For a long time, many gamers such as myself have become accustomed to games that lock you into a linear path. You load in, you force yourself to suffer a tutorial and the game forces commands down your throat: Do this, go here, do this. Then the end.
However, in "Sea of Thieves," it's not like that, at any point. You always have options, you always have stuff you could do, you can always be doing something new. Do you want to sail the open ocean without a care in the world? done. Do you want to go to random islands and caves to see what may be there, whether or not its pirates, skeletons, treasures or just barrels of bananas to cram in your face?
Do you want to explore sunken ships and underwater open ocean? Check.
You see in this game you are the master of your adventure, and you decide what makes it fun. You can siege others' ships, or grab your own treasure, or just explore. You can do all of these things with friends or alone with a fantastic server based experience that is actually based on how often the players are interacting instead of how many people are or are not in a match already.
With all this said, the beta showed many what a unique experience this game will be. Firing yourselves or others out of cannons, exploring the sunken ships and lost caverns strung beneath the open ocean, finding random bouts of booty throughout the islands and exploring the open oceans and tropical islands, in general, are a great change in pace for games.
In reality, the beta was only a small taste of what is to come but from everything we have read, played and tried it is sure to be an experience any player can enjoy.
The price tag is steep, for now
For many, the price tag seems steep, after all the graphics aren't the best around and the game isn't an AAA title. Well, for those in doubt, yes it is expensive but it is worth every cent.
But it isn't just a great game you promote by deciding to get it - it's the change in pace and it could be what makes game developers change how they see the market and how they build future titles.
Games use to be made for fun, to entertain and to be truly as beautiful as possible, however in time, games became cutthroat, competitive, and outright cash grabbing, with paid DLC out the wazoo and a lot of games making a pay to win scenario to rake in as much cash as possible.
All game developers may not do this, but many do, and when you promote a game like this one that steers away from that, you are helping develop the industry in a way that will make games more fun. So, with the worries of how much the game is, you should think of it not only as sixty dollars being spent on an amazing game but an investment into the future of gaming as well. However, even with all of that said, the $60 price tag, common as it is, still seems really steep. I believe this game could have come out with a $40 price tag and would have been much more popular.
There are adjustments to be made
in the game, the limit of four players per crew could be moved up at least to six. The variety of enemies could use some work as well as some bosses and more depth to the enemy characters.
Also, a skill tree would be a great addition to the game and may be something that allows you to breathe for longer underwater and perhaps the ability to get better range with rifles, or reload faster, and some ship talents as well like steering faster, turning the sails faster or repairing faster.
In any game, having upgrades that are not purely cosmetic are pleasant additions and maybe with all the ideas that have been floating around the forum and the fact we only saw part of the game in beta, some of these ideas will come to fruition. With that said, the game still has tens of hours of content and at no point on your adventure will you be bored. Not to mention the underwater caves and sunken ships with plenty of booty for all the pirates of the sea.
Did I mention you can shoot your teammates out of cannons?
Closing thoughts
I really just want to say once again what a fantastic title "Sea of Thieves" is shaping up to be. In no time at all, I am sure Rare will improve on the amazing foundation that has been placed already, and the name will be heard so often that unless you live under a rock you will have heard of it. It is a must-try game that is enchanting, beautiful, adventurous and all around just a pleasant experience for anyone. You will have plenty of ways to play considering it's on Xbox One and PC but is also cross-platform between the two. You don't have to miss out if you only have one or the other.
