Sea Of Thieves Makes Treasure Hunts More Challenging With Riddle Quests

If finding treasure in Sea of Thieves feels a bit too easy, wait until you check out the new riddle quests. In the latest Inn-side Story episode, Senior Designer Andrew Preston and Senior Software Engineer Chris Marlow talk about the inspiration and ideas behind the new riddle quests feature.

“So we started out with the X-marks-the-spot maps. That was the first kind of quest hub that we had in the game. We were keen to expand on that with different quest hubs after which is where the riddle maps came from.

I think what stuck out to me with the riddles so early was the success of a good crew that can work together and orienteer an island to try and find these landmarks and a bad crew. Some players would just split-up whereas other players would work together as a group to traverse the island trying to find these landmarks.”

Riddle quests come in the form of rhyming couplets which point to certain waypoints and landmarks, ultimately leading to a buried treasure chest. “It felt like a map from Goonies,” says Chris. “That kind of real proper pirate sort of map.” As part of the new feature, the devs also introduced a new pacing mechanic to help players count their steps and make navigating that much easier. You can watch the full Sea of Thieves Inn-side Story episode just after the jump.