Sea of Thieves streamer without sight uses crewmates' sounds to captain ship

Twitch streamer SightlessKombat makes playing Sea of Thieves completely without sight look easy, using audio and haptic cues from his crew and the game itself to captain a galleon as capably as any sighted pirate.

As spotted by Rock Paper Shotgun, Sightless recently joined a play session with Sea of Thieves executive producer Joe Neate and community manager Jon McFarlane to talk about how he navigates the seas as a person without sight.

The crew's adventure starts with the streamer making his way from the tavern to the wheel of the ship, which he does by following the sounds of his crew's hurdy gurdies. From there, he listens to the directions of his crew to steer the ship toward its destination. If a crewmember says "three left," for example, he uses the haptics in the wheel to count three small vibrations as he steers. He's even got down how many "notches" each ship type produces on either side of the wheel.

Sightless doesn't just captain the ship, either. At around 34 minutes you'll see him use his crew's guidance to level devastating cannon attacks on skellies from the ship. But the best part of the stream takes place at around 1:53:00 when the crew engages in a battle with another ship, and you can see Sightless's mastery of the game's audio to lead the ship through a successful takedown. Using the sound of incoming cannonballs to warn his crewmates about potential hits, he's able to assist the crew to efficiently patch up damage and get back to the cannons.

If you enjoyed the stream, do check out SightlessKombat's Twitch channel, where he's uploaded videos of him playing Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Forza Motorsport 7, and 2018's God of War.

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