Category: Opinion

After playing the beta for Sea of Thieves I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the full game. Now I need to be clear, this is not a full review. I have got some play time in but obviously not nearly enough to truly give it a full review. I do have some thoughts on it tho. First the fun factor of the game depends deeply on who you end up playing with. With the right group hours can easily fly by. With the wrong group the game is actually a chore with team mates being it the way, slamming your ship into rocks or all around being a pain to be around.

The game also can be a breeding ground for toxic behavior. People will attack and sink your ship when its not protected, this would make sense if you had treasure or if there was some nearby but in my time I have noticed more often than none its done for no reason at all.

These things aside when the game is fun, it is a lot of fun. The simple act of sailing alone requires knowing when to turn and how, but with a group one person keeping watch for ships and islands, and another keeping an eye on the nap while another steers the ship makes traveling a joy. And the threat of storms that move and can potentially wreck your ship if you aren’t careful, but also is not likely is amazing. There is also a kraken floating around but admittedly I have not seen it myself.

There are also various different skeletons to fight during your adventures each with different strengths and weaknesses, for example one made of metal that swords can’t harm or one partly made of plants that regenerate health when the sun is up.

All in all for fans of multiplayer games there is fun to be had and you can set sail alone, but there other players at times can ruin the adventure. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

So this weekend I played the open beta for Sea of Thieves on the Xbox one. I played for a bit with random people while drinking whiskey and discovered that the random British people I was teamed up with did not find it funny when we were being shot with cannons and I yelled “I thought you Brits knew how to use a navy.”..So yea, sorry about that my randomly assigned crew mates.

My first ship sank when the guy parked it next to the shore and a storm moved in. I don’t think it is fair to blame me. My second ship sank when the before mentioned British fellows didn’t know you needed cannon balls in your inventory to reload the cannons and we got sank to the bottom of the sea, that one was partly my fault. My third ship was me sailing a galleon alone and I slammed it into an island. Completely my fault.

My longest play time however was with a real life friend and  random guy, Charlie. We spent hours sailing the high seas, finding treasure and selling it at outpost. Finally we took to some real piracy, attacked a few ships, most of which escaped. One we boarded and sank when he was alone and had no treasure, in a move of total pettiness. Then it happened. Out in the clouds we saw a skull with glowing eyes and we felt the need to investigate. We arrived at an island with a small fort crawling with skeletons. We fought them valiantly for 20 minutes or so when a 2nd ship arrived. We died a lot but you always respawn on your ship. Unless someone shows up and sinks it. Then you go back to a neutral port and start all over again.

The game is fun, and looks beautiful. The ship combat is amazing tho the person to person combat is a bit stiff and had a tendency to glitch at times with people suddenly appearing behind you. This was a minor issue tho and one that you can easily live with. The beta itself had no real story to speak of, but the fun was in creating your own. Was that ship chasing you? Should you swing around and fire? The choice is yours, and when the game launches there is sure to be a lot of fun to be had. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.