"Sea of Thieves" review: Pirate life is fun, but still a bit limited
26.3.2018
Translation: machine translated
Battles on the high seas, digging up treasures and duelling with skeletons. "Sea of Thieves" offers an entertaining playground for adventurous pirates. However, some players will describe the sea as half full and others as half empty.
It's not just the life-giving bananas that show off Rare's expertise. With "Sea of Thieves", the developers of "Donkey Kong" and "Banjo-Kazooie" deliver a coherent open-world pirate game that retains the studio's unmistakable charm. Alone or preferably with friends, you explore tropical islands and sail across turquoise waters in this online-only game. What you do in the game is up to you. You are largely responsible for your own enjoyment of the game and not everyone will find it fun.
There's a lot to do, but not that much
"Sea of Thieves" consists of a huge island kingdom with an estimated six ships per instance. These are controlled by single players or teams of up to four players. The game starts from an outpost. There you can collect orders from one of three factions. The Gold Hoarders will send you on a treasure hunt, Order of Souls on a skeleton hunt and the traders want you to capture chickens and pigs for them. The more tasks you complete for a faction, the more complex the tasks become and the better the loot. At their core, however, they always remain the same. A treasure hunt consists of finding the right island and a red cross where you have to dig. Sometimes there are smaller text puzzles where you have to find certain places and take a certain number of steps from there. Amusing, but very simple. You then bring your loot back to an outpost and get gold for it.
Alternatively, you can also freely sail the seas and explore islands. However, there's not much to find. You might stumble across a crate by chance, a message in a bottle with a quest or dive for a sunken ship. An eerie skull in the sky will lead you to a particularly well-guarded skeleton camp, where you can dust off a good amount of gold as a reward.
I've tried all possible combinations of solo, with friends and with strangers and unsurprisingly it's most fun with two or three friends. But digging up a few treasures on your own can also be fun. Unless you lose the loot to other pirates after an hour's work. Then maybe not so much.
Excitement through other pirates
Encounters with other players are clearly the most exciting. Be it on water or on land. As you only get gold for successfully delivered chests, skulls etc., you need to protect them from other players. Because, as befits a piratesque character, the best treasures are the ones you have stolen. So if you see a sail on the horizon, it's usually attack or flee: Attack or flee. Depending on how full your own hold is. Sea battles are one of the highlights. This is where the teamwork of the crew really comes into its own. Only those who have their ship and crew under control can triumph. Sails have to be adjusted, water skimmed, holes patched, cannons loaded and fired - all while being boarded.
This is usually very chaotic, especially with random players, which can also be fun. If your ship sinks, you can ask the mermaid to teleport you back to a fresh ship. By then, however, the loot will have been dusted off by the opposing team.
You can also capture other ships by sending the crew to the afterlife with sabres and pistols. However, after a short timeout on a ghost ship, they will be transported back to their ship. This means that you cannot command several ships in the long term. Pirates who are relieved of their ship can also have their ship sunk via the menu. This is Rare's way of preventing malicious players.
The goal is fun, not progress
There is no classic level progression in "Sea of Thieves". You neither improve your skills nor your ship. All that changes are cosmetic: your outfit, the appearance of your weapons and equipment and, of course, the design of your ship. Nothing gets faster or better. This ensures that all players are on an equal footing. The drive to play does not come from levelling up. Although the numerous visual upgrades are really worth seeing and I'm happy about every new feathered hat, every pair of gold-plated binoculars and every new sail, it's not the main reason why I keep playing.
The first few paragraphs of this review may not make it seem like it, but I find Sea of Thieves has created a dreamlike playground that I can romp around in for hours. The gameplay may not have too much depth, but there is enough variety to keep me from getting bored. Adjusting the sails, reading the maps and working together as a team are simply great fun. Sometimes we dig up treasure, then we replenish the resources for our ship, then we have battles with skeletons or ambush other pirates in the harbour and steal their ship.
Lingering in "Sea of Thieves" feels like a tropical beach holiday. In terms of mood and appearance, it reminds me a lot of "Monkey Island". When the ship is rocking in the waves, the sun is shining over the sea and you're making music with your mates, everything is just right.
The unexpected
The unpredictable moments are the best. Like when we saw the tip of a sunken ship sticking out of the sea and came across a treasure chest as we dived down. The chest was obviously cursed, because it kept submerging our ship and wanted to float away at every opportunity. Or when we found ourselves in a naval battle with three other galleons and danced with other players as we regularly died in the afterlife while waiting to respawn. Or when we emptied the entire hold of an enemy ship and brought it back to our ship, only to realise that the other players had just done the same to us - after all, we got the better chests. Yaarrrrrrr.
Still plenty of room for improvement
The thing that bothers me most about "Sea of Thieves" is the lack of content and the inconsistency of being a pirate. Because apart from searching for treasure and killing skeletons, you don't do much. The framework is there, but why can't I fish, open treasure chests myself, raid merchant ships, keep parrots as pets, play more than four songs, drink myself into a coma, carry around more than five cartridges, set ships on fire etc. etc.? It would also help if the missions were a bit more varied and there were more enemies than skeletons and the one octopus. The latter doesn't even give a reward. And yet, Rare's pirate adventure is already a lot of fun. It offers a fantastically beautiful and atmospheric game world, impressive weather effects, a sailing mechanic that offers just the right degree of depth and accessibility, especially with the galleon, and plenty of opportunities to get up to mischief. The cross-buy/cross-play option between Xbox One and PC is also commendable. If Rare continues to diligently deliver updates, then "Sea of Thieves" will also be worth a long-term trip.
"Sea of Thieves" is available for PC and Xbox One. Both versions are included with purchase.
Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chBeing the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.
