At the end of January Microsoft conducted the first closed beta test Sea of Thieves. We played for twelve hours – and immediately, without a preface, we can say: this is an excellent cooperative game. Well … for a couple of evenings.
SEA of Thievs closed beta test tests
Treasure Islands
First, Sea of Thieves sounds great. Waves with a rumble beat on the hull of the ship, the gear creak, and the sails straighten with a noise when they catch the wind.
Secondly, it looks great. Even if you don't like such a cartoon design, it harmoniously fits into the atmosphere and does not overload the game. And the water here is true "fifty shades". In the mornings near the islands, the sea is gray, at noon already azure and plays the glare of the sun, and in the storm becomes impenetrable, almost black.
As in other similar sandboxes, in Sea of Thieves the weather and time of the day change dynamically
Thirdly, Sea of Thieves is playing great. In it you become a pirate and in a cooperative with other players control the ship. Of course, you can play alone and swim on a tiny ship, but this, frankly, is not so interesting at all.
Another thing is the four of us to manage a large frigate. Someone, usually the most experienced, stands at the helm and gives orders. One sailor lifts the sails and turns them to the wind, the second helps him and at the same time is responsible for the anchor. And the card generally lies in the cabin under the captain's bridge, so the fourth player from there coordinates the actions of the rest. It sounds easy, but at first it doesn’t even moor out the first time. What can we say about sea battles!
It should be understood that Sea of Thieves is far from hardcore simulator: it is unprofitable for developers to scare away ordinary players. But there are enough subtleties in gameplay. During the storm, the helm breaks out of the hands, and the compass goes crazy. But the ship itself will not turn over, even if it stands sideways to a ten -meter wave: only ordinary holes in the case threaten it through the fault of bad weather. If there are too many of them, then the frigate, of course, will go to the bottom – but not earlier.
Captain, we are drowning!
The main tasks are issued by the trading company "Gold Stores", whose representatives can be found in shops at the outposts. The common mechanics are simple like a wooden leg: you need to find a chest with treasures on the hints, dig it and attribute it to merchants, and get gold as a reward. Well, to fight off the skeletons on the way. The only serious threat is other players who can notice you after the raid when you are already dragging a chest for sale. In the worst case, the ship will be intercepted, the chests will be taken away, and you will go to the food of the fish. What after that? Nothing! You are reborn on the nearest avvanpost, and a brand new ship is already standing at the pier. If you did not have prey, then you have not lost anything in battle.
And this is the main problem of Sea of Thieves. She does not give up almost no call to the player. The only thing that can be lost is chests and everything else either does not disappear, or is easily replenished.
Accidentally fell overboard? Your team does not even have to waste time turning the ship and pulling you out of the water. Swim away at sea, and a mermaid will appear nearby, which simply teleports you back to the ship. So really faster.
The supplies ended? It doesn't matter either! Drive the ship stroke, let it sink. All the same, a mermaid will appear again in a minute and transfer you to a new ship, where there are already nuclei and new boards for repair.
Sea of Thieves not only does not punish the player for death, but almost does not encourage the study of the world. You can, of course, stumble on a sunken ship or a truly large and interesting island with caves and ruins. But nothing but resources and skeletons, you will not find it on it. Well, maybe another chest.
This is not a telescope, but a gun from which you can shoot … yourself
The same story with enemy forts where skeletons are hosted. It makes no sense to clean them: they will not give you any gold, nor chest, nor quest. And the chests themselves – also so -so prey. Anyway, for the duplons received from their sale, you will not buy anything particularly valuable, a maximum of a couple of useful things. The rest of the assortment of merchants is just cosmetic objects.
And a shame in addition that the chests themselves do not open. These are just quest items that can be found, convey to outpost and sell. But to open – no. In their place there could be precious stones or, for example, paintings – no difference, still you can’t interact with them. The developers, however, still added different types of chests: they differ not only in price, but also with effects. For example, we once met a crying chest – he constantly drowned a ship where he was put on the ship. The idea is cool – but this is still not enough.
Four people per chest with a slog
However, you should not be upset ahead of time: the developers deliberately removed part of the content during the ZBT, in order, firstly, to test the most important technical elements and, secondly, not to disclose all the cards. The other day, the Datamainers just found the mentions of Kraken, aggressive mermaids and customization of the ship in the game code, and the developers themselves last year told what we have to do after the release.
And together with the comrades you can perform the "flight of the Valkyrie" on the wheeled lyre and the accordion. The main thing is not to get drunk before that, otherwise you will begin to fake and you can generally fall overboard. Tested on personal experience!
Say, to the "Gold Hoarders), who give out tasks with chests, two more similar companies will be added. For the "trade alliance" (Merchant Alliance) will have to extract specific resources for the allotted time: not only simple bananas and barrels with gunpowder, but also animals. With them, quests will become more complicated: each little animal will have to be caught first, and then also delivered the merchant intact and safety.
But the second faction – the “Order of Souls” (The Order of Souls) – hires not couriers and gold miners, but a bustle. In the literal sense of the word: the “Order” reward gives out the skulls of fallen pirates, which turned into skeletons.
If you do not like to hunt other players or catch monkeys, then it is not necessary to trade with all companies at once. With such a variety of missions, developers want to emphasize that in the future any player will find a lesson (and earnings) to their liking: from research on the world to PVP.
After death, the player enters the hub for the dead sailors. After ten seconds, the bell will call and the door to the portal will open. After passing through it, you will appear on your ship as if nothing had happened.
In the meantime, there is too little in beta versions. Among the shells for guns there are no cans and buckshots, and the ship can be applied only one type of damage – holes. They are repaired with simple boards, and nothing Prive Casino more. In general, we examined the entire content of the SEA of Thieves beta in two hours … and did not find anything fundamentally new for the other ten.
But this does not mean that we were bored. Yes, this is definitely not a game for loners, but in a cooperative with friends you can hang here for a long time. The monotonous searches of treasures give way to sea chases, shootings from guns and boarding. And since you do not lose anything after death, you can create everything that will embrace in your head!
While we repaired the ship and distracted the enemy’s attention, our comrade climbed onto an enemy ship with a barrel of gunpowder. Is it worth telling what happened next?
Separately, we recall that Sea of Thieves supports Xbox Play Anywhere – a distribution program that allows you to buy a game once and launch it on both Windows 10 and Xbox One. From here comes the cross-platform: players with consoles and PC-owners play the same servers. Unfortunately, this is the only positive aspect of Play Anywhere.
Firstly, the Microsoft Store and Xbox services themselves are far from as convenient as Steam or Gog Galaxy. Secondly, since the game is console, then its price is appropriate-four thousand rubles. Not the most successful investment of money on a PC when there is a Steam in the same Blackwake And Guns of Icarus Online – Similar concepts, which are worth ten and thirty times cheaper, respectively.