Sea of Thieves season 2 release date set for this month

Rare has announced that Sea of Thieves season 2 is releasing Thursday, April 15.

The brief teaser trailer accompanying the announcement doesn't reveal much - we can see a beautiful Royal Blue ship set and some other new cosmetics - but at the very end we see a new emote that's sure to be a very useful tool in ambushes: a barrel that you can quickly sneak into and hide inside.

Barrel hiding seems like a natural addition to Sea of Thieves, where using less than scrupulous methods to down other players' ships and take their stuff is pretty much the name of the game. I am curious to see how effective the tactic will be in practice, though. After the first couple of weeks, everyone's going to be mighty suspicious of barrels, so unless you come across a super oblivious crew, there's a good chance you'll be found. That said, imagine the mind games you'll be able to play, leaving like 10 barrels around someone's ship while they're turning in loot and then just leaving. Man, Sea of Thieves season 2 is going to make some paranoid pirates.

Sea of Thieves switched to the new seasonal update structure earlier this year, ditching the old one-month updates in favor of bigger three-month expansions. So far, we haven't seen any terribly drastic changes - it seems mostly like a revamped progression system so far - but it's early yet. Adding barrel hiding is a pretty bold move and could end up being a prevalent battle strategy, so we'll see where things go from here shortly.

If you're setting off on your maiden voyage or just need a quick primer, don't miss these essential Sea of Thieves tips.