Overview of the top floor of the shipwreck and VIP tavern area.
View from the VIP area entrance, a cosy tavern space inhabited by various ghostly characters chatting and drinking.
Opposite view of the tavern space where ghostly characters are hanging out.
The Chronicler's Room, a bard-like character playing the banjo, standing on his musical rug and surrounded by various maps of the game world connected by strings.
The Emissary representative's area, where Gloria has various cosmetic items on display.
The cavernous passage behind waterfalls and over slippery rocks, leading to the area where the player can receive the Blessing of Athena's Fortune.
The key area for this project, where eligible players can trigger a cutscene in which they are rewarded with a ghostly curse for their pirate.
Opposite view of the same area. The pirate lord's private office where he stores trinkets, maps and other objects from his adventures.
For Season 8 of Sea of Thieves, I was tasked with expanding the Legendary Hideout, better known as Athena's Fortune. This is an area only accessible to players who have achieved pirate legend status. From Season 8, players could start earning faction rank as well, so we decided to expand the area to allow a private area for those especially accomplished players. In doing so, we more than doubled the playable space while sticking to the original footprint of the cave the area was already using.
Other artists on my team were simultaneously tasked with creating a new area for our other faction, the Reapers. The key goal and challenge here was to create something that had all the same gameplay elements and fulfilled the same purpose, but make it feel completely different and true to the themes and mood of the faction.
Every environment in Sea of Thieves is the result of a huge collaborative effort from the Rare team, so the credit for the individual assets in these scenes goes out to my wonderful and talented colleagues.
Lighting by Andrew Finch
https://www.artstation.com/afinchy
