Should you buy this game?
TLDR;
Probably, but maybe not.
Overview:
The game borrows elements from some of the latest gaming trends while throwing in enough of Rare's personal touch and humor to make it stand out.
It would be a shame to pigeon-hole this game into some existing genre (or make direct comparisons to existing games). It doesn't fit into any of them on its own, but it nestles into something new, yet familiar-ish, when you look at a couple of genres in aggregate.
This game is a mix of:
- Last-man Standing / Arena (Player Unknown Battlegrounds, Fortnite Battle Royale)
- Hilarious Co-op Miscommunication (Spaceteam, Don't Stop Talking & Nobody Explodes)
- Arcade Pirate Ship Battles (... haven't played any of these... but I've seen videos!)
Things in common with Fortnite & PubG
- Each session you join is sort of a preset world of islands. Each world has a finite set of crews (people on boats). People can come/go, but it appears there are a finite number of slots for people (or boats) in each world.
- You need to collect, use, and manage a set of resources. These resources start over each gaming session. Bananas (player health potions), wood planks (repair ship damage), and canon balls (ship ammo).
- It is you/your team against everyone and everything else.
- You need to pay attention to environmental obstacles and conditions. Bad weather, sea monsters, wind, wild life, etc.
- The awards / progress amount to a currency that seems to be cosmetic-only. You get new clothes, accessories, and boat decorations with the gold and fame you gather (see below).
Things different from Fortnite & PubG:
- There is no global "objective" that ends a session for all players (more on this later)
- You can achieve progress in 1 of 2 ways (or a combination of both). You can find and collect things for PvE guilds or you can kill other players and take the things they have collected before they get to turn them in.
- There is not a "timed" element that is always rushing you to some final battle. It is possible to spend hours avoiding other people and taking the long route. You also spend quite a bit of "down time" on your ship with friends while you sail to the next island. This gives time to catch up with your friends, play music, drink too much and throw up on each other, and goof off. This can also be an upside for "streamers" because it gives them a periodic and natural break in the action to engage fans and viewers.
As a fan/hater of Fortnite, things to consider:
In traditional arena / battle royale games, the combat is the focal point of the game. As such, you progress by being better at combat (winning) and the gun / combat mechanics are very skill-based, responsive, and polished.
In Sea of Thieves, there is combat, but the gun and melee mechanics aren't as polished and tactile as PubG and Fortnite. However, there is a ton of strategy, depth, and skill related to crew vs crew ship battles (see below when the Funny Co-Op Miscommunication genre comes in).
While there is a major PvP element that permeates the entire game, without a global objective, this can potentially turn into griefing and trolling. If you have a dominant crew in your world, and if they choose to, they can make your session horrible and prevent you from turning in any rewards... including killing you in town. This is where I see the biggest point of contention (and probably dev attention) for the game in the days/weeks ahead. Rare will need to find a good balance of PvP and PvE... and right now, the game is biased heavily towards PvP... but the lack of an objective or punishment for griefing can make "world-hopping" a frustrating and necessary component of play from time to time.
Similarities to Spaceteam and Don't Stop Talking:
- There are "roles" on the ship and everyone needs to act together and in unison to win battles against other skilled players. When you throw in things like diversions, sneaking onto ships, planting explosive barrels, sniping them and then jumping off... boarding ships by shooting yourselves out of cannons... you get the idea.
- Example: There are several other mechanics in the game that requires teamwork and coordination. Someone needs to play music to hypnotize snakes while someone else digs up a treasure chest while someone else perches in the crow's nest of the ship looking for other pirates.
- Proximity-based voice comms adds a nice touch to the game. By default, the game will opt you into a method of proximity-based voiced comms that allows you to hear and talk to enemy pirates as you get close to them. For the most fun, I recommend it... although min-maxxers will probably opt out of this for every ounce of advantage.
My suggestions for the game:
I love the game, but there are a few things I would tweak.
- Need to find a way to keep the PvP while also decentivizing people from just camping outposts and boats. Maybe guards that somehow help defend against aggressors or bounties that get put on the heads of people that break some "pirate code" of pure, repeated, and fruitless murder.
- Come up with some concept of seasons. With a cosmetic-only reward system, seasons seems like a popular way to keep things fresh and interesting.
- Improve the gun-handling and combat mechanics for non-ship combat. I love the entire dance of ship to ship battles. But I think having flaming cocktails, crosshairs, ability to revive teammates, etc... would add a nice touch to the combat that may allow more FPS-based players to sink their teethes into it for longer.
My feelings:
I'm loving the game... but much of that has to do with the moment-to-moment hilarity that can ensue with friends. We are still discovering things and tactics. As that novelty and humor grows thinner and thinner, I'm curious to see what will be around to keep us drawn in. The ship combat is fun. The base game and concepts are fantastic and there is really a ton of room for expansion and development and I'm looking forward to the future. New gadgets, gametypes, ships, weapons, etc... the sky is the limit. I would prefer tighter gun mechanics though :)
