Traveling an Open World; Where “Sea of Thieves” Does It Well
By: Curtis Diedrich
Tags: Review, Gaming, Sea Of Thieves, Skyrim, Minecraft

When it comes to combining the resources given to the player and giving the player a rewarding experience while between objectives, Rare Studios’ Sea of Thieves succeeds in allowing players the benefits of both. The pirate adventure title is an open world game that allows the player (and friends) to grab a boat and plunder an ocean full of tropical vistas, dangerous terrain, and slay a myriad of monsters. Similar to Minecraft, the player is dropped in an unknown land with limited supplies and must forage and explore before setting out on a grand adventure. Unlike its previously mentioned counterparts, Sea of Thieves offers a diverse and unskippable day and night cycle with new challenges, like lantern visibility and hidden players.

Example of how wind blowing against the sails changes the dynamic of travel

The game itself offers players the freedom to do whatever they want within the confines of the game’s established rules. Within those confines, the player must overcome barriers to best traverse the waves with the methods offered. The game’s various ship types offer different bonuses and drawbacks. A sloop, the smallest ship, can only be crewed by two people at most and because of the single sail it is slowest at most times. However, the sloop is also the most maneuverable and can be the fastest in specific situations; for instance, when heading against the wind it takes the least amount of penalty. The brigantine, the mid-sized ship, is manned by three players at best and is equipped with more storage, more cannons, and boasts faster speeds. The brigantine offers similar maneuverability to the sloop, but is hindered against the wind unlike its smaller counterpart. The largest ship, the galleon, is crewed by four players with four cannons on each side and three sails, making it the most formidable ship with the most storage and the firepower. The galleon cuts through the battering waves that would normally rattle smaller ships and its amount of cannons make it a floating fortress at sea. Just as the galleon could overtake the sloop, the sloop could easily outmaneuver it and the brigantine could easily outrun it in the right conditions. Each ship offers positives and negatives and understanding each of those could change the outcome of any ship-to-ship battle and how fast the player travels across the map.

What the game accomplishes when compared to Skyrim and Minecraft, is how the dynamics of travel shift dramatically when dealing with encounters. Previously mentioned methods of travel in those games do not allow for much relief from petty brawls or surprise spider attacks. However Sea of Thieves approaches encounters differently. Because the game is designed around piracy, the player is under constant threat of thievery on the high-seas, whereas single-player games like Skyrim are devoid of enemy players and Minecraft allows the player a choice in whether to play multiplayer or not.

An encounter with a fleet of ghost ships in “Sea of Thieves”

Encounters force players to think strategically. A player in Sea of Thieves must consider player attack as an inevitability, but also take in to account the myriad monsters roaming the seas from the Kraken and giant sharks to Skeleton-crewed ships. When Skyrim offers the chance to skip a run-in with a dragon by opening a menu and clicking away, it devalues the world’s many terrors and lowers player engagement. Setting out for an adventure is an ordeal, thinking strategically engages the player in the game’s rules and the world they set out in.

Sea of Thieves’ travel dynamics are simple, but when mastered the entirety of the game changes. Each player is then allowed to utilize the tools at their disposal to accomplish whatever the game can offer. For example, a sloop is the best ship to pick in most cases. When against players in different ships it offers more in maneuverability and speed, while against monsters it allows for easy escape or thrilling combat.