Imagine taking the spirit of adventure from The Goonies, combining it with the immersive shared world experience found in the game Journey, and transplant it to a pirate ship. The result is what Rare is attempting to create with their next major game Sea of Thieves, which is a massive multiplayer pirate game . MMPG is not a recognized term in the gaming world, but it is basically what it sounds like. A group of friends get together on a pirate ship and do pirate things together. This can include exploring the seven seas, going on hunts for buried treasure, going to battle with other pirate ships, or just click the next article enjoying a rowdy booze cruise on the ship drinking and making music.
In a recent post on Reddit, user vJoeyz shared news regarding a possible Sea of Thieves open-beta. The information, obtained by digging through newly added files for the insiders-only version of the game, contains multiple references to content for an unannounced open beta. The only way the closed beta could be accessed was to either have it pre-ordered or be a member of the games insider prog
Sea of Thieves is primarily about social interaction between the players in the shared world experience. Whether playing with real life friends, regular online gaming partners, or complete strangers, the goal is to interact and work together as a crew. In game ice breakers will be included to help strangers loosen up and bond with each other, an analogy that was given was it is like going to a pub to have a drink and meet new friends.
It’s in no way surprising that the mantra of “…but what do I do?” or variations thereupon, has lingered over Sea of Thieves like a pungent-but-irremovable odor. While there was always a strong case that there’d already been a fair amount of intrigue built up for what Rare — proper Rare that is, not Kinect Sports-shackled “Rare” — was cooking-up, prior to and since its reveal back at E3 2015 (which admittedly garnered somewhat of a deflated “eeeeeehhhhhh” reaction from yours truly), details pertaining to its content, its progression, its finer details outside of an odd sample of footage and some rather unfunny plodding through voluntary player commentary, have been somewhat conserved. For what purpose though; after all, you and I both know Microsoft need all the good marketing they can get their hands on if they’re to give Xbox a reasonable chance in 2018.
For someone who was initially miffed about Rare going the way of a massively-multiplayer, online experience — and admittedly heralding a much lower level of excitement as a result — the outcome, after a fair number of days at [virtual] sea in the closed beta, are more upbeat. Albeit, still mixed in a number of ways. Let’s start with the positives and work our way down: Sea of Thieves has a peculiar degree of charm to it. Perhaps not to the same degree of colorful personality of previous titles, but subtly present nonetheless. Anyone who’s followed Rare for a long time will instantly recognize the degree of care and consideration for the details, both grand and minuscule in equal measure. The glare of the sun as you swim your way back to your ship, the ruffle of paper as you scour your chartered map for the desired island to reach; even the way your on-board lanterns flicker and crackle as the waves collide and risk snuffing out the flames.
From the trailers and listening to the developers, this does not seem like a typical MMO. There will be some lore in the world as well as predesigned quests to embark on, but this appears to be a more player character driven experience. There are no legendary heroes such as Captain Blackbeard, nor is there one single campaign that will play the same for everyone. The players will become the legendary heroes based on their individual exploits, and the continued involvement will help the game world’s lore evolve. Everyone is meant to have a unique and different experience that is more shaped by the scallywags on their crew than by scripted in game events or AI bots. If another pirate ship is seen on the horizon, that is another crew controlled by other players coming into your world. This can be an opportunity to bond with your crew members by unloading your cannons on them, or if you are a friendly group of pirates perhaps meet up with the new crew to consume barrels of rum together.
Interestingly, Rare didn’t have anything else to say about how Sea of Thieves would be monetised after its launch next year. All Mayles could offer in that regard was a broad design philosophy that hints towards a content release plan similar to that of Destiny or other long-term investments like The Divisi
On that note of creating a unique and personal experience, there will be plenty of customization options both as for the pirate character and the ship. These customization items will be both cosmetic and functional to help ensure that the pirate I design with the attributes and look I want will not be the same pirate you create. The cartoonish art style hints that this will be a more lighthearted and fun version of pirates as opposed to a more historically accurate bloodthirsty crew infected with scurvy.