Sea of Thieves Video Shows What It's Like to Hunt for Treasure

As you could guess from just looking at the name, one thing you'll spend time doing in Sea of Thieves is hunting for treasure. A new video offers a glimpse of what that entails.

A key component is navigation: You and your crew will start out with a treasure map, but the game won't have a big flashing indicator that tells you where to go. Instead, you'll use that and the map table on your ship to determine the correct direction to head in.

Once you've found the right place, you'll need to actually find the treasure and then get it back to somewhere you can sell it. That won't always be easy, as other players may attempt to steal it from you. That can lead to naval combat, as seen in the video above.

This video comes ahead of the launch of a technical alpha test, which launches on December 16. It will consist of "a series of scheduled playtests" that invites players from the insider program to try Sea of Thieves out and provide feedback. Players have to agree to a non-disclosure agreement, so don't expect anyone to be freely sharing details from the test.

Rare says thousands of people have already signed up for the insider program, but only about 1,000 will be let into the first test. Future tests will increase in size and offer more time to play. You can sign up for the program here.