An update to the currently inaccessible Sea of Thieves closed beta has been datamined, revealing new content added to the pirate game.

The most eye-catching finds revolve around ye olde oversized octopus or squid, the Kraken, which has long been linked with the game. Let’s face it, it wouldn’t be a proper pirate game without it.

The files, rummaged by the Sea of Thieves subreddit, mention defeated animations for the Kraken as well as a roar and underwater powerslam, which sounds interesting and, clearly, as though we’ll fight it. There is a sound effect for hitting the Kraken with a cannon, too, and individual tentacles can apparently die.

The Kraken was dredged up in another Sea of Thieves datamine from a week ago, where the beast was said to be able to wrap tentacles around ships, suck players up and spit them out.

The newer datamined files also turned up mention of new types of skeleton – metal, plant and shadow in addition to bone – which should provide some much-needed mission variety and presumably more of a challenge.

The giant cursed skull cloud – spotted in Sea of Thieves trailers but not the closed beta – can now apparently manifest above certain islands, but I don’t know what it does.

Quintessential pirate clobber such as beards, eyepatches and hooks have been added to shops, apparently, as have dresses, gloves, hair and boots. There was mention of new clothing styles – Kraken, Ferryman, Blackdog, Sovereign and Bilgerat – as well as Admiral and Bilgerat weapon skins for the blunderbuss, cutlass and flintlock (pistol) weapons.

There’s mention of a Legendary Hideout and “fort-chests” but, more importantly, there’s now a mirror in the Captain’s Quarter of a ship. Just make sure you tear yourself away to check where your boat is headed from time to time.

Last week’s datamine also mentioned: smoking pipes, parrots, skeleton parrots (oh my god), harpoon guns, banjos, drums, boarding axes, heavy swords, rapiers, more food types (possibly wieldable), potions, figureheads, and different rarities of snakes, pig and chicken. In previous Sea of Thieves trailers you can see players transporting livestock, and it sounds like you can turn them for varying rewards.

Sea of Thieves launches 20th March on PC and Xbox One as a cross-play title, so buying it on either platform allows you to access it on both. The recent closed beta, which ended Wednesday, was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the tranquillity of sailing alone in Sea of Thieves, whereas Edwin got stuck into the wily world of Sea of Thieves piracy.