Sea of Thieves Reviews

Sea of Thieves is ranked in the 37th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Mar 21, 2018

Sea of Thieves is great fun, and there's not much else like it available at the moment ... But, with a lack of an actual story or the ability to level up your characters or ship, it's hard to feel a sense of real progression and we wonder if that magic will wear off once you've hit your reputation cap and nailed the look of your character.

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Mar 28, 2018

With time, though, Rare could make Sea of Thieves into one of the system's standout titles that shows what systems like cross-play can do as well as reminding us of Rare's long history.

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65 / 100
Mar 28, 2018

Between the game's breathtaking visuals, candid humor, and heavy emphasis on cooperative play, the horizon is bright for Rare's swashbuckling shared-world adventure.

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7 / 10.0
Mar 27, 2018

Sea of Thieves is a game with great potential, but undermined by the lack of variety and depth. Meditative alone, fascinating and epic in multiplayer, the navigation experience provided by Rare is truly unique and brilliant. On the other hand, the extreme freedom given to the player cannot be fulfilled because of clumsy boots on the ground mechanics and quest structure far too repetitive.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Mar 26, 2018

Sea of Thieves is all journey with no real destination, but if that doesn't immediately turn you away, it'll be a pirates life for you.

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Gameblog
KiKiToes
Top Critic
9 / 10
Jul 14, 2024

Sea of Thieves is highly recommendable in 2024.

Review in French | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Mar 23, 2018

Sea of Thieves is a game you won't forget. Wonderful to see, amazing to listen to, unique in a group and decidedly particular on their own, Rare's pirate adventure is a thunderous experiment built by combining all the typical defects of the genre to transform them into a single extraordinary virtue. It is not a game for everyone, certainly not for those who want to feel invincible and the only vain protagonist, but it is a work that has all the credentials to become something precious.

Review in Italian | Read full review

6 / 10.0
May 9, 2018

There will be people who will absolutely love Sea of Thieves and the unbridled freedom it provides. Others, however, will be left wanting more. Although the game looks great and has a solid foundation, it's missing key pieces to bring together its more solid elements. It certainly has its flashes of brilliance and can be a blast when played with a group of friends. A poor solo experience, however, combined with a lack of diversity as far as things to do, make its waters seem shallower than initially expected.

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5 / 10.0
Apr 5, 2018

Sea of Thieves isn't a complete game. Much of what's present is enchanting, but repetition will claim most before the kraken does. Check it out on Xbox Games Pass for a month, or hold out and hope that it is filled out in time.

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4 / 10.0
Mar 30, 2018

At the end of the day, Rare promised a grand pirate adventure, but missed the mark on so much they could have done.

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9 / 10.0
Mar 22, 2018

Sea of thieves is one of a kind, a very rare game that will be a sea of joy for ones, and a strange and empty game, that lack some of the basics of modern games. For me is a total success, that has filled my hours with plenty of unforgettable moments.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Justin Woo
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Mar 26, 2018

Sea of Thieves has glimmers of promise and is gorgeous to look at, but single player play is virtually worthless, and the repetitive nature of the quests and empty world leave the game feeling incomplete and overpriced.

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8.3 / 10.0
Mar 27, 2018

For now, it's a wonderful social experience that kept me wanting to see more. And when I wasn't playing, I was looking forward to returning to the open sea.

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Mar 26, 2018

U.K.-based developer Rare has crafted an experience that's as wide as an ocean but only as deep as a puddle.

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Atomix
Top Critic
78 / 100
Mar 26, 2018

Sea of Thieves is a very risky game. Not only it comes out after very successful multiplayer projects like Diablo, Borderlands and even Destiny, but it has some difficulties while trying to play with other users and some confusing progress mechanics. But when you are able to play it with people willing to achieve the goal missions and be communicative, the experience changes completely for the best.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

7 / 10
Mar 26, 2018

Sea of ​​Thieves is absolutely great, but great for just a few days (for four days for example). That's how long it takes to realize that there is a big problem of content that makes the game quickly ultra repetitive

Review in French | Read full review

72 / 100
Mar 26, 2018

Permanently monotonous, but due to its unpredictability also enormously fun open-world pirate adventure with great optics.

Review in German | Read full review

6 / 10.0
Mar 26, 2018

Sea of Thieves has a startlingly gorgeous presentation and well-thought-out pirate simulation for you to get excited over. But its spell on the high-seas is short-lived, with a lack of incentivising quests and lacklustre combat forcing you to make your own compelling reasons to stick with it rather than it not loosening its grasp on your attention.

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Mar 23, 2018

With Rare having spent the majority of the last decade more closely associated with the Kinect Sports franchise than the whimsical and inventive likes of its earlier years, Sea of Thieves feels like a return to form. It's packed with the studio's trademark charm and humour, while providing endless opportunities for adventure.

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EGM
Top Critic
6 / 10.0
Mar 23, 2018

Sea of Thieves' world isn't completely lacking in achievement, thanks to its luscious visuals and excellent sailing mechanics, but it feels completely undercooked in terms of actual gameplay. Perhaps ironically, Sea of Thieves feels like the skeleton of a game rather than a fully realized experience. Rare promises that more content is coming, but judging on what the game offers now, it's a journey not worth taking—at least not yet.

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