Sea of Thieves' first expansion will surface on May 29

The Hungering Deep, the first of several free major Sea of Thieves expansions, will surface on May 29, Rare has announced.

The trailer above features a one-eye pirate telling campfire stories about terrifying deep sea monsters, which is surely a hint of what's to come. We know very little about what the update will add other than a "new AI threat", but the video teases a shark-like creature with huge jaws that swallows ships whole. The pirate also tells us that ancient seafarers were able to "summon such creatures", and the video depicts sailors playing instruments to do just that. Make of that what you will.

The game's Twitter account also changed its header photo to the following image (h/t to Eurogamer for the spot).

Rare previously promised that the update would add a number of new mechanics as well as new rewards for players. It's the first of many major updates on the horizon, with two more incoming over the summer and three others before the end of the year. The first summer update is Cursed Sails, which will add a new ship type, and the second is Forsaken Shores, which will add a "perilous part of the world to explore".

The Hungering Deep update will also mark the start of weekly in-game events, each of which will stash more rewards throughout the game world.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.