Piracy is by no means exclusive to the able-bodied. In 2020, as in the golden age of buccaneering, a Sea Of Thieves streamer is proving that you don't need perfect eyesight to terrorize the high seas.

As discovered by the rogues at Rock Paper Shotgun, streamer and accessibility consultant SightlessKombat took part in a night of pillaging at Rare's Sea earlier this week, and the self-described "sightless gamer" shared how he offered insight into how he plays the ocean sandbox.

Next up was a master class in the creative use of audio to guide you through the Sea Of Thieves map. Starting at the in-game bar, SK relies on the sounds of fellow crew member Hardy Grudie to guide him to their ship. Once on board, he takes the helm and effortlessly steers the boat toward the target island, with the crew acting as navigators.

He maps the space he can hear as he chats with developers and listens to his stream of chats (delivered by a text-to-speech tool).

One particular highlight is when the crew lands on an island infested with skerries. While some of his fellow crew members go ashore to search for treasure, SK remains on board with his cannon. Using the sighted crew members as impromptu cannon detectors (and listening for the distinctive sound of the reanimated ribs), he manages to kill several shamblers before the crew escapes.

Of course, during the stream, SK talks with the developers about Sea Of Thieves' accessibility features. SK always gives good shout-outs, such as the option to read text out loud in the menus, but he also finds novel uses for some of the smaller considerations, such as using the compass footstep tracker to navigate accurately and using the vibration of the controller to catch fish.

It's not perfect; SK laments that he has to use the website to check his progress on the Pirate Legend, or that navigating the ship by himself is a stumbling block. However, Rare has an in-house team dedicated to making the game more accessible to people like him, and SK seems to be in fairly frequent contact with them.

"It's not a matter of 'if' but 'when,'" SK explains at the 57-minute mark. 'We can see the possibilities, we just need to tweak, improve, and do a few things.'