Unfortunately, and after a few attempts, I just couldn’t get into this one. It just had no draw to keep me coming back, it failed to get it’s ‘hooks’ in me you could say.

I’ll give the game it’s fair due, the ship combat is mechanically impressive and with friends fighting at sea, it can be a jolly good time, not to mention all the sea shanties you can play. The graphics, while cartoon-esc are really quite good, the art design is great and the sea! To put it bluntly, I don’t think I’ve seen better oceans.

However, I think that’s where my praises have to end. The game is so slow, there’s so much busy work to do anything and none of it is compelling. This isn’t helped by the outright poor land/off-ship combat, there’s just no feedback to any of the attacks, especially the sword, it feels so inconsistent how much damage you’re doing. I can’t emphasise enough how much this lets the game down, especially being a pirate themed game. Aside from that I could not find any drive to actually do anything in the game, there’s no real progression, everything you do is for gold and the purchase of cosmetic items. This might be a me problem but that just doesn’t give me a reason to want to play the game.

Overall if you want to spend a night or two having a laugh with friends, maybe give this a go to kill some time, however I’d arguably say there are plenty of better games to play together instead. In the end I found myself getting bored rather quick with this one and I’m walking the plank to get away from it.

Maybe I'll get back into this someday, considering I still have the primal itch to dig up vast amounts of treasure.

At its core, it's a perfect game. However, it's all the other stuff that detracts from it, namely:

- Occasionally toxic playerbase

- High time commitment

- Low reward for that time commitment

But, y'know, you get to be a goddamn pirate. That's good enough for me.

One of my favorite co-op experiences. While there isn't anything materially valuable that can be grinded for in this game, there is still plenty of fun to be had sailing across the seas with your friends. Danger hides around every corner, whether it be a ghost ship full of NPC skeletons wanting to rip your arms off or a sloop of rival players trying to nuke your ship with an explosive barrel. Very healthy design philosophies; the only difference between life and death in this game is your skills. You can deck your ship out with as many cosmetics as you'd like but you're still just as vulnerable as a player who just got the game. Does get fairly repetitive after a while to the point where you just want to drop the game and never play again but your first experience with this game is guaranteed to be a good one.

One of the most innovative, sand-box driven multiplayer experiences I have ever encountered. Unique, artful, dynamic, charming and a joy with friends. Although core tasks might seem repetitive at a surface level, the world invariably lends countering dynamism through every session.

If you can get past the risk of grieving from unfriendly pirates, Sea of Thieves shines as a beautiful open world sandbox for you and your friends to embark on voyages permeating stunning art direction, satisfying progression, and endless shenanigans.