From the first moments spent in Sea of Thieves, we have the impression of setting foot in a fairly rough sandbox game. Indeed, no tutorial comes to explain the operation of the game, nor any of its mechanisms, and it will therefore have to go through a fairly long period of adaptation before being able to sail the seas serenely. After a quick creation of our character (we choose from pre-determined and randomly generated skins), we will have to join a crew. Cut for multiplayer, the game therefore offers us to join a crew of four who will sail on a galleon (a large two-masted ship), or a smaller crew on a Sloop (a small boat, but more manageable). This last ship will also allow you to play solo thanks to its very well placed controls which avoid having to run all over the deck to manage your boat. Sea of Thieves does not really offer a goal in itself, except to increase your bank account and spend your money on cosmetic items to customize your ship, pirate and equipment. If you were expecting an RPG, you can directly forget the Rare game since the latter offers no progression in its gameplay, and no stuff to collect or farm.
We are surprised quite early to admire the pretty artistic direction of the game which immerses us in a real episode of Pirate of the Caribbean with a very cartoon look (very fashionable style since the explosion of Fortnite). The whole is rather pleasant to look at, even if no one will find themselves smug with admiration in front of the environments, except perhaps facing the sea. On the surface, the big blue is magnificent, especially when the weather is overcast and the sea of oil begins to deform under the effect of wind and swell. The waves are very believable, and the storms give rise to impressive hollows that we must face at the helm of our ship. We also appreciated the lighting effects that allow you to enjoy splendid sunsets when the horizon is clear. Unfortunately, the game also suffers from gamma problems because as soon as you go under the surface, everything becomes very bright, even if on the surface it is pitch black. On this point, we will go back for realism and immersion, especially since we could have illuminated our dives thanks to our pirate's oil lamp which works both in the open air and under water. Fortunately, we will spend most of our time on the surface navigating between the different islands that make up the open world of Sea of Thives.
FILIBUSTERY FOR ALL
There are 64 islands, very varied in their shape or size, ranging from a simple sandbank to the largest volcanic archipelagos, with an imposing network of underground passages and caves. To get around, Sea of Thives uses a fairly permissive system around sailing. If you've ever sailed, you'll quickly see the limitations of the system, but it teaches players the basics of navigation. It will therefore be necessary to manage the surface of the sail, its orientation in relation to the wind, but also the headings to be followed. Do not panic for novices, because even with a badly trimmed sail and going into the wind, the boat will continue to move forward with an honorable speed. You will also need to know how to find your way by combining the use of the compass and the map. Very well done, the maneuverability of the boat requires a little practice in order to take into account the inertia of the ship, whether it is acceleration, turning radius, but also the latency between the moment when the we turn the helm and the moment when the building finally turns. If it is possible to sail almost serenely solo with the Sloop (except during storms where you have to fight with the helm), the galleon will require real coordination between the crew members in order to be able to draw its quintessence . This is particularly crucial during fights on the water where it is necessary to succeed in positioning oneself well in relation to the enemy in order to make use of the cannons.
Regarding occupations, know that Sea of Thieves offers three types of quests made for different guilds. By going to the islands that have outposts, you can find a tavern (to drink), various merchants (to spend your gold and have cosmetic items), as well as the counters of the three guilds. The Merchant Alliance will allow us to indulge in the life of a merchant sailor since we will have to go find animals before delivering them to their destination. It will be a question of capturing snakes, hens or pigs with adequate cages before bringing them back to their destination, while ensuring that the goods remain alive. If the hens are not fragile, the pigs will have to be regularly fed bananas in order to stay alive during the trip. The Order of Souls, for its part, will give us quests that focus on combat where we will have to kill skeletons (the only type of enemy in the game with the Kraken) in whole waves, before a mini-boss does not appear. Finally, the Gold Collectors will sell us treasure maps (or puzzles) that will allow us to dig up various chests. Once the chests/skeleton skulls are in our possession, all you have to do is go and sell them at the local outpost to pocket a juicy reward. This return trip will also be the most risky because it's when the other players on the server will have the most interest in robbing us.
If the sand-box is great and allows very good interactions between friends as well as good laughs thanks to the effects of grog or musical instruments, the experience quickly turns out to be hollow as possible.
In case of death, our character will end up on the ship of the damned before being able – after a few moments – to return to his ship. If the latter has been sunk, the respawn will then take place on a deserted islet, near a brand new ship. Perfect on paper, this system has several problems, including that of promoting spawnkill. The favorite technique on the servers is to wait on an outpost for a player (or a crew) to come and unload their goods. Once on the quay and arms loaded with treasures (thus unable to use weapons), the pirates just have to kill the crew with pistol shots, before seizing the goods. A player will then place himself on the boat in order to spawnkill the players in a loop, while his sidekick empties the holds of the victims. On the side of the pirates, the technique is not very interesting from a gameplay point of view, even if it is undeniably profitable. On the victim side, it is simply hell since it is then impossible to play until the pirates flee or sink the boat. Worse, since it is possible to repair your boat using planks, naval battles with cannon shots quickly turn into a race between the artillerymen who pierce the hull with their cannonballs, and the repairmen who plug new breaches with a chain. . In short, you have understood it, with FedEx quests and a rather boring fight, there is finally not much left to do in Sea of Thieves, despite the few random quests like the bottles in the sea or the cursed treasures.
TO THE NOSE AND BLACK BEARD
This is the major flaw of Rare's game. If the sandbox is great and allows very good interactions between friends, as well as good laughs thanks to the effects of grog or musical instruments, the experience quickly turns out to be hollow as possible. Without these interactions, the game is nothing, and therefore it is very rare to have fun when playing solo or via random matchmaking. Even with a friend you will quickly end up getting bored, especially since the exploration aspect is not really taken advantage of by the game. After a few hours of completing quests, you quickly end up having toured the islands ( most of which are really tiny), and the need to navigate 20 minutes to get to your destination will be nothing short of daunting. The danger represented by the other players will be an additional pitfall, since after having been the victim of pirates several times, we will drop the quests to focus on piracy, which is much more profitable. Playing like Blackbeard makes earning money easy, but doesn't provide a more hectic experience. The servers are very sparsely populated (16 players max) and you can spend several hours wandering around without ever meeting anyone. In short, you have understood it, we quickly go around Sea of Thieves, and unless there are updates to give it substance, the game does not have many arguments to keep players on its servers for a long time. .
