Sea of Thieves had, from what I can remember, a pretty rocky launch and subsequent couple years. However, Rare has really committed themselves to making one of the best pirate sim/roleplay games that you can find, period, and I think they've delivered on that promise pretty fantastically.
Sea of Thieves is not the type of game where you work towards some greater RPG style progression. In fact, it has almost no RPG style systems at all. The character you start out playing will be, strength and ability wise, the exact same character you'll be playing 40 hours in.
Where the game really shines is in giving you a space to roleplay a pirate, all the while gathering gold and reputation within the game's various factions. These factions give you access to cosmetics, which further allow you to roleplay and look like the character you have in mind. Cosmetic improvement is really the main thing that you're working towards in terms of progression in Sea of Thieves, but I wouldn't really say that's the game's main draw.
The real fun of the game though, is understanding it and building the skill required to truly make it on the high seas. Whether that means being able to read maps to find treasure, solve riddles and follow clues to secret crypts full of chests, maintain and pilot your ship while fighting skeleton ships (or even other players), and become the skillfully cutthroat pirate that only this game can make you feel like. While there is no real "progression" in terms of statistics or equipment, the true progression just comes from gathering the skill to fully realize this fantasy.
This fantasy is built up with a pretty awesome sailing simulation, in which you have to manually raise your ship's sails, aim them in the correct direction, steer according to a map and compass, load your own cannons, repair holes in the hull and remove water from the ship when you get damaged, things like that. I'm pretty hesitant to play "sim" type games usually, but Sea of Thieves makes all of it's mechanics pretty easy to understand and follow, while still making you do it all yourself. It never feels like a chore, because every aspect of it is so polished, easy to understand, and just plain fun that I have still not gotten tired of it.
There is a LOT of content in this game, with a solid mix between mostly single player "style" missions (all areas are still open to trespassers and PVP enabled, so watch out!), and random world events that are constantly rotating and keeping everything fresh. Even if you don't get into ANY of that content, it's just fun to sail around and interact with players. Of course, "interact" here means being ready to blow holes in the side of someone's ship and take all of their precious loot, if you so desire. And of course, defending your own haul from would-be attackers. And if you don't like to do ANY OF THAT, there are still tons of random things that can happen on any random island, so go exploring for the hell of it! You'll more than likely come across something worth looking into, or more likely, taking for your own.
All in all, Sea of Thieves is an absolutely wonderful game with a lot of really fun scripted content, a seemingly infinite skill ceiling where mastering the game's systems are key to becoming a pirate legend, and a myriad of things to do out on the open seas that are rotating in and out and always giving you a new challenge.
If you like multiplayer games with a blend of PVP and PVE, really enjoy games that freely encourage raiding and intense encounters with people, or just want to explore a wonderfully interesting world with a few friends, give this one a try! You can play it through Xbox Game Pass for PC, which makes it pretty inexpensive to try out.
Dress yourself up like a swashbuckler, grab your hurdy gurdy and a few cannonballs, and set sail!
Sea of Thieves is not the type of game where you work towards some greater RPG style progression. In fact, it has almost no RPG style systems at all. The character you start out playing will be, strength and ability wise, the exact same character you'll be playing 40 hours in.
Where the game really shines is in giving you a space to roleplay a pirate, all the while gathering gold and reputation within the game's various factions. These factions give you access to cosmetics, which further allow you to roleplay and look like the character you have in mind. Cosmetic improvement is really the main thing that you're working towards in terms of progression in Sea of Thieves, but I wouldn't really say that's the game's main draw.
The real fun of the game though, is understanding it and building the skill required to truly make it on the high seas. Whether that means being able to read maps to find treasure, solve riddles and follow clues to secret crypts full of chests, maintain and pilot your ship while fighting skeleton ships (or even other players), and become the skillfully cutthroat pirate that only this game can make you feel like. While there is no real "progression" in terms of statistics or equipment, the true progression just comes from gathering the skill to fully realize this fantasy.
This fantasy is built up with a pretty awesome sailing simulation, in which you have to manually raise your ship's sails, aim them in the correct direction, steer according to a map and compass, load your own cannons, repair holes in the hull and remove water from the ship when you get damaged, things like that. I'm pretty hesitant to play "sim" type games usually, but Sea of Thieves makes all of it's mechanics pretty easy to understand and follow, while still making you do it all yourself. It never feels like a chore, because every aspect of it is so polished, easy to understand, and just plain fun that I have still not gotten tired of it.
There is a LOT of content in this game, with a solid mix between mostly single player "style" missions (all areas are still open to trespassers and PVP enabled, so watch out!), and random world events that are constantly rotating and keeping everything fresh. Even if you don't get into ANY of that content, it's just fun to sail around and interact with players. Of course, "interact" here means being ready to blow holes in the side of someone's ship and take all of their precious loot, if you so desire. And of course, defending your own haul from would-be attackers. And if you don't like to do ANY OF THAT, there are still tons of random things that can happen on any random island, so go exploring for the hell of it! You'll more than likely come across something worth looking into, or more likely, taking for your own.
All in all, Sea of Thieves is an absolutely wonderful game with a lot of really fun scripted content, a seemingly infinite skill ceiling where mastering the game's systems are key to becoming a pirate legend, and a myriad of things to do out on the open seas that are rotating in and out and always giving you a new challenge.
If you like multiplayer games with a blend of PVP and PVE, really enjoy games that freely encourage raiding and intense encounters with people, or just want to explore a wonderfully interesting world with a few friends, give this one a try! You can play it through Xbox Game Pass for PC, which makes it pretty inexpensive to try out.
Dress yourself up like a swashbuckler, grab your hurdy gurdy and a few cannonballs, and set sail!