Sea of Thieves Review
Posted: 9 months ago, last updated 5 weeks ago.
Author: Andy Robertson.
Overview
Although a bit daunting at first, players soon learn how to control the ship and the ways to work with other players. Over time this results in the sort of imaginative free play you might find in a playground fort. New ways of collaborating and traditions of celebrating success or commiserating over failure also emerge.
You collect coins by completing missions called voyages, taking loot from other ships, or raiding a skeleton fort that contains large amounts of gold. This is used for cosmetic items such as weapon and equipment skins, clothing and ship cosmetics. You can also purchase cosmetic items with real money.
Sea of Thieves, like other evolving games such as No Mans Sky, has developed over the years adding more content and combative elements. The game mythology and back story have become more fleshed out with new missions and story elements.
Details
Rating: PEGI 12+, ESRB TEEN
Release Date: 20/03/2018
Platforms: PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Open World, Role-Playing and Simulation
Developer: @RareLtd
Tips
View our choice of games like Sea of Thieves. This game is good if you want to:
Commitment
Players: You can play this with 24 players online. You can team up with up to 4 players to crew a ship. There can be up to 6 player-controlled ships battling in one game (server) meaning you can play with up to 24 other players.
Cross-Play: You can play with people on either Xbox One or PC.
Costs
In-game purchases for cosmetic and optional visual enhancements to your character. All the ongoing content and expansions have been free.
This game is free with Xbox Game Pass.
Age Ratings
This game has been rated ESRB TEEN.
This game was rated PEGI 12 for frequent scenes of mild violence. It is not suitable for persons under 12 years of age. The examiners report expands this rating with the following: Violence consists of you using your pistol or cutlass against a variety of human and non-human enemies. Blood and injuries are not shown and foes disappear upon defeat.
Users Interact: The game enables players to interact and communicate with each other, so may expose players to language usually associated with older rated games.
Accessibility
In-game characters and narrative are voiced. Screen Reader: Supports Xbox screen reader when navigating menus in the game. Text Chat: Can adjust the size of text chat.
You can map the same button for different uses in various game contexts, allowing a single button to be used for multiple actions. The game usually requires pressing and holding to access redial menus, you can opt for toggled access to menus. You can also opt to toggle rather than hold to load cannons, dropping anchor and the like via "Reduce hold" menu item. You can also extensively adjust mouse and gamepad sensitivity. There is a single stick control scheme.
You can select a high contrast X marker for treasure. There's a colour blind friendly mode with customisable filters. Lock on prompts: The temporary interaction prompts can be made to be permanently in view. Voice chat shows which party member is speaking by showing their name, but enemy player locations aren't shown. Enemy NPCs audio direction is also not shown.
Speech to Text: Voice Chat sent to your player converted to Text and displayed as Text Chat Notifications, although only in the United States configured systems. Text to Speech: Via the platform feature, your Text Chat and Phrases read aloud to other players, only currently available in United States configured systems.
Difficulty
How you can adjust the challenge of play, and assistance the game offers when you fail or get stuck.
Competitive Difficulty: Difficulty not adjustable, because you compete against other players.
Tutorials: There are helpful tutorials, instructions and tips.
Reading
How much reading or listening comprehension is required, and how accessible this is.
Moderate Reading: Moderate reading required.
Text Visibility
Large Clear Text: Text is large and clear, or can be adjusted to be.
High Text Contrast: Text colour contrasts to background.
Any spoken content has subtitles: All spoken content has subtitles, or there is no speech in the game.
All Dialogue is Voiced: All of the game dialogue and narrative can be voiced.
Controls
How you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.
Gamepad
Required inputs for the game, or that can be setup with remapping.
Multiple Buttons & Single Stick: Can play with multiple buttons and a stick.
Multiple Buttons & Two Sticks: Can play with multiple buttons and two sticks.
Mouse and Keys: Can play with mouse and multiple keys.
Remap Controls
You can customise the controls for the game as follows:
Remap Buttons: Re-map all buttons/keys.
Remap One Action to Multiple Buttons: Map multiple buttons to a single action.
Holding Down Buttons Optional: Holding down buttons not required or can be turned off or switched to toggling the action on and off.
Rapid Pressing Optional: Quick, repeated button pressing not required or can be skipped or disabled.
Image
How you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.
Visibility
Bright Colourful Palette: Game uses bright colours and is generally high contrast.
Large Game Elements: Game characters and other elements are large and distinguishable.
Audio Cues for Visual Events: Audio is provided to indicate visual events.
Colourblind friendly: Game doesn’t rely on colour or can switch to colourblind friendly mode.
Audio
How you can adjust the audio of the game and whether audio cues compensate for aspects of the game that are hard to see.
Balance Audio Levels: Set music and game sound effects separately.
Communication
How you can communicate with other players in the game and what options are available to customise and control this interaction.
Player-to-Player Communication
Preset Chat: Communicate with other players with word-less icons, sounds or preset phrases.
Text Chat: Chat to other players by typing text.
Voice Chat: Chat to other players by speaking with headset.
Text to Voice: Sent text messages as voice to other players.
Voice to Text: Convert voice from other players to text messages.
System Settings
Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators. Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games. Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games... read more about system accessibility settings.
Supported by PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors: Andy Robertson and @daisyalesounds
Games Like Sea of Thieves
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