Written by Kris Galvez
Title: Sea of Thieves
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Price: $59.99
Genre: Action-adventure
Buy it Here: Xbox Play Anywhere (PC & XB1)
Exploring the seas with your pirate crew is the focus of Rare's newest game Sea of Thieves. Being the poster child for their new GamePass service as well as the studio's most hyped title, there is a lot of hope that was put for this experimental and adventurous game. You play as a new pirate trying to make his way into the world with a 4 man crew of your friends/random people. At the start of every game, you choose you choose a randomized pirate, a ship to work for and then dropped into the world with your crew. Rare tout's this as a true pirate sandbox as you are very much free to do anything you want without any goals whatsoever.
The main part of this game is sailing and controlling your ship solo or with a crew. You control every part of the ship from the sails to the anchor. Controlling the wheel, knowing when to drop the sails and even reading the winds are key to a successful expedition to the seas. As this is pretty hard to do alone, you need to be able to communicate well with others. One will have to navigate and be on the lookout for any other obstacles while another will have to read the winds to gain optimal sailing speed. Sometimes, you come across aggressors so some of the crew will have to man cannons to repel these invaders. Overall, controlling the ship feels good and Rare pretty much nailed it.
The game's art direction is strong what with its cartoony cast of pirates and its colorful world. The graphics of the game is simply a marvel to look at. Once you get out to the sea and explore the different islands, you can see the beautiful waves that surround you. This is simply one of the best depictions of water in a game. As much as I want to praise the world that is being presented here, the only thing I can say is that it is definitely beautiful. Unfortunately, this world is pretty much empty. Each island only has rocks, caves and the occasional skeleton or fauna like pigs or chickens. Aside from the layout of the island and the things it contains, the ones I explored pretty much look and feel the same.
Progression in this game is in the form of “Voyages”, quests that offer monetary reward you can use to buy cosmetic items for yourself, your weapons or your ship itself. Voyages are separated into 3 kinds. Gold hoarders has you finding a treasure chest in one of the many islands of the world. The merchant alliance has you capturing the fauna. The last but not least is offered by the Order of Souls where you kill hordes of skeletons. Each voyage done has you increasing your reputation with that faction thereby offering better but riskier rewards. After the tenth voyage you will find that they are beginning to feel repetitive and tedious.
Unfortunately, engaging against other crew is simply trying to find the “fun” in this game even if there ain't any. There is no reward in sinking another crew other than the satisfaction that you killed them. After sinking, they simply respawn back into the world without their previous supplies. You gain no experience and progression doing that. The only progression you can have is the voyages which by this point in time is tiring. A new pirate has the same abilities as a seasoned pirate. The only difference are your looks. While it may be impressive and experimental to release a game lacking any sort of reward system for the player in this age of loot boxes but this also makes the player feel that they have nothing to do in the game except socialize. There is just no end game for players used to modern MMO design. Though there are strong opportunities to make friends or embark on your own player created adventures with others, these are few and far in between as most random people very much act like a dishonorable pirate and grief you.
Rare's hand crafted world is simply beautiful. The colorful graphics is a breath of fresh air and prove that Rare has great artists working for them. The lateral progression of the game is interesting in that it tries to be welcoming to newcomers with the help of seasoned sailors. As much as there are many things to love in Sea of Thieves, I can say that the longevity of the game is not one of them. There are moments of brilliance to Sea of Thieves (especially in the first few hours) but the sense of adventure fades once you have killed your 10th skeleton or find your 40thtreasure, or vanquish another pirate crew, and you feel that you have almost done everything that Sea of Thieves has to offer.
Pros:
- Player crafted adventures are fun and has you enjoying this beautiful world.
- Strong ship mechanics that need people to cooperate in order to survive and explore this world.
- It's fun messing around with the right people.
Cons:
- Voyages are repetitive and tiring once you have done a lot of them.
- Random players may sometimes grief you.
- Too few ships can be seen and encountered in the world making it feel barren.
- The lateral progression while interesting is not for every one.
- Combat is bad and is repetitive.
Review: 6/10
Note: Right now, all I can say is that the game is not world $60 for its content. If you need to experience this game, you might as well try it on the Xbox GamePass for much cheaper.
No comments:
Post a Comment