I’ve played Sea of Thieves for a couple of hours now, and basically have been giving solo play a go. I thought it might be a good opportunity to share some initial thoughts.
Firstly, the graphics are very impressive, as is the sound. When you are sailing solo and the storms hit, it is a hair raising experience. I’ve only just picked up a couple of Merchant Guild quests and haven’t had the chance to play them yet. My first hour or so was just spent cruising around, and getting use to the sailing, fighting mechanics.
Five minutes in and I encountered another player, it a larger ship. I managed to flee successfully with him firing his pistol at me. He must not have loaded his cannons thankfully. After that encounter I didn’t run into anyone else in my sailing from island to island.
So far I’ve only managed to find wooden planks (to repair the ship with), cannonballs (to attack from the ship) and bananas (health restoration). Talking with NPCs is a bit of a disappointment because there is only an opening speech line, and the rest is text. I’m not sure of how big the map is as yet, but it seems a decent size from my initial voyage.
I think with friends this could be a lot of fun. I am keen to get back to it when Night Owl has downloaded it so we can play together. It does seem to be a very chill game – at this point. Hopefully I’ll play some co-op on the weekend, if I can tear myself away from Far Cry 5 (out tomorrow).
The Late Night Session 
I played for a few hours (both solo and with friends) and I was bored out of my mind the entire time. I’m glad I had a free month of Xbox Game Pass and tried the game out (on PC) without having to buy it. It’s the worst game I’ve played this year. I hope you enjoy it :).
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I’ve no doubts that this game could be one of the most divisive of the year. There’s a lot I liked about it from the beta (like Elite Dangerous I find “sea-trucking” relaxing) but they really needed a proper solo mode or lengthier tutorials to help drive players in the direction of getting the most from the game. After reading your review I’m thinking they didn’t fix up those issues at all…
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I think a proper solo mode with a full crew of A.I. shipmates and random A.I. pvp encounters would be great, but that’s not the only problem. This game needs more quest and a progression system for me to feel like I’m getting somewhere. I want to feel stronger and that’s missing from Sea of Thieves. I didn’t write a review because I only played 4 hours. It was more of a first impression :). I’ll gladly revisit the game if they add more to it. Right now it’s not worth the price to me.
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I feel like this game will be like No Mans Sky, where over time it will get better.. But by then there will be other games to play and unless it goes on sale, I feel like I will end up missing this game. Such a shame though, I’m a big pirate fan!
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I have heard some describe it as “No Man’s Sea” for all the wrong reasons! 😉
I’ve finally downloaded it now so want to try for myself – hoping there is enough to at least keep me occupied for a few hours. I did get a decent amount of play from No Man’s Sky before my play time dropped off so perhaps I might find the game for to my liking. Plus I’m a pirate fan too. 🙂
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Well I hope you do find something you like in this game, and feel you get your moneys worth from it. I decided to buy A Way Out instead 🙂
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Can you play that solo or do you have to play co-op for A Way Out?
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Its CO-OP only, I played about 4 hours of it with a friend the other day. It is so much fun, and quite intense sometimes too. I love the teamwork dynamic too, and the two lead characters are great!
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I do agree with a lot of the sentiment here. There doesn’t seem to be much incentive for progressing at all – and everything is cosmetic. I know Rare apparently did this to make sure it was easy to keep playing together but if you’ve got no reason to plunder gold, then why do it?
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