Game Review: Sea Of Thieves Alpha

Sea of Thieves Introduction

Sea Of Thieves has just opened up the alpha to more people than ever. Last week, over 16,000 people were allowed access. With this installation of the alpha, a whole host of new features were added as well. New islands to explore, a brand new quest to complete, and bug fixes for many issues made this the best series of alpha testing yet.

This week, to go with the Gamescon event, there is a whole new quest to strive for. The first person to complete said quest, will receive a custom Sea Of Thieves Xbox 1S. This console looks amazing, with the custom paint job including the Sea Of Thieves pirate scull, makes for a very impressive prize indeed.

For those of you living under a rock and not having heard about it, Sea Of Thieves is the newest pirate game set to release this year. Unlike any pirate game in the past, Sea Of Thieves offers a completely open world experience. With this game, you will be able to fulfill every pirate dream you may have. No matter what you wish to do, be it hunting for buried treasure, or battling other pirates to steal all their treasure, Sea Of Thieves allows you to do it. With a vastly open world to explore, and plenty of grog and sea shanties, it promises to be a very exciting game.

Gameplay

The player versus player aspect is second to none in naval warfare. Many factors contribute to success in sinking an enemy vessel. Everything down to the weather and the quick response of your crew play vital roles. If your hardy crew can brave the elements, man the cannons, set the sails, and repair any damage done during battle, you may just stand a chance. Never before has a game introduced so much action into a sea battle, it makes for a thrilling experience.Never knowing when an enemy ship will be spotted on the horizon looking for potential targets. Never quite sure if when you pull into port an enemy will be waiting to ambush your crew and steal your loot. On the other hand it offers you those same opportunities, you can choose to be those pirates lying in wait for an easy score of loot.

While playing with a few friends, we had decided to take a stab at both approaches. In my experience there was nothing more satisfying than sinking an enemy ship, to watch all their loot float to the surface. Why go and dig up buried treasure and spend hours looking for it, when you can just ambush an enemy crew and ruin their day? Maybe that’s just the cutthroat pirate in me talking, but isn’t that what this game is all about? When the full game releases you will have to decide for yourselves.

The new quest with this latest addition to the alpha coincided with Gamescon. This quest was incredibly difficult to figure out. Hidden in the vast world of Sea Of Thieves, were eight painted skulls, that when you find needed to be marked on a map. Only when you found all of the skulls could you use their locations to map the route to the hidden Gamescon treasure. The first crew to manage this was awarded a very nice looking Xbox One S, complete with a custom paint job, and a golden skull and crossbones. Obviously with all the crews playing the game, it only took a matter of days for this feat to be accomplished. For those that still wish to undertake the quest, there was still a pretty sweet reward of a 10,000 gold chest to be found.

Conclusion

Just from the amount of detail, and the sheer amount of things you can do in the alpha, Sea Of Thieves looks to be an amazing game. Set to release later this year, the developers still have plenty of time to add content, and remove any bugs. I very much look forward to playing the full game, and finally having something to spend all my loot on. With promises of ship customization, and full on sea battles with enemy crews, it looks to be quite exciting indeed.

Until the release of the full game, those that are selected for the closed alpha will continue to have access. Once you are selected, you are free to play in any of the upcoming alpha play days. For those of you that haven’t received access yet, you may go to SeaOfThieves.com and sign up for the insider program. If chosen you will receive an email confirming you have been selected. Until then I will see you all on the seven seas, happy looting.