Sea of Thieves Season 20 launches Custom Seas, handing players full creative control

Sea of Thieves Season 20 is live, and its headline feature is Custom Seas — a private sandbox mode that gives players and their crews full control over Rare's pirate world. Sessions support up to 24 players, and whoever's running the show can dictate almost everything: which creatures spawn, the time of day, what weapons are available, and where players and ships get sent.

The toolset goes deep. Hosts can summon enemies, treasure, and items on the fly, freely assign players to crews, and yes, cram all 24 pirates onto a single sloop if that's the vibe. Silver replaces standard currency here, functioning purely as a scoring system — you decide what earns or costs Silver, whether that's handing in loot, hitting a mast, or letting your ship sink. Score limits or time limits determine the winner. Hosts can also delegate tool access to other players in the session, and a Free Camera mode with adjustable field of view lets anyone capture cinematic footage from angles — including Legendary Locations that aren't normally reachable in standard play.

Custom Seas was shown off at the recent Xbox Games Showcase, where Rare demoed several custom game modes built with the new tools. Season 20 also brings a revamped Season Pass tied to a Seasonal Renown system, with rewards ranging from cosmetics to Voyages. Regular events return throughout the season, including Community Weekends and the Bilge Rats Weekender.

Rare says the team is excited to finally get these tools into players' hands and is looking forward to seeing what Season 20 produces. The Sea of Thieves website has more details and recipe sheets to help players get started building their own modes.