Sea Of Thieves Impressions

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Let’s get this out of the way at the start – the Sea Of Thieves Beta has been a success and Rare should be proud with how it has played out. Seeing the amount of people streaming the game, up there with the likes of PUBG or LOL, both Microsoft and Rare would be ecstatic as they would know that Sea Of Thieves is a perfect game to become popular with streamers. In this video I will be talking about Sea Of Thieves as a whole so I’ll be including the alpha and beta in general. The game is both casual but also tense at times and when played with others, the fun and laughs get ramped up and that’s where the game truly shines.

Well that’s not exactly true because when you see the sun,sky and water effects it will be your smile that shines to as it’s impossible to watch this game in motion and not be impressed with the presentation. Watching various streams on Twitch and Mixer shows just how much fun players were having just by playing the game and what makes it even better is that there isn’t THAT much to do in the game so far but that will change. I have no doubt that Rare and Microsoft will support this game into the future and my main reason for saying this is because it is a great streaming game and they would have thought that already, but now it’s confirmed with the beta.

A game that is popular when streamed stays in peoples minds, and with Sea Of Thieves, there would be many viewers seeing the fun that’s being had and they would want in. That person would tell friends in the hopes they would all buy it and crew and go on that pirate adventure. But that is also a downfall of the game as it’s strength certainly does not lie in being a solo player as that is what I have mostly played. It can get lonely on the high seas and it lacks some of the fun that naturally happens when teaming up with others. I hope Rare work out a way for solo players to enjoy the game more and compete on an even playing field. As it is now perhaps there could be specific items, perks or gameplay mechanics that could be included that are for solo players. Whatever they may be, the game is still at its best in a team especially when going up against another crew.

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One thing that has impressed me about Sea Of Thieves is that Rare has done an excellent job of getting a lot of the foundations right in order to build future content on top. The ships feel great to sail and their interaction with the amazing water really brings the world to life and makes it more believable even with the cartoon like visuals. The gun and sword play is solid but would be nice to have it tightened up a little bit so firing that weapon or swinging a sword really had a more satisfying feeling.

With such a large world with so many different islands to explore players need a lot to do in this world so it’s worthwhile staying in it. Whilst fun, I would like to see a lot more quests or missions, even multi stages ones and with enough variety that they can be done often and players still are seeing something new. The game needs to do more than just being a treasure hunting game as this will grow tiresome quickly but I am not worried because I know Rare is working on many more features and things to do in the game. I want the game to have that feeling you get when you don’t want to switch a game off because there is always something to do. That feeling when you aren’t playing the game that you start thinking about what else you will see once you get back online. Contacting your crew during the day and planning what you will do when you all get back on that ship. If Sea Of Thieves can do this then it is going to have a lot of success.

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Throughout the development of Sea Of Thieves, and especially over the last year when the alpha play tests were in full swing, Rare did a great job of holding regular shows that fans could watch to keep themselves up to date on the development of the game, what was being worked on and what was coming to the game soon. Keeping the gamers in the loop about what is going to be in the game and what will be coming is a great move and this needs to be carried forward into the future. This game could be made great or forgotten based on the community that sticks with it and how open Rare are with this community.

The game IS still in beta and I’m hoping more will be added before launch but I’m not too sure if it will. If you are thinking about the game then I would stress to you that Sea of Thieves isn’t just a game to buy, complete it and move onto the next one. It will need commitment and others to regularly play with to get the most out of it. You will be following Rare to see what is being added to the game soon and what features will be coming soon and far into the future. This is a game that is going to continually be built over a number of years and those who decide to take the plunge into need to realise it. A game has all quality all over it and as mentioned before, simply go and watch some streamers playing this game and see the fun that they are having. For that to happen then the game must be doing several things right.

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Rare has done a great job over the months and years in being open and telling gamers what to expect from the game. The long alpha phase has given gamers a taste of the base game and what they can expect from the full game as a minimum. Of course more will be added bu how the game plays and the most basic things to do in the game have been out in the open for many months, even if we couldn’t speak a whole lot about those things. Much of the information and features were already being spoken about in Rare’s update videos and much of what we would be doing could simply be seen on the screen. A large number of players were involved in these alpha sessions, such as myself, and everything Rare was speaking about or said was in the game was there. This isn’t another No Man’s Sky were features and content are alluded to only to be disappointed when you play it. No, this game is a coop and competitive pirate games with huge amounts of freedom and it has nailed that so far. Lets just get a huge amount of content and pirate life dumped on top of it

I’m really looking forward to this game finally releasing as we have known about it for years now so it’s exciting for it to finally be in its almost-final form at launch and then see how it evolves over time. If it can stay popular amongst streamers then it could be something really special.

-MaxPower

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