Is Sea Of Thieves Still Bad

Que sera, sera

Sea of Thieves is proving to be a divisive game.

During my review-in-progress, I said that I fell in the middle of the pack: somewhere between the folks who observe Rare's shared-world pirate adventure dreadfully boring and those who feel information technology's an astonishing goof-filled social experience that cuts out a lot of the fatty in modern multiplayer gaming.

The thing is, Sea of Thieves tin can genuinely be both. Much has been said about its lack of progression in favor of giving all players the aforementioned tools, weapons, and capabilities correct at the start. In that location are only and then many means quests can play out before monotony sets in. And crew-on-crew battles, while often exhilarating and hilarious, aren't as commonplace as y'all would probably expect.

But when the stars align in unscripted or otherwise unexpected ways, Sea of Thieves is such a treat.

Sea of Thieves (PC [reviewed], Xbox One)
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Released: March twenty, 2018
MSRP: $59.99

Non a whole lot has changed since I shared my initial thoughts on the game earlier this week. I've steadily bolstered my reputation by taking on jobs for the trading companies, whether it'southward finding cached treasure for the Gold Hoarders, collecting one time-sentient skulls for the Lodge of Souls, or capturing pigs for the Merchant Alliance (and keeping one as an all-too-temporary mascot). I've earned enough cash to deck out my pirate with a fancy jacket, a hat, and a claw. I've picked up tips 'n' tricks, like charming snakes with music and tossing buckets of water onto metal skeletons to rust their joints.

Simply content-wise, I haven't seen anything drastically new or different these by few days. The quests I'k accepting at present feel an awful lot similar the quests I was doing in the showtime, albeit with more than pit stops. Every so often I'll find a message in a bottle and embark upon a cool concatenation of riddles that might accept me playing my accordion to unearth a trail, or raising my lantern in the correct spot to reveal the next inkling. But in terms of finding interesting new locations, I'm coming upwardly curt. For me, Bounding main of Thieves has stopped beingness a game well-nigh the drive to explore and almost exclusively become a game about the desire to share experiences with others — even if information technology's across increasingly familiar content.

While Sea of Thieves is unremarkably at its all-time when played with friends who know how to push your buttons and introduce only the correct corporeality of anarchy into a volatile situation, this calendar week I had two of my favorite online encounters in recent memory, and both of them came about cheers to random players.

One session involved my full coiffure of strangers deciding to take on a skull fort — a tough wave-based event with a huge payday up for grabs — only to get caught in a iii-manner fight. It was as well mortiferous on land, then our ship continuously circled the isle fortress and peppered cannonballs at the other teams. To help break the stalemate, nosotros sent an emissary to the smaller of the 2 vessels. We brokered an alliance. From then on, it was us and the "picayune transport people" versus the blinged-out "big ship."

This player-vs.-role player-vs.-AI skirmish lasted well over an hour, with never-ending casualties on all sides. I'd sneak aboard and cap a few big-shippers merely to take a blunderbuss to the chest, respawn, and try once again. When the fight finally sizzled out, nosotros didn't come up away whatever richer — but equally far every bit we were concerned, we had won. We denied our bitter rivals the treasure they so vehemently sought.

The other session was much lower-key, simply infinitely more than satisfying. While turning in loot at an isle outpost, I heard some other player'due south voice. It was a child — the innocent, naive kind, not the style-too-expert-at-video-games kind. He wondered if he could bring together me, and subsequently some initial hesitation (this person could betray me at literally any moment and I'd have no one to blame merely myself), I said "Yes."

What followed was two-plus hours of unwavering teamwork, despite the fact that we weren't in the same coiffure. I'd mark points on the map and steer the boat, and he'd manage the sails and anchor and play music during downtime. We would venture to unlike areas, and whenever he wandered likewise far away (vox chat with randoms is proximity-based), I'd fire a cannon to call him back to shore.

At one point, we both died to an army of gun-toting skeletons only to separately sail back, reunite, and finish them off. We even split our treasure correct downwardly the middle! He somewhen lagged out and my game customer coincidentally crashed around the same time, but for an afternoon, he was my pirate son.

These stories hopefully help illuminate how much fun this sandbox can be when y'all're in the right place at the correct fourth dimension. Fifty-fifty though Ocean of Thieves ultimately feels low-cal on meaningful things to practice, what's here at launch is nonetheless powerful enough to generate unforgettable memories betwixt players.

I tin can't stress enough how impressive the water tech is and, simply every bit importantly, how well-tuned I find the sailing — information technology'due south about perfect to my tastes, offer sufficient challenge to keep me on my toes but not so much button-back that it ever annoys. I besides dearest how approachable Sea of Thieves is as a social playground. All told, there are numerous reasons to like this game and wish information technology cipher but the all-time.

Some people are going to exist in it for the long haul. Others will play for a week, get their make full, and bounce correct off. For my part, I sincerely hope Rare bridges that gap and gives everyone more than reasons to stay invested and motivated — and does so shortly. We know updates are coming throughout the yr, and the studio continues to fix server issues. As is, though, Ocean of Thieves leaves a lot to be desired.

The foundation is dandy. The fundamentals are in that location. It doesn't take much imagination to see how this game could blossom into something magnificent. But so long as it'due south missing long-term depth and incentives to stick around past the commencement few weeks, Sea of Thieves volition feel like a missed opportunity.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

Source: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-sea-of-thieves/

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