I don’t enjoy online multiplayer games.

I’m all for local multiplayer (I’ll kill you at Mario Kart 8), and I enjoy the occasional round of PUBG or Fortnite (solo queues only because anything else is just too much commitment). In most cases, however, I simply avoid online multiplayer like it’s going out of style. Aside from a few titles over the course of my long, long gaming career, this has always been the case

Between work (and transiting forever to and from work), recording two podcasts, trying to work out a few times per week, a weekly Dungeons and Dragons game, attempting to (somewhat) keep up with WWE, and trying to spend even a little time hanging out with Mikaela, my video gaming time feels damned limited at this point in my life, and I find much more satisfaction slightly progressing a storyline, completing a few quests, or… well, probably starting a new title (new games come out every week, okay guys?) than I do playing some competitive mode or trying to organize a time for online play with some friends.

Online gaming just seems freaking hard to do – obviously it’s extremely popular, very few other people that I’ve talked to have an issue with it, and I’m absolutely the problem here, but I’m just not at all into matchmaking (something to do with being shy probably), and am only really interest in playing with people that I actually know. In the past, I’ve bought a game at launch, played it with friends once or twice (and had a blast), but within a few weeks my progress would be significantly behind those I’d been playing with, meaning I’m either jumping into their game leaving them feeling as though they’re on an escort mission, or they’re jumping into mine in an extremely overpowered state, removing any challenge from the game. Series like Borderlands seemingly force you into running multiple campaigns with different levels of progress which you jump between based on who you’re playing with. None of this sounds very fun to me at all.

Enter Sea of Thieves, Rare’s shared-world pirate simulator, and my next multiplayer obsession.

I dove into Sea of Thieves during one of the game’s various betas knowing very little about the title, aside from the fact that a) you’re a pirate on a journey to becoming a legendary pirate through whatever means necessary and b) the game takes place in a persistent multiplayer world where other pirates will definitely have their eye on your booty (treasure, not ass).

The first time that I played, I ignored the warning that journeying on your own was dangerous and only for experienced players, dropping in on a tiny island with (surprisingly) no tutorial, and with absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do (a tiny opening cutscene and small tutorial has been added to clear things up for the game’s full release, but sailing will still take you far too long to become comfortable with). After collecting some bananas, some wooden planks, and a treasure chest that I couldn’t figure out how to open (hint: weirdly enough, you can’t), I eventually found a small ship just offshore, and after a few moments of fiddling around, finally hit the high seas. In this moment, I realized just how incredibly beautiful Sea of Thieves is.

The game’s cartoony, yet breathtaking presentation perfectly fits the adventurous, mysterious, and casual (but not too casual) feel of the title, from the look of every aspect of your ship (or that ship off in the distance that may or may not be coming closer), to the uncomfortable creak your galleon (or sloop) produces as it rocks back and forth across the sea, to the bananas that you don’t even peel before eating (weird), to the NPC’s you’ll encounter on the game’s many, many islands, to the it-never-ever-gets-old sound of the herdy gurdy (which I’m hearing in my dreams at this point), and of course, the freaking incredible water that makes up the majority of this world. The water effects look like nothing that I’ve ever seen in a video game, and the entire world looks as though it’s been pulled straight out of some sort of lost Pixar film. Sea of Thieves’ presentation as a whole is simply astonishing, and there wasn’t a moment that I wasn’t enjoying everything that I was seeing and hearing.

Presentation isn’t everything, of course, and while it’d be impossible to look at Sea of Thieves without thinking “Damn, is that ever pretty,” (especially on the Xbox One X) many of the choices that Rare has made in regards to gameplay will leave some gamers coming back again and again, many scratching their heads in wonder, and probably a lot of them bringing their copy to GameStop after a few dedicated days of playing.

Sea of Thieves follows a fairly simple gameplay loop of beginning a quest (called Voyages) for one of the game’s three trading companies: the gold obsessed, aptly-named Gold Hoarders will have you hunting for treasure chests, the creepy Order of Souls will have you fighting skeletons and stronger skeletons in the search for valuable skulls, and the time-obsessed Merchant Alliance will have you on a race to find and deliver goods (and animals) with a strict deadline. The quests all follow the same formula – figure out where you need to go via an unlabelled map, a riddle, or otherwise, go to said location, do X task, return and cash in for some gold, rinse, repeat. You can stay out longer and do multiple Voyages before returning to an outpost for some huge rewards, but that’s where things get really interesting. Naturally, pirates are pirates, and if you sea another ship (filled with one to four real players) during your journey, there’s a good (very good) chance that they’re going to attack you and try to steal your stuff. The longer that you stay out completing voyages, the more you can cash in all at once, but the more that you have to lose if a more skilled crew decides to take you on. It adds a super interesting (and often stressful) element to the game, and some of the most exciting moments that I’ve had this far have been during the throes of battle, on a ship full of treasure, simply trying to survive long enough to turn in some chests that I’d spent way too long finding.

That gameplay loop has remained pretty fun in the 15-20 hours that I’ve spent with the game thus far, and so far I’ve found lots of other elements in the world (in addition to meeting other players, as mentioned above, which has remained exciting each and every time that it’s happened) that have added to the excitement and feeling of exploration. Walking the beaches of the game’s many beautiful islands, you may come across a message in a bottle, or a mysterious book that may lead you on a quest-within-a-quest and to even more treasure. Sometimes I’ll choose to head to an island that simply looks cool, and may come across chests, caves, remnants of previous island inhabitants, cave paintings, and more. Shipwrecks within the game’s vast ocean are fun to traverse, and have led to some of the most valuable treasure that I’ve claimed so far. Storms will mess your shit up (and you’ll stare at them in awe because they’re freaking beautiful), and giant, foreboding, skull shaped clouds loom off in the distance, tempting you with the promise of bountiful treasure, while (often) keeping you away with the threat of certain death.

Death, which at this point is one of my few gripes with the game. When you die, you wake up aboard a spooky (gorgeously spooky) ghost ship, complete with creepy captain. Here… you kind of just wait for 30 seconds until the doors to the captain’s quarters open. Walk through these doors, and you’ll find yourself back on your ship, in the water near it, or on a nearby island if your ship has sunk in the time you’ve been away. There should be something to do on this ship (right now it’s like a glorified loading screen or respawn timer, which, I suppose, is still better than just having a loading screen or respawn timer). The whole respawn system makes for a myriad of annoying moments when fighting other players, as unless your enemies on the opposing ship all die at the same time or their boat is headed to the bottom of the sea, it can often feel like you’re fighting an endless stream of the same people, leading to these PVP battles taking substantially longer than they probably should (they’re still super fun and exciting, but killing the same opponent five times over a few minute period can definitely get old). I’d love to see some sort of monetary penalty for deaths (Rare has actually noted that this is coming soon), which could increase when you die again within a short period of time and maybe after you die, respawn on your ship, and die again, you could respawn elsewhere the next time around, simply to limit the player-on-player battle time, and to make it feel like you’re fighting a few people instead of an endless horde of crew members. Right now, having your ship sink during a battle (unless it’s full of treasure) can often even be advantageous for your crew – your freshly respawned ship comes complete with the default quantity of cannonballs, bananas, and wooden planks, while the ship that just sunk you is likely running low on the same supplies. This simply feels broken, and something needs to change about it.

As noted above, I’m still having a ton of fun with Sea of Thieves, even if the gameplay loop is rather simple at this time, but this doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t love to take part in some additional activities as I sail these beautiful seas. The possibilities really are endless, but things like fishing (please, give us fishing), card games (either in the pub or on the high seas), some five finger fillet, some sort of collection aspect, or even the ability to duel your fellow crew members with swords would make sailing or downtime simply fly by.

Really, Sea of Thieves in its current iteration is a phenomenal start, and it sounds like that’s just what it is, a start. Rare’s Craig Duncan has stated that the team wants “people to still be playing it five or even ten years from now. We’re in this for the long game,” and I’m looking forward to seeing this world evolve every step of the way.

I’m more enamored with Sea of Thieves than I’ve been with a multiplayer title since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and at this point I don’t see that subsiding anytime soon. I’m having a blast completing voyages, finding treasure, and simply sailing the high seas with my friends. I could keep rambling on and on and on about “threading the needle” through tiny gaps in islands, or being so pre-occupied with playing instruments and dancing across the bow of our galleon that we crashed hard and nearly sank, or watching a friend die just steps away from turning in a valuable skull, leading to a tirade of words I don’t think that I’ve ever heard him say before, but, well, I’m overdue for some adventure.

Sea of Thieves is simply fun, and for that it scores a harrrrrrrrrrty 4/5. See you on the high seas!

tl;dr

+Incredible visuals, wonderful audio
+Casual style makes it fun for hardcore and casual gamers alike
+Drop in/out easily, you won’t be at a disadvantage because you took a break
+Simply fun, and often hilarious

-Not enough variation in mission (Voyage) types
-Maximum crew of four, no way to guarantee a second crew of friends will end up on the same server
-Respawn system, and thus PVP itself, feels broken

Side note: Back in January, Microsoft noted that all future Microsoft Studios published titles would hit their inexpensive Game Pass service on the day they release. This, of course, includes future games in the Halo, Gears of War, and Crackdown series’, but it also means that from the moment Sea of Thieves went live, Game Pass subscribers have had full access to the titles, with no limitations (aside from server issues right at launch, naturally). I’m loving Sea of Thieves, but if you’re not sure if there’s enough content to keep you having fun, or if you’re just not sold on the quest to become Pirate Legend, you can simply sign up for a free Game Pass trial and make up your own damned mind!

Sea of Thieves is also an Xbox Play Anywhere title, which means your digital purchase (or Game Pass subscription) means that you can play the game across your Xbox One or Windows 10 PC. This means that with one subscription to Game Pass, my fiancé and I have been able to sail the high seas together, which I absolutely appreciate in a generation of gaming that is seeing fewer and fewer local multiplayer games be released. I’m loving my Game Pass subscription so far, and I love the fact that with just a few clicks, I was able to install Sea of Thieves on my computer too!

https://youtu.be/O1YnzQax8TM