary picture wall where pirates can pose and take selfie portraits for posterity!
The Pirate Emporium will run an extended Anniversary Sale until March 28, with up to 60% off cosmetics from classic sets, Rare heritage ranges and items themed around Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean.
A special Community Weekend runs from March 25-27 with free gifts and in-game multipliers in the community’s hands – find out more in the anniversary article at aka.ms/SoT5thAnn
Xbox Live Gold membership required to play on Xbox One; sold separately.
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Celebrate five years of Sea of Thieves with this special edition, which includes a copy of the game with all permanent content added since launch, plus a wide-ranging assortment of extra cosmetics and collector’s items. In addition to the 2023 Edition bonus content – Hunter Cutlass, Hunter Pistol, Hunter Compass, Hunter Hat, Hunter Jacket, Hunter Sails and 10,000 gold – this edition of the game comes with a further Deluxe Bundle containing the Black Phoenix Figurehead, Black Phoenix Sails, Crab Dab Emote, Deck Hide Emote and 550 Ancient Coins for use in the Pirate Emporium.
Xbox Live Gold membership required to play on Xbox One; sold separately.
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2023 Edition Out Now
Celebrate five years since Sea of Thieves’ launch with this special edition of the game, which includes a copy of Sea of Thieves itself with all permanent content added since launch, plus a 10,000 gold bonus and a selection of Hunter cosmetics. The Hunter Cutlass, Pistol, Compass, Hat, Jacket and Sails will ensure you cut a formidable figure as you set sail for adventure!
About the Game
Sea of Thieves offers the essential pirate experience, from sailing and fighting to exploring and looting – everything you need to live the pirate life and become a legend in your own right. With no set roles, you have complete freedom to approach the world, and other players, however you choose.
Whether you’re voyaging as a group or sailing solo, you’re bound to encounter other crews in this shared world adventure – but will they be friends or foes, and how will you respond?
A Vast Open World
Explore a vast open world filled with unspoiled islands and underwater kingdoms. Take on quests to hunt for lost loot, forge a reputation with the Trading Companies and battle foes from Phantoms and Ocean Crawlers to Megalodons and the mighty Kraken. Try your hand at fishing, make maps to your own buried treasure or choose from hundreds of other optional goals and side-quests!
Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life
Play the Tall Tales to experience Sea of Thieves’ unique narrative-driven campaigns, and join forces with Captain Jack Sparrow in Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life, an acclaimed original story that brings Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean sailing into Sea of Thieves. These immersive and cinematic quests provide around 30 hours of the ultimate pirate adventure.
A Game That’s Always Growing
With each Season bringing in new game features every three months alongside regular in-game Events and new narrative Adventures, Sea of Thieves is a service-based game that’s still growing and evolving. Check back regularly to see what free content has been newly added, and see how far you can climb through each Season’s 100 levels of Renown to earn special rewards.
Become Legend
On your journey to become a Pirate Legend you’ll amass loot, build a reputation and define a unique personal style with your hard-earned rewards. Adventurer. Explorer. Conqueror. What will your legend be?
Experience a fresh mashup of the puzzle and strategy genres
Relive a homage to classic 1990s ensemble dramedies
This is my second title launching on Xbox and it’s really cool to see how much our company has grown since Hexagroove: Tactical DJ in 2020. The first time around was a great experience but there was so much more I wanted make more accessible and inviting. In Backbeatwe designed the interface from the ground up for 4K and scalable across all members of the Xbox device family. The games we design at Ichigoichie are built on mashing up genres and deriving our gameplay mechanics from musical theory. This was at times a little overwhelming in Hexagroove, so I worked hard to portion out new mechanics in Backbeat through a much broader portion of the game. So much in fact you’ll still be learning new tricks more than three quarters through the main campaign!
Backbeat is at first glance a turn-based sokoban puzzle game. You have a band of up to four characters and must get them all to the goal within a limited number of turns. Each character moves differently presenting unique challenges. After some levels we introduce time mechanics to the mix, and you’ll need to synchronize each character’s timeline with the others, working together to unblock obstacles on the path to the goal. Finally, we add four shared resources you must manage while navigating space and time. Which turns you choose to change direction or interact with the environment cause these resources to increase or decrease. Maximize the resources and you get a high score. Run out of resources, and you’re in a failure state. Fortunately, rewinding the turns of each character individually is possible to allow incremental improvements to your puzzle solutions.
One thing I wanted to add to Backbeat was a story to motivate your choices and set the stakes. The setting is 1995 in suburban Washington, D.C. and has a lot of callouts to the last days of the analog era before the advent of the internet. The narrative is a homage to ensemble 90s dramedies like “With Honors”, “The Commitments”, and “School of Rock”. Heroine Watts is doing her best to hold together a band of amateur funk musicians and contending with all the struggles of collaborative creation: inflated egos, clashing personality types, and external responsibilities to work and family. A diverse cast of characters exists in each of the two main bands, and I hope you can find one that speaks to you.
If you’re a fan of puzzle games, turn-based strategy, or story-rich retro experiences, then I think there’s something for you to appreciate, and many more novel features to discover. Start with the free demo of Backbeatand I hope you have some funky fun!
A mashup of puzzle and strategy games. Manipulate four threads of time to guide your band through sokoban-style puzzles. Manage squad resources over a set of limited turns. Experience a homage to 1990s ensemble dramedies. Customize the dynamic soundtrack with audio effects.
=== STORY ===
Stephanie “Watts” Watson, an aspiring bassist, bounced from audition to audition never finding music that really resonated with her, that is, until she discovered the magic of funk. Caught up in the groove, she recruits a group of hometown amateurs to take on art school darlings La Tormenta at the Battle of the Bands.
=== MECHANICS ===
Each character in your band moves through the map in different ways, encountering unique solutions and obstacles. Advancing a character consumes a turn and part of the timeline, setting up interactions with other characters and enemies at different points in time. Rewinding a turn undoes your move, allowing you to find improved solutions and new ways to tackle problems.
Manipulate each character separately, rewinding or fast-forwarding along the timeline in the process to reach her current point in time. Changes in time are reflected in the progress and actions both past and present of each character, creating some possibilities and removing others.
Each character has his own resource-limited super move which can be triggered under certain conditions. Tip toe through tight spaces with your bassist, slide through guards with your keytar player, break through walls with your drummer, or blow enemies out of the way with your mighty super sax. Strategic use of your super moves increase the number of solutions to each puzzle and are the key in gaining a maximum score.
Four resource-based musical metrics govern how and when you can move and interact with objects in the levels. These can completely block progress if used inefficiently, and create amazing musical chains and high scores when regulated artfully.
=== MUSIC ===
Join Watts as she grows on a musical journey rooted in funk and fusion. Soulful grooves and hot licks are composed by Pete Fraser, session saxophonist to the The Pogues, Friendly Fires, and Field Music! Twenty musical motifs are recorded by a live ensemble of seven funk masters, providing the foundation for the dynamic music in the game. Unique songs are generated depending on what directions and paths you take in each puzzle. Customize your performance with alternate playing styles, instruments swaps, and realtime audio effect pedals.
=== CONCEPT ===
Backbeat is a homage to the 16 and 32-bit story-driven games of the 1990s, recreating the challenges and victories of the last days of analog life and the birth of the internet. The suburban Washington D.C. area is reflected in diner parking lots, shopping malls, and dimly lit arcades.
A colorful cast of supporting characters both friend and foe join Watts as she struggles with leadership, success, and holding together a band.
