Sea of Thieves Kraken leak provides first look at the mythical beast

Sea of Thieves Kraken
Sea of Thieves Kraken (Image credit: Xbox)

Earlier this week, Microsoft unveiled a variety of content in Sea of Thieves – it's upcoming cooperative pirate adventure game. Diving deeper into progression, end-game content, and other aspects of gameplay, we now have a clearer idea of what to expect ahead of its March 20 debut.

Sea of Thieves developer, Rare, has seemingly been purposely vague about aspects of the game, leaving its sandbox for players to explore at launch. One of the game's biggest mysteries so far has been the "Kraken" – a huge sea-monster boss fight set to make a surprise appearance while sailing the seas.

As detailed in our recent interview with Sea of Thieves design director, Mike Chapman, the Kraken will take players by surprise as a random world encounter. The beast has been designed to give players a sense of "awe" and "mystery," with its own A.I. brain and developing strategies. All eight of its tentacles can be used during combat, to approach ships from several angles.

The first leaked images of the Kraken have now surfaced online, via a post from a ResetEra user. While unofficial, based on what we've seen at Rare ourselves, we can confirm these pictures of the mythical beast are genuine.

The Kraken will reportedly be an overwhelming boss to fight, requiring rival pirates to team up to slaughter the beast. Special rewards have been teased for those who succeed, including physical rewards such as chests.

For now, we'll have to wait for the release of Sea of Thieves for further details. For more information on the Kraken itself, make sure to check out our in-depth feature that explores its design philosophies and what to expect in battle.

What do you think of Sea of Thieves' Kraken boss so far? Make sure to drop your thoughts in the comments section below.

Sea of Thieves launches on March 20th, 2018 for Xbox One and Windows 10 as part of Xbox Play Anywhere for $59.99, or as part of Xbox Game Pass for $9.99 per month.

Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.