User Score
4.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1093 Ratings

User score distribution:

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  1. Jun 26, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am like this game because, it have so much adventure and pvp. I post 10 stars Expand
  2. Jun 21, 2020
    7
    Overall it's a nice game, great effect especially the sea and tsky... the most interesting part is the pvp mode.
  3. Jun 15, 2020
    0
    Worst community ever seen by me. Rarely you will find people which will not try to destroy your ship peacefully staying at the dock even you hasn't any loot.
  4. Jun 12, 2020
    9
    Pirate life at its finest, Many gamers hate this game because it has a severe PVP gameplay but that would pirates do, real pirates fought each other for loot and bounties, also sinking isn't bad as long as you learn something from each failure so you can be a better pirate, it is so much fun with friends. and the most important thing about microtransactions that they don't affect yourPirate life at its finest, Many gamers hate this game because it has a severe PVP gameplay but that would pirates do, real pirates fought each other for loot and bounties, also sinking isn't bad as long as you learn something from each failure so you can be a better pirate, it is so much fun with friends. and the most important thing about microtransactions that they don't affect your status or your strength as the game only depends on pure skill so it's a fair play. The game has totally changed since year ago, so there's so much to do now and remember we all shall sail together. Expand
  5. Jun 3, 2020
    10
    OK, so it just came out on steam so people are probably looking for reviews. A LOT has changed since 2018 like A LOT. First monthly major updates get the community going a lot tons of quests voyages and story-based adventures. Its best played with 2-4 friends as it can be hard soloing.
  6. May 16, 2020
    5
    Sea of Thieves is marketed as a "Make Your Own Adventure" type of game. After playing it for a few weeks off a trial on GamePass, I've gotten to admire the gorgeous seas, the insanity of friends screwing up certain situations, and then the bitter realization of knowing that I had experienced every type of quest only 3 days in.

    The competition for game makers these days is immense, not
    Sea of Thieves is marketed as a "Make Your Own Adventure" type of game. After playing it for a few weeks off a trial on GamePass, I've gotten to admire the gorgeous seas, the insanity of friends screwing up certain situations, and then the bitter realization of knowing that I had experienced every type of quest only 3 days in.

    The competition for game makers these days is immense, not only are you going up against massive free-to-play giants both on phones and PC, but also with other games-as-a-service platforms like GTA Online, Destiny, and even No Mans Sky. So the most important thing to do is to make your game stick out, make it fun, make it visually appealing. Sea of Thieves definitely has the look and the idea down, but the gameplay simply is dull and samey.

    You start out choosing from a pre-made selection of pirates to make as your avatar, it doesn't matter if you don't get one you like, as you will quickly discover that cosmetics and alterations are the only thing you can purchase in this game. Once you start your first quest, you're plunged right in to the sailing mechanics of the game. My group started and immediately got into a terrible storm, setting the ship on fire and striking multiple of us with lightning. At the time, it was extremely stressful and funny, we were laughing crazy hard. And it was a great introduction to the zaniness the game can bring out. We started doing a handful of different missions, including digging, bounties, rhymes, and a fruit crate.

    But slowly, you start to notice that those missions are it. If you've done one digging mission you've done all of them. Find the X, dig it up, optionally fight skeletons with the god-awful combat system (we'll come back to this), and sell the loot for gold or doubloons. As a matter of fact, that's the only thing you can do with ANY of the quests in this game, it's only good for gold. But hey, currency is important in these games right? In GTA Online there are endless things to buy, from haircuts, clothing, cars, guns, bases, and even your own business. In Sea of Thieves? There's cosmetics, and not really a ton of them for being a 2 year old game. No upgrades, no side-grades, just cosmetics. Rare has opted for a "horizontal progress" approach which basically means skill is the only thing that improves in the game. But, honestly? This is a hard sell on a full-price game. You have to be so sure that your game is fun to play even without rewards to sell it this way. And Sea of Thieves just isn't.

    Even going past the lack of content, even 2 years in, the other big element of sea of thieves is combat, and it
    just

    isn't

    fun.

    The hand-to-hand combat with sword and gun is just awful. There's no way to skirt around it. Your sword has a slow floaty animation of 3 swings and a charge up shot, that's it. And you have a few selections of guns to choose from which are all single-shot flintlocks which need to reload between each shot. While this makes sense in a pirate setting, it doesn't make sense in terms of the gameplay. The combat, while being extremely slow, has dire consequences. PVP feels floaty and weightless yet you can die in 3 seconds flat. It's terrible, and I don't know how Rare hasn't completely revamped it by this point.

    The naval combat actually shines from time to time, as it's the main gimmick of the game. Sinking other players ships is where I got most of my fun during my playtime. You have a variety of cannonballs to choose from each with their own strength or player-effect, with the endgoal of waterlogging the enemy ship enough to get it to sink. While this was extremely satisfying the first few times around, ship combat became tedious, overlylong, and pointless since there's only gold as a reward, which as stated previously, can only be used on cosmetics. And if it is YOU getting sunk, I hope you like spawn camping! You spawn in the exact same location every time after your respawn timer finishes and you can bet the enemy will be waiting for you to cause death again. This is such an embarrassing oversight, how did Rare not catch this? On top of this there's no real risk to open-firing on someone as there isn't really a punishment for dying OR griefing. There's no punishment for enemy ships repeatedly picking fights with others and no way to opt out. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

    It got to the point where I really just wanted to do story missions to get the most out of my trial, but I repeatedly ran into events, griefing ships picking a fight with us and making us lose our progress, or some bug either crashing or halting progress that just made me want to quit. To top all of this off, we're still encountering situation where quests aren't getting triggered or stacks of events are happening to us, such as a kracken encounter and a ghost ship right next to each other.

    So honestly? Why bother. When the core gameplay loop isn't fun, why invest any more time into anything else?
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  7. May 9, 2020
    0
    **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ******** ******** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ******** **** **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Expand
  8. Apr 29, 2020
    9
    Sea of Thieves had a rocky launch with barley any content. But in it's current state it's well worth the $50 it costs in Canada. If you get it with Xbox Gamepass it's well worth it aswell. It's done a No Mans Sky like 180 and I 100% recommend it.
  9. Apr 24, 2020
    1
    The idea of this game is amazing, but sadly the dev don't care about more than half of their player base. Only caring for PvP elements and player. Then tell that's will help PvE player so they don't leave or continue to buy the game, but after close to 50h of the game, the new content kill the very little hope and joy of this game. Me and my friend got a refund of the game and will weThe idea of this game is amazing, but sadly the dev don't care about more than half of their player base. Only caring for PvP elements and player. Then tell that's will help PvE player so they don't leave or continue to buy the game, but after close to 50h of the game, the new content kill the very little hope and joy of this game. Me and my friend got a refund of the game and will we wait until they really add somethin for everyone.. if they ever do it. Expand
  10. Apr 18, 2020
    2
    What a bad community, if they made this coop PVE I would give it an 8 but as it is it is unplayable without getting some little punk grief you. Awful community don't give the devs your money.
  11. Mar 15, 2020
    0
    Maybe if you're into hardcore PvP this game might suit you. For anyone else who just wants to have a fun time look somewhere else. This game is full of griefers and it's almost impossible to do the longer missions without someone else ruining your day.
  12. Mar 6, 2020
    0
    Teaming up 4 player massive ship against me 1 player smallest ship and players just kill you for spite being arses and just wanting to kill you, losing over 4 hours of progress since the game last saved. No offline or single player option. Will NOT recommend to anyone I know of which is about a dozen people for now.
  13. Feb 4, 2020
    1
    Horrible comunity even considering it's a "pirate game". Nothing but spawn kills and **** telling you to "go cry". Gameplay is alright, but since you have to interact with other players (no private servers) its really quite tedious. Sorry but this is not the pirate game you're looking for.0
  14. Jan 26, 2020
    0
    The wasted Potential of this game almost made me cry. The world and graphics are absolutely beautyful, yet the gameplay slaughters it in the worst way possible. Janky and extremely boring PvE, boring enemies with no variation whatsoever, extreme grind with nearly no progression, very few cosmetics, which are the only progression there is. Because of how boring everything in this game is,The wasted Potential of this game almost made me cry. The world and graphics are absolutely beautyful, yet the gameplay slaughters it in the worst way possible. Janky and extremely boring PvE, boring enemies with no variation whatsoever, extreme grind with nearly no progression, very few cosmetics, which are the only progression there is. Because of how boring everything in this game is, most people do only one thing thats not repetetive: sinking other players. And while it's cool to have PvP, it's not when you get no chance to do anything because theres hordes of pirate legends ready to chase you to the edge of the map. What, you think it is unfair to go 1v4 against a much much stronger ship? Noo, why would that be?
    I really have no words for this, there are so many possibilities how this couldve been done better, it is simply sad.
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  15. Jan 24, 2020
    10
    This is by far the best game i have played in years. You know like there is sometimes this big AAA game with elaborate story, deep progressions systems, huge production values and tons of content, yet sometimes you still find actuall gameplay a chore ? SoT is the opposite. It might not have tons of content, story is non existing, same with progression outside cosmetics. But the actuallThis is by far the best game i have played in years. You know like there is sometimes this big AAA game with elaborate story, deep progressions systems, huge production values and tons of content, yet sometimes you still find actuall gameplay a chore ? SoT is the opposite. It might not have tons of content, story is non existing, same with progression outside cosmetics. But the actuall gameplay is just so much fun. Every single thing yopu are doing is just pure joy. You make you own stories and adventures. Things that are happening to you are just so much more fun because they are results of your competence or lack of it. This is by far the best sandbox game i have ever played, it actually gives you the tools to have fun instead of pointing you to hundrets of pointles markers on map. On top of that sound and music is outstanding and graphic is stylised but gorgeus, it evokes pirate tales and movies or lego like cartonish style. Above that all developers added many free content updates since lunch and are still supporting and listening to the players. Worth every penny and just pure joy. Expand
  16. Dec 11, 2019
    6
    A parte multiplayer do jogo com os amigos é boa, mas a quantidade de bugs e a falta de utilidades que deveria haver no jogo é de ****, contarei sobre algumas das ocorrências comigo, uma delas foi que estacionei o navio numa ilha e ele ficou meio preso com o píer, logo em seguida o navio começou a se mover sozinho mesmo ancorado e depois ele desapareceu sem nem afundar(foram 3 horasA parte multiplayer do jogo com os amigos é boa, mas a quantidade de bugs e a falta de utilidades que deveria haver no jogo é de ****, contarei sobre algumas das ocorrências comigo, uma delas foi que estacionei o navio numa ilha e ele ficou meio preso com o píer, logo em seguida o navio começou a se mover sozinho mesmo ancorado e depois ele desapareceu sem nem afundar(foram 3 horas perdidas de loot que estavam nos barris de madeira, canhão e comida, logo foram 3 horas jogadas no lixo, obrigado por essa sensação) e outros são quando você vai para lugares que talvez fique preso(mas não ficará) você é teleportado para o navio... além disso, cadê o "kraken" aquilo pra mim são tentáculos! E não podemos nos esquecer de que não há maneira de desativar o pvp mesmo se você só quiser focar na história, logo se algum grupo de players idiotas quiser te seguir eles irão até o fim do mundo e você talvez perca todo o progresso na missão e tudo que estava no navio sem nem ter jeito de contestar já que se você estiver sozinho contra um grupo de 4... acho que já sabe no que dará. Expand
  17. Nov 17, 2019
    5
    SoT used to be fun for me but now its nothing but trolls who just want to go around killing you for no reward. Really now 4v1 for a fisher who allowed them to search the ship to prove nothing was on board, and their response they wanted blood. PVP should be in PVP area only, with a seperate area for PVE
  18. Nov 3, 2019
    1
    So many messed up glitches with Zero support... Not just normal bugs: I can invite my friends but they can't invite me, when I try to attack a player who is attacking me my mouse is unable to move side to side, if I stand still while on a sail the game kicks me out, randomly game will cut out the ability to talk to my friends, and there are a LOT more glitches/bugs.

    Other than that
    So many messed up glitches with Zero support... Not just normal bugs: I can invite my friends but they can't invite me, when I try to attack a player who is attacking me my mouse is unable to move side to side, if I stand still while on a sail the game kicks me out, randomly game will cut out the ability to talk to my friends, and there are a LOT more glitches/bugs.

    Other than that the game is dull, the game play is choppy like games from 20 years ago, the story is none existent, there are long stretches of the game with nothing to do, the player base has been getting persistently more toxic (with encouragement from the makers).
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  19. Nov 2, 2019
    7
    Sea of Thieves is an open world pirate game, filled with treasures, combat, and adventure. I really like this game, but it does have some flaws. The game play is repetitive at times, but if you are like me and can only play an hour or so a day then it shouldn't be a problem. The animations are fine, although they can be glitchy occasionally. My next problems have nothing to do with theSea of Thieves is an open world pirate game, filled with treasures, combat, and adventure. I really like this game, but it does have some flaws. The game play is repetitive at times, but if you are like me and can only play an hour or so a day then it shouldn't be a problem. The animations are fine, although they can be glitchy occasionally. My next problems have nothing to do with the gameplay, but the devs decisions. The servers are usually pretty empty, which makes it hard to find other players. Similar to No Man's Sky, they should have waited a long time before releasing the game, because at first it wasn't completed which I think is what caused the low player count. Those are really my only problems with the game. I cannot describe how fun ship combat is. Patching holes, firing cannons, boarding enemy ships, all of it is awesome fun. Ship combat is at another level in arena mode, where combat is most common. Treasure maps are exciting, and skeleton forts are extremely fun. The sort of campaign, or tall tales, is extremely fun too. Overall, a pretty fun game. Expand
  20. Oct 21, 2019
    9
    Awesome game!!! After the last big updates this is a hidden gem of games. To be honest, you have tio be mature do understand how to form your personal adventures. it is not about typical scripted quests, it is more about your own quests you can experience with other pirates. i would have given a 10/10 if there were less small glitches and bugs. but all in all it is very playable!
  21. Oct 10, 2019
    3
    This is one of those games that has zero progression systems - the type of game the vocal minority say is the best thing ever and how it's better than games with progression and if you don't like it you just aren't creative enough or some garbage excuse. I'm a regular gamer, and let me tell you it's BORING beyond belief. Anything you accomplish will at best get you a new skin on yourThis is one of those games that has zero progression systems - the type of game the vocal minority say is the best thing ever and how it's better than games with progression and if you don't like it you just aren't creative enough or some garbage excuse. I'm a regular gamer, and let me tell you it's BORING beyond belief. Anything you accomplish will at best get you a new skin on your rifle, another decal on your ship, nothing anyone cares about, in essence rendering anything you do in game meaningless. This game is absolute TRASH. Expand
  22. Sep 28, 2019
    2
    A perfectly good game ruined by toxic players.

    Seriously this game has so much potential to be a great "pirate" simulator; but grindy, repetitive quests, and no real progression system leads to a very hollow experience that will leave you eventually asking yourself why you are even playing this game. If you can get past the cosmetic only progression system and monotonous quests there
    A perfectly good game ruined by toxic players.

    Seriously this game has so much potential to be a great "pirate" simulator; but grindy, repetitive quests, and no real progression system leads to a very hollow experience that will leave you eventually asking yourself why you are even playing this game. If you can get past the cosmetic only progression system and monotonous quests there will always be another player right around the corner to sink your ship and wipe away any work you've put towards the game that night. If anything this game is great at being a griefers playground; people will kill and spawn camp you for no other reason other than they can.

    If you have to play this game, the only good thing I can say about it, is that the "story" quests are very well designed and are genuinely fun to solve their complicated puzzles. However they usually take a couple hours to finish, and any blood thirsty player can come along and kill you, take your quest items, and force you to restart the entire quest.
    Expand
  23. Sep 24, 2019
    9
    After grinding this game for about who knows how long I have finally beaten the game. After the anniversary update, the game has become less of a pointless grind and more of a make your own story kind of game. Now there are the new tall tales but once you beat that your back to grinding. so if your looking for a story finish tall tales you beat the game. if you enjoy grinding for hours andAfter grinding this game for about who knows how long I have finally beaten the game. After the anniversary update, the game has become less of a pointless grind and more of a make your own story kind of game. Now there are the new tall tales but once you beat that your back to grinding. so if your looking for a story finish tall tales you beat the game. if you enjoy grinding for hours and find it relaxing then go for pirate legend. This game has a lot more content than before. I would suggest taking a second look at the game. Expand
  24. Sep 3, 2019
    1
    If visuals were what you could base the entire game on then it would be great. Sunset to sunrise the game looks great.
    However, the most important thing is the gameplay, which is honestly awful. Here's a quick way to sum it up. You grind for sometimes hours looking for treasures across various islands constantly interrupted by never ending hoards of skeleton warriors. If it was a few
    If visuals were what you could base the entire game on then it would be great. Sunset to sunrise the game looks great.
    However, the most important thing is the gameplay, which is honestly awful. Here's a quick way to sum it up. You grind for sometimes hours looking for treasures across various islands constantly interrupted by never ending hoards of skeleton warriors. If it was a few set waves or certain spawn locations, then ok. But no, it seems every 20 feet you run in any direction another 4 or 5 spawn. If you stop, they surround you. If you try to outrun them more just spawn in front of you and now you have 10 of them. Did I mention you can only swing your sword like every 2 seconds and only have 5 bullets before having to go back to the ship to reload? Did I mention half of them have guns and exploding barrels. Did I mention they NEVER.... STOP... SPAWNING? It goes from being a fun challenge, to annoying, to just downright ridiculous and you wonder why you are still playing.
    But the worst part about the gameplay is once you spend all the time getting these treasures, there are going to be troll players who do nothing but wait for people to get these treasures and overrun your ship and steal it all. And then sail into port, while spawn killing you, and get all of the game currency for all of the work you put into it. I don't care if it's a "pirate" game, this is the stupidest, worst game design I've ever seen. There goes the two hours you just spent hopping from island to island, you're getting absolutely nothing for it and those other guys are. "Fun"?
    If this kind of nonsense sounds fun to you then go waste your money on it. I wish I could get mine back.
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  25. Aug 9, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Utter Trash. While the game may look beautiful, the game is an empty mess made by a washed up company. Expand
  26. Aug 4, 2019
    10
    Nice graphic style and really fun. Very big open world and many quests to complete! Just a great RARE game!
  27. Jul 12, 2019
    3
    Podemos estar ante EL PEOR TUTORIAL DE LA HISTORIA. Pero que cojones. En serio. Te sueltan en mitad de un puto MMO sin explicarte una mierda, emparejandote desde el principio con gente que suda de tu culo y cuando de milagro llegas al barco no sabes como pelotas se maneja nada. Eso si , enseñarte a comprar mierdas de cosmeticos lo primero que hacen.

    Lamentable. Gameplay y experiencia de
    Podemos estar ante EL PEOR TUTORIAL DE LA HISTORIA. Pero que cojones. En serio. Te sueltan en mitad de un puto MMO sin explicarte una mierda, emparejandote desde el principio con gente que suda de tu culo y cuando de milagro llegas al barco no sabes como pelotas se maneja nada. Eso si , enseñarte a comprar mierdas de cosmeticos lo primero que hacen.

    Lamentable. Gameplay y experiencia de ususario lo peor que he visto en mucho tiempo.

    Graficos medio decentes.

    El resto mierda pura.
    Expand
  28. May 6, 2019
    3
    Empty world, repetitive game-play. If it wasn't for pretty graphics and cool sailing mechanics this wouldn't be even a game. Oh and don't forget bored trolls who will just kill on sight... Well below average.
  29. Mar 18, 2019
    5
    Full transparency: I got this game during a free trial with the Xbox Game Pass for PC, but I'm actually pretty glad I didn't spend any money on this game. I also never played alone, so I don't really have a view of that part of the game, although I'd surmise that it's probably just as empty as the rest of the game. This game came out about a year ago to the day, and from reading otherFull transparency: I got this game during a free trial with the Xbox Game Pass for PC, but I'm actually pretty glad I didn't spend any money on this game. I also never played alone, so I don't really have a view of that part of the game, although I'd surmise that it's probably just as empty as the rest of the game. This game came out about a year ago to the day, and from reading other reviews it has not progressed much since then.

    This game honestly feels like an early access game. If it was, I'd have to say it's a pretty decent early access game. The fact is, however, that this is a fully released game. It sure looks like one too, as this is one of the best looking games I've ever played. The style is fantastic, and the sound really adds to the atmosphere which for the first few hours makes the game incredibly immersive. Your first time fighting (or more accurately running from) a Kraken or Megalodon will be an unforgettable experience.

    This is where the issues begin. The gameplay, while passable, becomes incredibly repetitive after only a short period of time. When I first began with my friends, it was awesome setting sail and having no clue what we were doing, trying to find our own adventure. Problem is, that adventure doesn't exist. You'll find yourself being more of a delivery boy than a pirate, with insanely generic voyages that are only fun for the first or second time. The Reaper voyages add a little, but really just become a vehicle for more grinding.

    Some voyages along with general 'exploration' will end up in ship to ship combat. As with most things in this game, the first time is incredible. But once you've done a couple fights, you've pretty much seen all this combat has to offer. The PVP can freshen this up a bit, but ultimately it still feels one-dimensional. Furthermore, there doesn't really seem to be much reason to engage in PVP beyond doing it for the fun of it. You can fight on land as well, but this is still lackluster, as you'll pretty much only be fighting a couple types of skeletons by playing sword-tag or headshotting. There are only 4 types of weapons; sword, pistol, blunderbuss, and rifle. These weapons can never be upgraded and only undergo cosmetic changes to my knowledge.

    All in all, this game has the potential to be amazing, but after a year I find it unlikely that the game will ever reach this potential. As it is, it's a game worth a couple hours of fun with friends for some laughs. I'd recommend getting the game pass with a couple friends to enjoy that first bit. Beyond that, it's an average experience, not really worth its $60 price tag (ouch).

    P.S. Character creation is NOT GOOD.
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  30. Mar 13, 2019
    2
    Honestly this game could be so much better if the developer put more effort into expanding the solid platform they already have by fixing the long term bugs they have, fixing their netcode, and adding content consistently. Instead they let the casual whiny players consistently dictate their direction, leading to poor game play change after game play change only to be slowly reversed toHonestly this game could be so much better if the developer put more effort into expanding the solid platform they already have by fixing the long term bugs they have, fixing their netcode, and adding content consistently. Instead they let the casual whiny players consistently dictate their direction, leading to poor game play change after game play change only to be slowly reversed to where they started but 4 months later without any new content to fill out their barren game. Never have I encountered such a passionately lazy, whiny community devoid of skill. Expand
Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 31
  2. Negative: 1 out of 31
  1. Sep 5, 2020
    90
    Sea of Thieves has successfully redeemed its clumsy launch with Rare being a developer that fully commits to the title with monthly updates for more than two years. Now – it is a game brimming with content, adventure and gorgeous pirate atmosphere with arguably being the best pirate game available and a truly fun multiplayer experience.
  2. Feb 21, 2019
    80
    A year of updates has helped fill out its light content, but the real magic was there from the start. Rare’s take on cartoon piracy encourages you to behave as a cartoon pirate should: a little bloodthirsty, a little silly, and almost always drunk.
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Sep 13, 2018
    60
    Sea of Thieves has a solid foundation, but unfortunately there is no content and in a few of gameplay the feeling of being a pirate completely disappears. [Issue#285]