Sea of Thieves offers the essential pirate experience, from sailing and fighting to exploring and looting – everything you need to live the pirate life and become a legend in your own right. With no set roles, you have complete freedom to approach the world, and other players, however you choose.
Whether you’re voyaging as a group or sailing solo, you’re bound to encounter other crews in this shared world adventure – but will they be friends or foes, and how will you respond?
A Vast Open World: Explore a vast open world filled with unspoiled islands, sunken ships and mysterious artefacts. Take on quests to hunt for lost treasure, seek out cursed Skeleton Captains or gather valuable cargo for the Trading Companies. Go hunting and fishing or choose from hundreds of optional goals and side-quests.
Unforgettable stories: Play through the Tall Tales to experience Sea of Thieves’ unique take on a story-driven campaign. With 11 tales to play through across two epic storylines, these immersive and cinematic quests provide around 30 hours of the ultimate pirate fantasy.
Become Legend: On your journey to become a Pirate Legend you’ll amass loot, build a reputation and define a unique personal style with your hard-earned rewards. Adventurer. Explorer. Conqueror. What will your legend be?
A Game That’s Always Growing: With five major expansions and almost a year’s worth of monthly updates, Sea of Thieves is a service-based game that is continually growing and evolving. Check back each month to see what new content has been added.
1.0 out of 5 stars Its the Anniversary Edition!!!!
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2020
Do not buy, when I was searching for this game I wanted the normal version not the anniversary edition, I prefer the normal cover art. At the time the normal was $5 more but still paid for it. Very disappointed 😞
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 25, 2018
I love this game. Normally I don't have time to write reviews, but I just want to help address a few things that other people complain about.
Firstly, it is certainly a game that you will either love or hate, rarely anything in between (hence the average rating of 3 stars here -- there are about as many 5 stars as their are 1 star reviews). To this, it is probably a matter of determining if you ever had a childhood fancy to be a pirate. Who doesn't love pirates and adventure on the high seas, and BOOTY?
The main complain people have has to be that some people think it is repetitious and shallow. While it can be grindy and repetitious, the game actually changes as you play in that the challenges get, well, more challenging. As you level up in the guilds, you also go to the next tier of missions which ask increasingly more of you to do, and provide greater rewards. So at first you are catching one or two chickens, taking on a single pirate skeleton crew, or finding a single chest, but at level 25 and above, and after you start to understand the game more, it can get pretty exciting. But really where the meat and potatoes are here is from your experience with others.
The next complain would have to be that your upgrades are all cosmetic, with the exception of a few (like sniper rifle with better scope). While I am not sure what Rare has planned here in their updates, it is true for the most part, but the goal of the game was to keep everyone on a similar keel for competition purposes, rather than leveling up to become the most OP pirate on the server. Also, the objective of the game is to become a famed pirate (the final achievement), that is your goal.
And finally, the other complain would have to be the griefers. I won't deny that there are griefers, but they have mechanics built into the game now (after the first update or so) where you can avoid them if you really want to. One such example is when you die, while you wait in the afterlife to respawn there is a poster on the wall that allows you to answer if you feel like you are being attacked by griefers. If you say yes, you are sent elsewhere (it seems like to another server). Other than that, once you stick with the game and learn the mechanics and system, you can turn the tables on the griefers and get revenge. Personally that is what I do, I don't mess with anyone but if they attack me, then ITS ON and I will make them regret it (revenge is sweet in this game).
And that leads to the games biggest strengths...
Personally I love the art style, and the sound is SUPERB, and it has the best water you will see in any game I can ever recall. Also, you can go around talking into your headset like a pirate (just put "arrrgh!!!!" in front of everything you say, and you get to say "booty" in like every other sentence). But all that is really small potatoes to the game's biggest strength: the story you create at sea from the crazy things that happen and the interactions you have with others (both with friendlies and hostiles). You can certainly play with a crew of friends and that would be fun, but my friends happen to be interested in other games (we rarely find a single game we all play at the same time). So, I mostly play alone, but I have also played plenty open crew sessions with others on Xbox Live and it has been a blast. If you find it isn't then you only have to leave the game and join to a different crew (that is the key - don't just settle on the first crew you find, find a good one where everyone is communicating and working together and not acting like D bags!).
So back to the STORIES you create.
What I mean is, the more you play the richer the experience can become to the point that you will actually play into situations that you could never recreate again, ever. You will find yourself saying "I remember the time when...!". Some examples of stories I will never forget...
-The time when we took a galleon (crew of 4) to a "skull fort" and fought through the waves of skeletons to collect about 10,000 in treasure. Upon leaving, we got into a running battle with two other galleons, only to end up being sunk by the Kraken, and we returned to the area and fought over the treasure that was up for grabs (that was exciting to me).
-The time when I alone on a sloop, passing by a skull fort and was hailed by a crew of another sloop (small ship, crew of 2) and we agreed to work together on the skull fort and split the loot (which we did, without a single underhanded incident, agreeing to divide the loot 1/3 each and we went our separate ways).
-The time when we saw another galleon sunk by a pirate crew, and we picked up the ship-less crew on our passing galleon and we chased down the pirates with a crew of 8 (rather than the normal 4). That was a very strange situation where two crews worked together, sailing the same ship.
-Another time when I was alone, minding my business and attacked by a sloop (crew of 2) and we went on a wild chase/battle where I eventually got away. I later hunted them down and ambushed them (recognizing their sail and hull colors), leading to another long running battle (about 40 minutes long) where we blasted each other, repaired damages, ran each other into rocks, and still neither ship could get the best of each other. Near the end of the battle, I put a gun powder keg on the bow of the ship and rammed them, it exploded and nearly sank us both. Finally we called a truce (by flashing lanterns) a breaking off. In this case even though they attacked me, we parted with respect and they possibly thought twice about ambushing the next ship.
-And finally (because I am tired of typing), the time when, again, minding my own business on a sloop alone (doing merchant missions), I was attacked by a galleon with crew of 4, leading to a running battle. After executing several 180 "anchor turns", and hitting them with cannon fire, they were eventually led into rocks, crashed, repaired their damage and I got away. I went to a nearby fort and gathered gun power barrels, followed them to an island where they landed to explore and left the ship. I swam over like a ninja with a gun powder barrel, put it inside the ship, and exploded it which sank their ship. Then returned and gathered the floating treasure and got away. This is that "sweet revenge" that is possible, if you are into that competitive play. If you aren't into that, then you can certainly end up on a server where everyone is friendly (I have seen it many times), or join a galleon crew and drive off any griefers. You can certainly also get away from any pursuit ship too, if you stick with the game long enough to get your sailing skills down.
But let's face it, what really gets you on the seat of your pants and gets the excitement pumping is when two ships are going at it, and two crews trying to out think the other.
Also, more of closing comment here, I do love the fact that Rare is adding new content to the game for free, with planned updates/upgrades. Yes, you can argue that it should have been there from the start, but I am a game developer myself and the reality is that they have to release the game at some point, and the game has been in development for quite some years. I look at it this way: I learn the game and get deeper into the community experience, it is nice to know that a little something new is being (and will be) added from time to time to keep it fresh.
Give it a try and see if you like it if you are on the fence (as a rental, then buy if you like), but if you love pirates, sailing ships, and are competitive then this is an easy purchase.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 11, 2018
Sea of Thieves LOOKS fun. It takes all the pirate tropes we know and love, wraps them in a cartoonish look and then lets you build your own adventure. On paper, that sounds amazing... Then the reality of the game sets in. So.. the breakdown...
First time loading in:
First and foremost, the game doesn't explain a single thing to you. You load in (for a really long time... the initial load screen is
REALLY long, and rather than providing meaningful tips, just advertises new content) and then... you figure it out. There is no direction to the game, which is both good and bad. There is no primary story to follow, which, depending on your outlook, is also both good and bad as you're left to your own devices. You really can do whatever you want, but there just isn't any compelling reason to do anything. The game points you nowhere, and this is a continued theme even after you've "figured out"
the game.
NPCs:
The NPC interactions are the flattest possible experience, and are relegated to single sentence "speech bubbles" that take awhile to click through, all while the character says nothing. Instead, the NPCs just grunt and huff and generally just make "noises" to intone they could be saying something. Were voice actors really that big of a problem or expense? There are skeletons to fight on the various islands, but that too is a flat experience. Yes there are differing
skeleton types with specific weaknesses, but again, its flat. They've added in skeletons carrying powder kegs that often serve as "gotcha" moments you can do nothing about. You just get to die and sit in the "time out" penalty box of a ghost ship. Admittedly, the ghost ship is cool, and you can see other dead pirates arrive there, but it leads you back into another nonsense load screen when you try to rejoin the land of the living.
Shared World Experience:
Its terrible. I am going to be
honest. The addition of Alliances has eased this a bit, but not resolved it. This game caters to the troll crews who have nothing better to do than sink you at the dock just to ruin your day. As a single player, you're in the worst possible position, as you will often run into instances where players will board your ship, kill you, and remain there to keep killing you as you are auto loaded back to your ship after sitting in the penalty box. You can choose to "scuttle" your ship, and reload
somewhere else, but this isn't an option that is explained, and is again penalizing the "innocent" player. In the middle of a mission where you've got a handful of chests on board with some skulls or some merchant items and suddenly see some sails on the horizon? Sail the other way. You must waste a ton of your time avoiding other ships because you get nothing for your time unless you turn something in. You get notifications that you've completed the voyages when you've dug or found up the last
"thing" but it is all for naught unless you turn everything in.
Even with the option for alliances, often times crews have no issues using them opportunistically and turning on you in a heartbeat. (there is literally no downside to an alliance, and nothing but net positives all around, but trolls are trolls) . Sadly, in the name of "pirating" the game caters to the troll players. In order to avoid having wasted hours trying to complete a voyage, you must now waste an hour sailing in a cat
and mouse game against people who appear to have nothing but time on their hands to ruin your day.
Progression:
There are currently a handful of grind wheels where you repeat the same mindless tasks for each "guild type" to slowly make the wheel turn and see the number get bigger. Progression is super slow at the mid point and painfully slow beyond it. Additionally, lets say you go on a spree, complete a few voyages, and go to turn in your bounty (the only way to level up) and you're
met at the dock by a troll crew... well... you're boned, hours wasted with no progression. They can sink your ship in seconds while you're turning in 1 chest. Yes, you may have 10 things on your ship... you must run them 1 at a time to the turn in points, making you very vulnerable. A single powder keg detonated in the lower deck while you're turning in will sink your ship, cause your loot to float, and then... if / when you die, you're moved to another island with no recourse. You've lost your
chance at progression and have wasted hours of your time. Other players are literally a barrier to continuing, and worse, can impact your willingness to even play the game. Which brings us to sailing...
Sailing:
Its fun. Not going to lie. The learning curve for it is a little steep for your first voyage, again with nothing to explain anything to you. Positioning your sails for maneuverability is equally as important as positioning your sails to catch the wind. Knowing how to turn
tightly and continue with speed will become important... but... often times the game's voyages have you trekking from one side of the map to the other, many times against the wind. As a result, you will spend a LOT of time just pointing off in a direction and waiting to arrive, hopefully without running into other players.
Friends:
This is the linchpin. The game becomes infinitely more positive with the addition of a single friend. More friends? Bigger ship, more fun. The isn't in the
missions themselves, but in getting everyone together to accomplish tasks on the ship while you go about the boring missions. A friend and I recently took down a skeleton Galleon while in our sloop. It was fun and hectic. Sadly, the game isn't built for you to get anything from this. There was no time for us to get loot from sinking that ship as two more instantly spawned and we had run very low on cannonballs. The game offers the option of having an "open" crew, where it will assign you random
players to fill out larger ships. Sadly, these crews can be just as much a hinderance as a benefit. Luck never seems to be on my side here.
Rewards:
The rewards in this game are crap. Did you just complete an amazing mission with some friends? Cool, someone could easily steal the loot and you've literally gained nothing for the time. Did you sink a skeleton ship? So what? People will say that playing the game is the reward, and to a point, I agree. But, getting people together to
accomplish "nothing" isn't easy and I would say is counter productive. You're more likely to get people together to do "a mission" or "beat a boss" none of which actually exist in Sea of Thieves.
End Game Activities:
You need people. Period. These are nothing more than wars of attrition. Go in with enough people and materials and no skill is required. You basically keep repeating actions till eventually the thing dies or the ship sinks... then you repeat. Did you run out of cannonballs
during the fight? Welp, you're done. Go home and start over. Oh, want to fill up on cannonballs? Prepare to sail around to islands scavenging. You can't just buy crates of them so you can jump to it. There is as much tedium in the set up as there is in the actual end game.
Conclusion?
I want to play. I do. I enjoy the sailing, and Alliances are easing the pain of troll crews of preteens. When friends are on, we enjoy sailing around and digging up the chests. We a friend and I sunk a
skeleton crew after a long battle while on a sloop it felt like a huge accomplishment. The game doesn't recognize it and thats really the point. The created a sand box with clear edges. The toys are only fun if there are other people to play, and the game pretty much expects you to "roll your own" adventure. The problem with that is there isn't anything to build your adventure out of, and if you do have an accomplishment, it is fleeting and you're done. I've loaded up the game several times,
grabbed a chest or two, got bored and just logged out without turning them in because really, friends are fun, the game is not. The game is just a place for friends to be, and doesn't deserve any more credit than an empty room does. There is a ton of places for improvement, and I look forward to giving it more stars should something change but for now... meh.
Top reviews from other countries
5.0 out of 5 stars Great game
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on July 2, 2020
Bought for hubby so he can play with his friends. They love it.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Quality
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 14, 2020