Sea of Thieves is an interesting game to review because Rare has promised to develop and add more content over the next few years. So it’s hard to review a game when it isn’t necessarily finished, but that seems to be the norm with a lot of games these days. It’s one of the best things about modern gaming. Developers can continue to improve games over time. But it can also be a detriment to some games, especially if there isn’t enough in the game at release to keep players interested.
That’s the narrative surrounding Sea of Thieves right now. That narrative is “while there is a strong foundation, the minute to minute gameplay gets tedious and repetitive. The game needs more content.” I want to start this review by laying down some facts about the game.
The goal of the game is to increase your rank with the three different companies in the world. There are the Gold Hoarders, Merchant Alliance, and Order of Souls. The three companies give you voyages to complete (voyages are what Rare calls quests in Sea of Thieves). These voyages will give you maps for different islands to sail to, and you will either dig up treasure, capture animals, or kill skeleton enemies. You then bring back items to these companies at outposts to turn in for gold and to increase your rank with the companies.
When you reach level 50, “new” voyages open for the player, which are just a mash up of the three different types of voyages available to the player before level 50. There are four different weapons you can use to defend yourself in the world: a sword, a flintlock pistol, a blunderbuss, and a sniper rifle. There are two different types of ships, which are outfitted with cannons to protect your ship from other players. Outside of the PvP, the PvE has you fighting against four different types of enemies including skeletons of dead pirates, sharks, a kraken, and poisonous snakes. There is limited character customization (no character creation), and it’s all cosmetic. The servers are limited to six ships at any given time, and the most you can have in a crew is four people.
That’s an objective look at the game. And if you look at Sea of Thieves and think that all you do in the game is grind to level 50 with all the trading companies, then you will not enjoy Sea of Thieves. But that’s because Sea of Thieves is different from games where you level up, improve stats, and get more powerful over time.
Rare has talked about how the game has horizontal progression instead of vertical progression. Vertical progression would be how you describe a game like Destiny 2. You start out weak, and as you play and gain experience, you level up, gain access to new weapons, and you’re character is completely different than when you started. And when you reach a certain level, you can do things like raids and nightfall strikes and things like that.
Horizontal progression means that no matter how long you’ve been playing, you have access to all the content the game has to offer. Nothing is gated off to the player. So if a level 1 player joins a crew with level 30 pirates, the level 1 player will see the same stuff, and will have the same attack power. You can’t buy better weapons; you can only spend your money on cosmetic items.
So, why did Rare go for horizontal progression instead of vertical progression? It’s because Rare is going for a more social vibe to Sea of Thieves instead of rewarding grinding and player skill. And the social aspect of Sea of Thieves is the best there has ever been in a video game.
I think the one thing the game does better than any other multiplayer game is making you feel like the character you are controlling. Every single action is player controlled, and player created. A popular trend with games now is “emergent gameplay,” and that is what makes Sea of Thieves so good. While the minute-to-minute gameplay may be similar every time you log in, you also don’t know what to expect when you load into a server.
You may run into other pirates that just want to sink your boat, which is usually a lot of fun as the ship combat requires communication between crew members. The players control all aspects of the ship, from the helm to direct the ship, to sail length and angle to get the winds behind you, to loading and aiming cannons at other ships. Nothing is automated for you, and you have to be paying attention at all times. In the middle of ship battles, you’ll usually end up with two people on cannons, one bailing water and repairing the ship below deck, and one driving the ship and handling the sails.
The thing that makes it all work is how easy it is to do all the tasks once you get a handle on the controls, which takes little time. I would recommend playing the first few times with other people who are experienced with the game. It can be a bit daunting at first, but once you get a handle on the mechanics and how the game plays, it’s all very intuitive, and you always feel in control. That’s one thing that makes the social aspect of this game work so well. You never feel like the game is playing for you; you are in control of everything.
The game features proximity chat, so if you’re using the in game chat, other crews can hear you talking, and vice versa. But this makes the social aspect even better in game. Some times you’ll run up on other crews, and you may start chatting with them, learning you have similar goals, and teaming up to achieve those goals. Or, as one video that went viral showed off, some times other players will hop on your ship and drop off a treasure chest because they wanted to spread joy in the game.
It’s these interactions with other players that keep me coming back. Just the other day, I had two people chasing each other around the ship because one person wanted to throw his puke on another crew member. It was one of the silliest things I’ve seen in a game, and it was all player driven. That’s what makes this game so special: everything is player driven. Rare has given players a giant pirate sandbox to mess around in and create their own fun, and all the tools at the player’s disposal are so well developed that you feel like you belong in the world that Rare has created.
While I would like to see more content added to the game, and see some things balanced as more and more players come online, I can’t discredit what Rare has already created. It’s an amazing shared world that is second to none. I am very excited to see this game evolve over the next couple of years, and I’m excited to bring more and more of my friends online to share this experience with them.
Score: 3/5
Reviewer’s note: If you’re interested in the game, Sea of Thieves is part of the Xbox Game Pass, that is $10 a month, and you also can sign up for a 14 day free trial. So if you want to check the game out, but aren’t sure about spending $60 on the game in it’s current state, try out the game in Game Pass.
