Sea of Thieves Review - IGN

Rare's shared-world pirate fantasy is a good foundation that's fun with friends but bogged down by repetitive grind.

[Thatguy-310]

A 7 ??? Lol ok....

[IamTylerDurden1]

It's hard to believe critics could rightfully give it a 7. The game is a shell. How can they justify the enemy or weapon variety, laughable quests, bad ground combat, no progression, lack of content ect? It honestly feels like this game is being protected a bit.

[seatunt]

Have you played it?

[Wasabi]

@Tyler

Have you actually played the game, or is your constant reposting of the same or similar comment in every Sea of Thieves article simply due to your own insecurities?

I HAVE played the game and whilst personally I think that a lot of the criticism that SoT is receiving is valid and the game could absolutely use some more content, weapon variety and a deeper, more robust quest and progression mechanic, Your constant hating on the game through negative comments in each and every submission thread is becoming laughable and more than a little cringe worthy.

Reviews are a great way to find opinions about a game, Playing a game and forming your own opinions is better.

I'm sorry to say you're not going to change the minds of gamers that are enjoying SoT by posting negatively about it, nor are you likely to bring about the fall of Microsoft and the Xbox brand either.

[mechlord]

@Fragnum

Im going to start by sayiing i havent played this. Hell i dont even own a xbox. what d your comments have to do with the fact that IamTylerDurden1 thinks 7 is a bit too much? do we all need to play every game in order to make an opinion wether a given score is higher or lower than it should be?
what does anything has to do with changing people's minds lol
is that why you post in here?

[Wasabi]

@Mechlord

****what d your comments have to do with the fact that IamTylerDurden1 thinks 7 is a bit too much?****

Tyler has said that HE thinks that a 7 is too high of a score and that the game is being protected, My comments suggests that if HE wants to give an opinion, HE should play the game.

****do we all need to play every game in order to make an opinion wether a given score is higher or lower than it should be?****

Yes, for you to have a valid formed opinion you should play the game. A review that gives an opinion is subjective and based around someones own personal experience. Reviews can be a great tool to help you decide whether to play a game and give an idea of the quality of the product, but to have a personal opinion and comment from that perspective ideally it should be your own.

****what does anything has to do with changing people's minds lol is that why you post in here?****

No it's not.

Read my post, I've already stated that SoT is not without it's flaws, read my comment history you'll see that I make just as many positive comments for games on PlayStation.

The issue I have is that Tyler is repeating the same post in every SoT article, and it's fine for him to express an opinion, however his posts are bordering on spam. No requirement for someone to post the same or similar comment on 20 different articles about a game regardless of platform, unless that person is pushing an agenda.

[JaguarEvolved]

I know this score upsets a lot of bandwagoners because they despise this game which most haven't played but they want everyone to agree and say it's rubbish. I agree with this score and think it's fair. The game has a few faults but a lot of bandwagoners are acting like it's pure rubbish. The game is mediocre and not great but some people like it while others don't appreciate the bit it has. To each his own

[Zaherd]

i think so too... even moderators on n4g started flagging negative comments as inappropriate on the first few review posts ... effort would've been better spent making the game good rather than fire fighting and not making it seem all bad

[darthv72]

Put it this way Tyler... everyone has opinions on things they've never tried and each person has the ability to give merrit to those opinions if they so choose. Me personally I prefer to hear it from someone with experience because then i can ask questions if needed.

Those who have not played this game and still offer their opinion is nothing more than weightless empty words. If you want people to take you seriously then you should at least try it for yourself. If the game does not appeal to you then fine... preface your comments as such and then people will know what to expect from the rest of your comment.

It's not that hard to have proper context.

[rainslacker]

@Darth

Only things I hear from people that play it are that it's a solid foundation, and fun to play with friends. Reviews and people that played it also seem to concur with the fact that there are moments which can be quite enjoyable....typically revolving around the tension of having your loot stolen by another player.

Given that I can have that experience with any number of games, perhaps you can expand on that and tell me why one should try this game when it's also been heavily mentioned in almost every review that it has a repetative game play loop which lacks content....and even the IGN review says that the end game is just more of the same, just more prolonged compared to the stuff prior. On top of that, another common criticism is that while there is a plethora of stuff to purchase for your time, none of that stuff really matters to change up the game to make it more interesting.

Since you've played the game, you can possibly explain to others how exactly the game is going to keep them engaged for the long term. That's a damn important aspect of an MMO, and some promises of more content to come doesn't mean much when the scope of that future content is unknown.

I think I've summed up both what people who have played it, along with what people are criticizing fairly well...and I've never played the game. I've read plenty of reviews, and even watched game play because I'm curious how this game turned out. I don't need to play the game though to know what I like, or don't like, or to be able to form an opinion on if what's being reported is good or bad for the game itself. I wouldn't do a full review of the game because I haven't played it, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't form an opinion on it. I see any number of people, on a daily basis, form opinions on games without playing them. Seems it happens regardless of exclusivity....just it seems that exclusives get more attention.

Now, the balls in your court to say why all the pros from the people that have played it are meaningful to people who find the cons offputting.

[IamTylerDurden1]

To all the people insult my opinion, refute the criticisms i've made of the game, defend it. Please bring something more than personal insults, tell me why the game is better than a 7.

[WilliamSheridan]

I know, I'd actually give it an 8 considering how much fun I'm having with it...

[DigitalRaptor]

So a barren game with poorly executed, repetitive gameplay is an 8/10, but you feel that the next Media Molecule game which offers unlimited content, unlimited concepts, unlimited fun (and will likely have somebody recreate Sea of Thieves' core gameplay loop in a week), makes you hesitate? Now I understand.

[IamTylerDurden1]

8 but the combat, quests, enemy variety, weapon variety, and sheer amount of content is a joke.

[Bruh]

Thats probably the best score, its got a 70 Meta, so makes sense, average game, call it what you will, but there have plenty of games this generation that lacked content and still got away with good reviews and no back lash from gamers

[cooperdnizzle]

Ive played it and I just think the game sucks. So to each there own. I would I’ve it a 5

[strifeblade]

I know remember gran turismo sport? Hell gamespot waited 2 months before releasing their review to wait for some content and then awarded it an 8! What a joke.

[DigitalRaptor]

@ Bruh

Are you actually offended by people disagreeing with his comment?

Cause that's what a downvote is. They disagreed.

[Relientk77]

7/10

Too much Water - IGN

[Cyborgg]

Angry Joe review is spot on

http://n4g.com/news/2157056...

[-Foxtrot]

Yet only .8 more and you get the No No Kuni II score which is packed full of great content

[DaDrunkenJester]

Well they aren't really comparable. It is possible for 2 games in completely different genres to score similar...

[UnHoly_One]

Yeah I know right? It deserves at least a 9.

[fiveby9]

I'm calling BS. IGN better cash that check from MS quick.

[eferreira]

IGN's Podcast unlocked has been hyping this up for the last 6 months.

[butchertroll]

True, true.

[OTaylor]

I would venture that the 5 of 10 and below reviews are from people that were too afraid to play co-op, or didnt have friends to play with. Sea of Thieves is not a 5 of 10 rated game period, those are obvious click pieces(it would literally be impossible for anyone that isnt farming skull forts by server hopping to already have the pirate legend status). The bad reviews were hitting in the first couple days, clearly to get hits during the launch buzz. Thats fine though, it just exposes their priority vs integrity.

The lack of content is a valid argument that I agree is true. I have no doubt this will be remedied throughout the next year or longer though.Microsoft should have let the haters cry about exclusives until Sea of Thieves was a full fat game then released it. The X has the performance upper hand in all past and present mutliplatform titles, it wouldnt have hurt to let Sea of Thieves cook a bit longer.

[doos_vd_kak]

"The bad reviews were hitting in the first couple days, clearly to get hits during the launch buzz. Thats fine though, it just exposes their priority vs integrity."

Sorry just quickly enlighten me here, because I seem to be confused, where are the stellar reviews at? Because I'm seriously at a loss, I cant seem to find them.

Ironically, the first review that came up on this site was a 9.3/10, and from there it has overwhelmingly been negative to average reviews. If anything, the dodgy and unrealistic review was that 9.3 one. Followed by more honest and accurate reviews. Face it, the game is average and this is being reflected. You can't argue with facts. What a pity much better and deserving games like Ni no kuni 2 are overshadowed by all this SOT news on here.

"The X has the performance upper hand in all past and present mutliplatform titles"

And how has that been working out for Microsoft? Yea, it means far less than what has been muttered by fanboys. Good games will always come out trumps over resolution bumps.

[trooper_]

The reviews say otherwise.

No one said you couldn't play the game. But trying to defend a game that had 4 years to develop isn't going to make the reviews go away.

[OTaylor]

doos

I didnt say anything about "stellar reviews". I can agree with a 7-7.5 out of 10 review, but 5 out of 10, or lower, is complete nonsense. I own the game and Im having fun with it, that is the only fact associated with your comment. If you owned the game then your opinion might carry weight. And I would gouge my eyes out if I were stuck playing Playstation Japanese anime games like whatever game you plugged.

In regards to the X1X, this 4K entertainment is working out great at my house. How is that 1080p-1200p and no 4K Bluray player working out at your house?

[OTaylor]

Razmiran

Who are you quoting? The dude played the sales "card", I just reminded him those sales arent improving his gaming experience the way X1X is improving my gaming experience. He can enjoy those sales with his family on a Saturday night, Ill enjoy 4K hdr gaming and bluray movies with dolby atmos on the X1X with mine. Simple.

[SegaGamer]

@OTaylor
"The lack of content is a valid argument that I agree is true. I have no doubt this will be remedied throughout the next year or longer though."

That excuse isn't good enough for me and it's the reason why it's scoring so low. The game has been hyped up for years and was said to be Rare's most ambitious game yet. To then get an open world game with such little content at release isn't good enough. Telling us to wait for more content later is a pathetic excuse. If they want us to spend 60 pounds, dollars or euro's on a game, then i think we should be getting more than 25% of the game at launch. No game should score high because it has potential or looks pretty, if the gameplay isn't there, then it doesn't deserve higher than a 5.

Look at the bigger picture. If these types of games score high and people praise it, then we will end up with tons of games in the future with little content on release date. I don't want that future for gaming, i don't want to be sold quarter of the game and then be expected to buy the other 3 quarters through DLC packs.

Free to play games have more content than this game.

[cooperdnizzle]

OTaylor. My brother and I both own the game. It sucks. The combat is boring, they give you everything you need at the beginning of the game so you have no motivation to go and find items that might make the game more enjoyable.

There is no story and even worse, the voice acting if you can call it that. There is no goal other than an arbitrary legendary pirate status, and the whole time you are playing you are like when does the actual game kick in? What makes me/character a unquie pirate?

If you look at the game honestly, all you can come away with is, it’s lazy. Was it kinda cute and some what ammusing when you first put it in? Yes, but charm and concept does not make a game, it’s the start of a game. Foolishly thinking other wise is going to give this publisher a green light to make horrible games and sell the to you like they are the best thing since sliced bread!

[OTaylor]

Razmiran

No games, is that really the argument you are going with? Not even counting exclusives the X1X has well over 1,000 multiplatform titles that have better performance than any available Playstation console on the market.

[fiveby9]

IGN has a close relationship with MS marketing. They are trying to walk a line. How low a score can we give it without being in MS bad graces or give it a score too high and our readers / viewers will think we're sell outs. MS has serious damage control underway. A major exclusive title they finally release receives mediocre to poor reviews. If SoT was just some indie title with no major backing from a platform holder or publisher, you can bet IGN would have had a lower score. So an IGN 7 is probably really a 6 at best in reality.

[HyperMouse]

Ive only had a few sessions in SoT but im enjoying it, id bump it down to a 6 at most though until new content is added, or ive heard that once you level up the guilds you get better and harder things to do but havnt experienced that

[WilliamSheridan]

I'm going with an 8 because I literally spent 8 hours talking like a pirate last night thanks to this game

[xenz]

That made me cringe hard

[WilliamSheridan]

Hey, you guys defended No Man's Sky, and I even bought it myself, and this game exceeds that in terms of pure fun. Cringe all you want, it's a fun beautiful game.

You guys manage to hate on every exclusive here. It's sickening.

[ion666]

Um, you can literally do that without the game........LMAO!!!

[Prince-Ali]

@William

That is cringey and depressing as hell!! loool

@ion66

I know right! loool this guys acting like talking like a pirate is exclusive to having this game lool...

[yomfweeee]

You give the game an 8 because you talked like a pirate all night? I'm pretty sure that is sickening.

[WilliamSheridan]

I guess you fail to see the significance of enjoying a game so much that you immerse yourself into the character for lengthy periods of time.

[Vanfernal]

The thing I've noticed about all the positive reviews for this game is that they focus on having fun with friends and the "potential" it has to grow... But objectively speaking, those are not really criteria for reviewing a game. The content is just lacking. No weapon variety, no enemy variety, the only real purpose of collecting gold is to get aesthetics, no progression, etc. Considering it's a full priced game that's just unacceptable. As it stands people seem to be enjoying the game as a glorified VR chat in a pirate setting.

[Magnetar]

It’s a game that revolves around having fun with friends, rare never presented it as anything else.

[FPSFox]

Uhh, did you miss the part in Angry Joe's review where rare states "This is by far the most ambitious game Rare has ever created?"

[slappy508]

That doesn't mean that it couldn't have had more enemy varieties, character progression and a greater variety of quests. These are what will keep players invested

[Vanfernal]

They totally did...

https://youtu.be/yFvSs0CAgu...

[OffRoadKing]

Lots of games revolve around or at least are made better by having fun with friends but all have had to stand on their own merits outside of that. SOT shouldn't have to say friends are required to have fun, it should say this game is fun and you can partake in that fun with your friends. But it cant say that, instead it says its boring without friends and devoid of content and repetitive with or without friends.

[doos_vd_kak]

"rare never presented it as anything else"

It's fun calling out people who flat don't know what they are talking about. Rare literally marketed this game as their biggest and "most ambitious" game they've ever made. They were quoted at Least twice saying this. LMAO.

[DaDrunkenJester]

@the people quoting the most ambitious Rare quote.

Has Rare ever made such a beautiful game before? Is that water and sailing tech not the best tech you have seen ever? Have they ever done an open world online PvP game before where you can play with up to 4 players?

The answer is no. So I'd say that quote is still accurate. The game is very ambitious, did it nail everything out the gate? No. But it is definitely something Rare has never done before.

[DigitalRaptor]

They presented the game on stage, and not only called it their most ambitious game ever...

... but they said that it would offer "limitless possibilities". They drummed up hype for the game this way themselves, and didn't exactly go out of their way to tell players that the Beta they played was basically all they were going to get from the game when it came out. They had every opportunity to be honest about all of that.

[pcz]

It's almost as if the game gets an extra point automatically just because it's from rare.

There was a lot of hype surrounding the game with journalists talking as if it was a revolutionary thing, having to then give the game a 5 or 6 must be quite embarrassing. They probably added a point or two just to save face.

Game is complete doodo.

Rare spend 4 years polishing a turd

[DaDrunkenJester]

No. A 7 seems about right considering the metacritic.

[Lamboomington]

"But objectively speaking, those are not really criteria for reviewing a game."

LOL. This comments section in a nutshell.

You realize all of this is subjective ? Not to mention the assignment to a score out of 10 is subjective and arbitrary and changes from reviewer to reviewer.

[DaDrunkenJester]

So a game being very fun with friends isn't criteria for giving it a good score? If you're having fun memorable moments with a game regardless if it's for 10 or 20 or more hours... isn't that criteria to score a game decently? It's not like they're giving it a 9 or higher saying it's spectacular...

[DigitalRaptor]

@ DaDrunkJester

What?? No of course not. When reviewing you're allowed to have an opinion, but you also have a responsibility to also be professionally objective and be honest to your readers. The game is a shell being sold for $60, there's no amount of individualistic fun that is getting around that.

[StormLegend]

Way too generous

[OnDec76]

IGN is a joke

[slappy508]

So now "too much water" is not an issue 😁

[jjb1981]

Sea of Grieves?

[FallenAngel1984]

This game’s amount of water clearly brought down the score

[RamRod88]

Oh my gosh! A game I haven't played, on a system I have some weird resentment toward, got a score I don't think is low enough!

[TimmyTurnersDad]

Dude it's n4g, what did you expect.

[Eonjay]

There is an entire world out there and N4G is simply a representation of that world which for the most part rejects the type of treatment Microsoft gives its 'fans' since those fans are incapable of demanding better for themselves.. This is earth, what did you expect?

[trooper_]

Oh look, I can't accept the fact that the game fell flat on it's face!

[doos_vd_kak]

^This is more the pattern here

[RamRod88]

You don't see me going around on every review article defending the game because I know the game didn't turn out the way it should have. At the end of the day, it's just one game and more will come out.

[SuperSaiyanGod41]

Well to be fair the amount of hype this game had is what really hurt it. It's tough to meet such high expectations especially when ign was one of many huge game sites hyping this game up to be the next big thing.

I have no doubt this game will be better in time as more content is added but to bring it out as it is and expect people to spend $60 is ridiculous when so much is missing in the game.

[PS3_Noob]

SOT is good, really IGN ?? be honest ?? Guys buy FC5 or any other game rather than this crap.

[Italiano1234567]

You know Ryan McCaffrey who's an Xbox Fanboy was telling the reviewer come on man just keep it at 7 at least let it be respectable LOL

[XMarkstheSpot]

I'd give it a 6 or so personally after playing and getting most factions over 20

[Bruh]

Don't get the crying, its got a 70 on Metacritic, makes an average game. So a 7/10 is pretty justifiable and fair

Not to mention, there have been games on both Xbox and PS ( exclusively) that have had less content and still gotten away with less backlash

[IRetrouk]

Name them please cause im playing sot right now and it has nothing.... Not even no mans sky was this devoid of content and gameplay, its fun with friends but its the same stuff over and over and over, i think the reviews its getting are more than fair.

[DaDrunkenJester]

I played NMS, what content and gameplay are you speaking of that is so much more than SoT?

[IRetrouk]

Ok for one you had an actual story, with an actual endgame, you had crafting to do, resorces to manage and collect and ships and guns to upgrade, planets and animals needed exploring too, also your suit etc needed to be upgraded, and that was day one before any content drops, nms had more to do on day one, thats a fact, sot has literaly the same 3 missions, no crafting, no upgrades, no story, no anything other than a bit of a fun with friends.

[Aceman18]

I find it funny how the same ppl on here wholeheartedly defending this no content game was quick to jump all over GTS which had more content than this game from the start.

Pretty much the majority of ppl on this site for a certain console is just straight hypocrites period end of damn discussion because this game is on their system of choice lol.

They can't say a damn thing to anyone on here anymore lol.

If i still had my X1 I wouldn't waste my money on this sh***y a$$ game lol.

[LP-Eleven]

Totally agree with you.

[Imalwaysright]

I jump on both games because they are incomplete full priced games which is one of the many anti-consumer practices we gamers have to deal with. If we pay full price day one, none of us should have to wait months or years to get the game we paid for. Unfortenetely there are millions of gamers out there with no standards whatsoever that buy these games so I'm expecting more devs and publishers to release incomplete games.

[DaDrunkenJester]

I was agreeing with you until you went full fanboy in your last sentence :/

[Aceman18]

@jester

Nothing fanboy about my last statement. If i still had my X1 I would not waste my money on this game.

[welly300]

Id say a 5 just feels very empty, perhaps i didnt give it long enough. Ill try again after the next update.

[doos_vd_kak]

Thank goodness I bought Ni no kuni 2 instead if this crap.

[BioDead]

I wonder how much Rare payed for this review??

[danny818]

$9.11 on September 17'

[timotim]

Solid score for a solid base of a game. I'm having fun with it. Rare needs to act fast though and get more content and customization out...this game will live or die based off how fast they are at that aspect.

[senorfartcushion]

Being a "good foundation" is not a good game. Despite SoT being on the Games Pass, people WILL be spending $60 on this "foundation" and receiving only 20-30% of a full game.

But then again, IGN have always gained heat in their bellies and testies regarding AAA games. Are any of their top 100 games AAA? Maybe devastatingly broken ports like the Switch WWE game, but that's about it. They really really do prefer the rotting sheen AAA games, overall.

It is shallow, corporate websites like these that champion many of the industry's falicies.

"Loot boxes aren't gambling"

"Microtransactions are good because they aren't loot boxes and are only cosmetic"

"This live service is a "good foundation."

"This game is far too linear, single player only."

It's a bad time to be a gamer, if you think about it.

[Imalwaysright]

"and receiving only 20-30% of a full game" And people will still buy it. I have no idea why, but they will.

"It's a bad time to be a gamer, if you think about it." And who is to blame? Companies care about money, they don't care about us so it makes sense that they would try anything and everything to get more money but what is our excuse when we buy and support games that are synonimous with anti-consumer practices with some even defending these games? It's a bad time to be a gamer, couldn't agree more but we are to blame for it in my opinion even more than publishers, IGN or any other website.

[senorfartcushion]

People are idiots, though. It is the sites that peddle and create the excitement. They offer so much free advertising and do it while still possessing that "EXPENSIVE GAME MUST PLAY, MUST PLAY, MUST PLAY." attitude. Gamespot just recently streamed Battlefront 2 again after it was crushed into the ground by the idiots (us.) Why? Battlefront should be dead to people now, not streamed. EA lost their chance.

Same goes with Metal Gear Survive. Kinda Funny discussed "the future of the franchise" despite the fact that the auteur who created it left Konami. Metal Gear is dead now. It left when Kojima left. You can't just replicate an auteur's vision. There is no future for MG even with new games being released as what we would be getting would be a knockoff version of Metal Gear.

I'm passionate about this. "Bourgeois!" and what not.

[rainslacker]

"It's a bad time to be a gamer, if you think about it."

I was with you up until this point. While I get what you're going for, whether or not it's a bad time is purely dependent on the game you play. I for one this gen am not suffering for games to play. I don't feel like it's up there with the PS2 golden days, but I do feel a lot of the same excitement on the PS brand. I can't speak for the Xbox base, but if they're having fun, and happy enough with what's coming, then that's really all that matters.

[senorfartcushion]

What if you like shooters but hate procedurely generated, dungeon crawler/ Zelda ripoff games? That's me. I like Zelda. I do not like Zelda ripoff games and they are mostly what we get now.

[Sm00thNinja]

A 70 on meta after 44 reviews. Ill give it a shot once my back catalogue clears up a bit.

[DigitalRaptor]

69 average on Meta after 48 reviews.
67 average on Opencritic after 53 reviews.
63 average on N4G after 71 reviews.

If that means anything to you.

[Sm00thNinja]

Lol yeaaaaa I'll send it back lol. I've got too much to play by the time I get around to Sea of Thieves it'll be 20 bucks

[corroios]

I like the excuse of having fun with friends... I always have fun when im playing with friends.... Even with new gamers with mic i have fun. Its just a excuse.

[Bennibop]

Have been playing the game all week and already bored of it, the game is a massive disappointment lacks variety, lack of gear, grind, rinse and repeat structure and avenue the skull island raids are a chore and not much fun. There is a definite foundation for something good (graphics are great and coop is fun) but it maybe too late as many will move on.

[inxine]

eh? wasnt it a 9.3 just hoours ago?

[Artemidorus]

It has potential to be very fun but right now it's an early access game that doesn't warrant the full retail price

[CrimsonWing69]

Who cares? I mean they could give a 10 and I still wouldn’t touch the damn thing. There’s far too many better games out right now and also coming out real soon.

[Pantz]

2 million people in 1 week do, apparently

[blacktiger]

IGN owns by FOX. And they are Microsoft's best friend!!!!

[GoodnessGreatness]

More like a 5/10