XBOX
Sea of Thieves REVIEW round-up: Xbox opinions as servers struggle with demand on launch
Rare and Microsoft are aiming for Sea of Thieves to be one of Xbox's top franchises. That's what the developer told Daily Star some weeks back when we had the chance to preview the game at Rare's Studio to check out the game.
But this week, the game released and if you're looking for reviews before buying it yourself, you could struggle.
That's because most reviewers weren't' able to start properly playing the game until it was officially released to the public on Tuesday.
Them be the breaks when you have a game that's reliant on servers going live at launch.
Even then though, the sheer influx of players meant most couldn't even join the game as it struggled to cope with 1 million players attempted to jump into the game within 24 hours of releasing.
Equally, Rare revealed that they actually had 3-4 times more concurrent players than during any of the games previous beta tests.
So yeh, it's very popular, but a bit of a nightmare to review for critics.
Thankfully though, there are one or two sites which have managed to string enough playtime together to write up some thoughts about the game.
A lot are reviews in progress, so without scores, but keep reading for a collection of thoughts and feelings about Xbox's next big exclusive.
Sea of Thieves 4K screenshots – gameplay for Xbox One and PC
A gallery of screenshots detailing gameplay for upcoming Rare game Sea of Thieves
Based on a couple days on the open seas, "unpredictable" is the best way I can describe Sea of Thieves. There have been some surprising highs when the game's potential shone through and made me eager to forge ahead in search of riches and mayhem. There have also been depressing lows that made me dread having to continue… I will press on, but there's already a lot on my mind despite how shallow the overall experience is.
Mechanically speaking, Sea of Thieves is a showcase of excellent design where a foundation of systems that are accessible, and perhaps overly simple, hide a much deeper function with a little exploration.
After one day of playing, I felt like Rare’s latest release was contriving to waste as much time of mine as it could with tedious activities, half-baked mission systems, punishing social dynamics, and none of the narrative or contextual framework that might hook me into the world. A more thorough examination may yield greater rewards, but as of now, I simply can’t think of who will be capable of falling in love with Sea of Thieves. It may have an identity as a vaguely whimsical pirate game, but it fails to extend that identity onto the players who might enter its world.
Sea of Thieves for Xbox One – Preorder£44.99
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It feels worryingly like marketing speak when we put it like this, but Sea Of Thieves really is a different story every time. Reviewing online games is difficult at the best of times but here it’s compounded because no two people are ever going to have the same experience. But even when our incompetence was revealed in the most embarrassing manner we still had a huge amount of fun with the game, and frankly can’t wait to get back to it.
It's feast or famine. At its best, it's like a pirate role-playing adventure. At its worst, it's tedium and trolling; hopping from game-to-game in the hopes that you'll find a solid crew while you wait for your friends to get online. Matchmaking is key in Sea of Thieves. Without it, you have almost nothing. If you're planning to go it alone, I'd say it's probably better to take a wait-and-see approach on Sea of Thieves at the moment.
Sea of Thieves just needs more. It needs more ways to play, more mission variety, more enemy variants than just different coloured skeletons, and more meaningful progression. If these things don’t appear soon, I can see player numbers dropping off substantially after a short while. When it is the players themselves that create the game’s standout moments, potential player drop-off is a huge problem.
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Sea of Thieves is unlike anything I’ve ever played. It offers a multiplayer experience that’s both unpredictable and hilarious with moments that had me cheering in triumph one minute and in hysterical laughter the next.
The problem is that Sea of Thieves is not a complete game. It just isn’t. It’s maybe 5 or 10% of one, but given what other open world/co-op games can offer you for $60, it’s just astonishing how little Sea of Thieves offers.
Just be aware going into this one that after a few outings, you’ve pretty much seen what Rare’s pirate epic has to offer. Sea of Thieves is a “make your own fun” game, but its difficult not to feel like the developers could’ve made a little more fun for you. Sail, stare at the water, and live the life of a corsair — ultimately, its longevity will come down to you and your crew.
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