Review of Sea of Thieves (2020)

 

Each person may have a different ideal pirate fantasy. Perhaps it means singing shanties with a pet monkey or maybe it means you and your crew robbing other would-be explorers of their valuables while wreaking havoc throughout the ocean in an attempt to become a legendary pirate to match Jack Sparrow. Sea of Thieves' amazing open-world sandbox allows you the flexibility to indulge in your favorite kind of piracy, while also adding humor to even the most routine situations.


It's critical to realize that Sea of Thieves is not an MMO with a persistent environment, despite being a shared-world online adventure game. This implies that everything is reset, except for your long-term progression goals, every time you log into Sea of Thieves. You are assigned a brand-new ship in one of three classes, depending on the size of your crew: Sloop (for up to two players), Brigantine (for up to three players), or Galleon (for up to four players). Everything is gone, including the storage chests you rescued, the rowboat you discovered, and all of the provisions you gathered the last time.

Every First-Party Review of the Xbox One

The tiniest ship can be operated by one person, but in the process, much of the joy and excitement of sailing is lost because you are racing around the deck like a headless pirate, trying not to crash, rather than cooperating to wrestle the waves. Because of their sheer complexity, both of the larger vessels truly require larger group numbers. Together with your crew, you will be sprinting up and down stairs to steer, fire cannons, repair damage, set sails, and scout out what lies ahead—doing all of this on your own is difficult enough on the smallest ship, and virtually impossible on the larger ones.


However, Sea of Thieves may be able to reach its pinnacle during the intermission between Adventure Mode's dramatic, frequently spontaneous, and organic sea fighting sequences. In Sea of Thieves, what are most games' all-too-common moments of boredom—such as moving slowly from one goal to the next, commanding allies, or meticulously looking for hidden objects during a treasure hunt—become the game's primary draw and a source of friendship. Actually, you need to use your compass to make sure you're traveling in the correct direction, trim the sails to account for the varying winds, and When there is some downtime, you and your crew can take out your musical instruments and listen to how cleverly they all sync up to perform the same tune, precisely in rhythm. You can use the telescope to examine land masses in the distance. Playing your instruments together while your ship sinks even earns you an accomplishment.

In idle periods, Sea of Thieves reaches its pinnacle.

And there are innumerable instances of Rare's meticulous attention to detail. For instance, you have to manually raise, lower, and adjust the sails to the direction of the wind, and the actual map that displays your ship's location concerning the other islands is below deck, making it impossible for one person to steer and see it at the same time. Although at first glance these small details may seem pointless, they all work together to increase Sea of Thieves' overall immersion.

For Me, a Pirate's Life

The experience in Sea of Thieves is as free-form as it gets, which has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, you could (like I did) easily lose track of time for close to a dozen hours sailing around and never realize there is an actual campaign to follow. And that's when I realized that while the game's free-roaming action is fun enough, some of my favorite moments came from learning what these missions—dubbed Tall Tales—were and how to get them.

Tall Tales play more like standalone mystery adventures that tie into a larger plot than the short, goal-focused Voyages, which are typical RPG quests typically centered around eliminating a certain identified adversary or gathering a specified item. Many of them start off with cryptic clues and spartan illustrations, and you have to answer riddles and participate in real scavenger hunts around a range of islands. It's a little strange that you're not encouraged to work on them more, considering they're brainteasers that truly test your investigative abilities. as "primary missions" in some manner. Rather, you merely happen to come upon them in the world through lore books and NPCs. The process of finding them is purposefully difficult due to their enigmatic subjects and imprecise instructions, but any further clarification on how to begin with each would have been very helpful.

The benefit of not having to finish them is that you are essentially free to do anything you do not want to. Like the game's general structure, Sea of Thieves has a somewhat open progression system. Instead of leveling up a character by earning experience points, you can improve your standing with five different Companies by fulfilling quests, completing Commendations (which are tasks like providing quest givers with a certain quantity of resources over time), or giving specific items to the Gold Hoarder, such as a treasure chest. Every business has a corresponding activity that you can engage in: Sea Dogs for the PvP-oriented Arena, Order of Souls for PvE battle and skull collection, or Hunter's Call for fishing and meat harvesting.


Although there is a good range of objectives, it seems like a great missed opportunity in a game about colorful pirates that each faction's flavor and personality are as deep as a puddle. The only things these merchants do are sell cosmetics and give out journey quests; I can't recall any of their names. They could almost pass for bulletin boards instead of real people. The only exceptions are the Tall Tales, which are typically initiated by an NPC offering some alluring flavor text. Other than that, communication occurs through hidden treasure maps, lore artifacts, and breadcrumb trails as soon as you set out. It's not excellent storytelling, but it makes for thrilling adventures with lots of player-driven intrigue.

The majority of everything you unlock is merely decorative.

Because of the peculiar nature in which Sea of Thieves progresses, you cannot acquire any abilities or gear that would alter your gameplay style. You will have access to the same skills and weaponry as everyone else in the area from the minute you log on until your thousandth hour and beyond. It never really changes. You're right if it sounds like it could become old, and eventually, it is the main thing that makes Sea of Thieves less exciting.


Rather, nearly all of the content you gain is just decorative. You'll get new titles to put above your avatar, more profitable and thrilling Voyages to go on, and new clothes to buy as you advance with each company. I was left wanting for something more to change things up, even while the cosmetic prizes drew me in with their gorgeous clothing skins, an abundance of different ship designs, and well-thought-out thematic weapon styles that match with the factions and setting throughout your avatar, ship, weaponry, clothes, and more. However, even glancing ahead to the “endgame” (which, incidentally, is remarkably identical to when you first start out), it's a little depressing: Your ultimate objective, other than order to become a "Pirate Legend," which grants you bragging rights, shinier cosmetic goods, and access to a special hidden company with end-game trips and awards that are essentially just more cosmetics, you must finish all of the Tall Tales and reach rank 50 in at least three of the five companies.

Microtransaction Response

The Pirate Emporium, the in-game reward system for Sea of Thieves, is a microtransaction store that offers optional cosmetics and pets as its only products. New weapon skins, boat designs, emotes, and even pet monkeys and birds that accompany you on your ship are all available for purchase. The only option to alter your physical appearance other than your hair and attire is to purchase a tonic that will allow you to alter the appearance of your pirate's face and body. Even though a lot of these cosmetics are interesting, I never really wanted to spend money here because so many of the options are automatically acquired for free just by playing.



The Pirate Emporium, the in-game reward system for Sea of Thieves, is a microtransaction store that offers optional cosmetics and pets as its only products. New weapon skins, boat designs, emotes, and even pet monkeys and birds that accompany you on your ship are all available for purchase. The only option to alter your physical appearance other than your hair and attire is to purchase a tonic that will allow you to alter the appearance of your pirate's face and body. Even though a lot of these cosmetics are interesting, I never really wanted to spend money here because so many of the options are automatically acquired for free just by playing.

Your ships' disposable nature largely explains why the only improvements you can make to them are aesthetic ones, such as changing the colors of the sails or the flags or the visual motif of the guns and other items. That is all. Everything is chosen by a vendor, and once purchased, there is no chance of losing it. It occasionally feels as though something is missing from how passive and empty ship customization feels, without the physicality that otherwise forces you to spend a lot of time on your ship for the remainder of Sea of Thieves.

Death is not a major setback; it's just an inconvenience.

Due to its lack of focus and goal, Sea of Thieves development structure might have been much more rewarding. Much of the intricacy of this multi-company system would have escaped my notice if I hadn't been playing Sea of Thieves daily with a buddy of mine who has been an experienced player of the game for two years. Fortunately, there is a well-crafted and ingeniously designed introduction mission called Maiden Voyage that teaches you the fundamentals of gameplay, such as how to use your shovel to assault and dig up objects. However, it falls short of instructing you on how to behave in the real world. You never learn how to advance each faction's level, which kinds of expeditions to take on first, or even that there are Tall Tales at all. Once you're free, the freedom is exhilarating, but it seems like Sea of Thieves expects you to run at full speed without first teaching you the correct gait.

Hey, Matey

Until my friend gave me a detailed explanation, I had no idea what the other side content consisted of. Some examples include the dungeon-like Strongholds, where players must clear out a Skeleton Fortress to retrieve its treasures, the different sea encounters like attacking skeleton ships, or simple run-ins with other hostile players. Furthermore, the grind to reach Pirate Legend can become rather intimidating in the absence of an alluring gameplay-altering progression to strive towards. Fortunately, what counts most of the time is the journey rather than the destination.

You may choose from a vast array of enjoyable yet relatively easy activities in Rare, and when you add additional online players, things get really interesting in an unexpected way. Because of this, I don't believe I've ever played a game where the presence of other players—friends or enemies—improves the experience as much and dramatically as Sea of Thieves. Playing with pals makes all the difference between being bored to tears and laughing so hard that you weep.

Organizing a group (friends are the best, but you can also line up to join strangers) can transform mundane tasks into thrilling chances for collaboration. Nothing compares to the joy and fulfillment that come from having each person embrace their role individually so that you can all work together as a cohesive team. While a friend led his cannon shots just enough to bombard them as they sailed off, finally sinking in the distance, I would maneuver the ship such that we would just miss colliding with an enemy vessel. These gratifying and rejuvenating moments are frequent and intensified when massive creatures such as the ship-eating Megalodon take the place of opposing ships.

Unfortunately, melee and gun-based fighting is about as boring and simple as it gets, but figuring out the nuances of captaining a ship with a full crew is a very difficult and complicated puzzle to solve because of the teamwork involved. One rifle and a sword are yours. After charging an enemy with a three-swing combo, you have the option of using a long-range rifle, a pistol, or a shotgun-style blunderbuss. That's all it has to offer, and what little interest it does ha

In fact, there is a whole area in the main menu called the Arena that is specifically meant for pursuing other players to fight in PvP. There are two competitive variants available: four-player Galleons or two-player Sloop ships. The goal of both modes is to uncover hidden riches promptly, using only crude maps as a guide, and then turn them in at a distant merchant vessel. But here's the thing: it's a chaotic, nautical rat race because everyone is chasing the same treasure using the same maps at the same moment. A point system is used to determine the winner, and points are given for both sinking enemy ships and turning in chests. The excitement of the arena takes away my worries about where to go next and allows me to concentrate just on PvP.

Encouraging cooperation through an all-hands-on-deck approach, the Arena truly puts the best and most spectacular aspects of Sea of Thieves on full display. The team coordination required to succeed in it is almost an Olympic accomplishment. The realistic feeling when firing guns and raising and lowering sails manually from the side of a ship and actually unearthing hidden treasure can result in many exciting moments, like exchanging cannon fire while strafing an island and watching your crewmate grab a treasure chest, or when you have to drop your anchor and make a tight turn to avoid being rammed by enemy ships, almost like an aquatic drift. It all comes down to timing and cooperation.

The Decision

With so much to do, Sea of Thieves is a pirate fantasy sandbox that becomes even more interesting and surprising when more players join it. On a large pirate ship, coordinating across the deck can occasionally be an absolute pandemonium, but it's also a ton of fun. Its free-form nature left me feeling disoriented at times, and the cosmetic-only progression system doesn't offer as much reason to keep playing as I would have liked, but if you're playing with a nice group of two or three people, it's hard to find a game as exciting to get started on.