Previously, a lot of you may have thought that Sea of Thieves had all but disappeared into the briny depths, but, as it turns out, the game’s coming back in quite a big way for its first anniversary.

Before its launch in March 2018, Sea of Thieves sounded like the game that so many of us needed in our lives. A silly, cartoony, swashbuckle ‘em up that sees you making a pirate crew with your buddies and terrorizing the high seas in your own ridiculous way? Where the heck do we sign up?

Here’s the trouble with that, though: On launch, that wide, open ocean was about as empty as The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s Great Sea. There just wasn’t a whole lot of content for players to dive into on launch, and many players felt like it was a missed opportunity.

Rare never gave up on the title, though, and it’s been given a bounty of fairly substantial updates since. However, many players didn’t stick around long enough to find that out. If you’re one of the faithful who has been sailing these forsaken seas for a year now, you’re about to be rewarded. The anniversary update is coming at the end of April, and it's bringing a lot of new content.

PREVIOUSLY: Sea Of Thieves' Forsaken Shores Expansion Gives Us What We Want: Rowboats

As we reported last month, this is going to be one of the biggest updates yet. It offers all kinds of new functionality, from new story quests, enemies, and pets, to fishing and cooking mechanics. Some have complained that these are the sorts of things that should’ve been in the game from day one (and they do have a point), but heck, it's better late than never.

Now we know a little more about the update, though. As Polygon reports, an Arena mode is coming, and it’s really going to shake things up. The Arena will be a separate method of play entirely (selectable alongside the familiar Adventure when you boot up the game) and is focused entirely around quick-start competitive matches against rival crews of four (random players can be found to join a match if your current party can’t fill out numbers). There’s a little hub with a tavern in which players will wait between matches, making for a setup similar to Monster Hunter’s multiplayer.

With this and the new Tall Tales content (a more in-depth narrative-based quest system compatible with the main game), it’s clear that the Sea of Thieves world is going to become a lot more vibrant as of April 30.

READ NEXT: Fortnite's Baller Is Immune To Storm Surge Damage For Some Reason