Sea of Thieves Has Procedural Elements Laid on Top of Quest System & Endless Supply of Maps & Stages

Rare's Sea of Thieves managed to surprise in a positive way pretty much everyone that tried the game and so far at some convention.

Its premise of an online, "shared world" emergent pirate game powered past Rare's unique visual style and sense of humor is definitely intriguing, which is why I was eager to learn more during a presentation for the printing. Atomic number 82 Designer Mike Chapman talked extensively about the game'southward features, revealing some new tidbits.

For case, while the world is handcrafted there are procedural systems laid on top of the quest systems: shipwrecks are placed procedurally in the world, and then that players can constantly find those in their never-catastrophe pursuit of booty. There'southward besides an "endless" supply of different types of maps and stages, according to Chapman, with building blocks that can be strung together in several ways to keep gameplay fresh and replayable. The squad wants players to be constantly on edge nearly what could happen just farther out on the horizon.

At that place'll be a whole range of character progression in Sea of Thieves. Players can expect to customize tools like compasses, shovels, lanterns and musical instruments, too as obviously the weapons. The transport itself has been described as an extension of the player grapheme, and may be customized both visually and functionally.

What will non happen is the game locking players down to specific roles, as Rare conceived the gameplay in Sea of Thieves to be very fluid. Whereas you may be at the ship'southward wheel one moment, the next one y'all could be firing a cannon or fixing a leak in the hull if need exist.

Rare also spent "a lot of time" balancing different ship types. Small ships are actually nimble in the water, which makes turning far easier than what's possible for bigger ships; the only manner big ships tin keep up is if each and every sail is down and turned to the current of air. What the developers also noticed is that small ships tend to ring together against a large send in a natural mode.

Of grade, information technology'southward besides possible to steal someone else'due south transport while they're adventuring on an island, for instance. That doesn't hateful you'll get the buying, but y'all'll exist able to employ it still you want for that particular session and accept its treasure chests (should there be any in the cargo concord).

The ship'southward owner, on the other manus, will be able to get information technology dorsum. The process will require him or her to dive into the water and talk with a mermaid savior, who'll heighten the ship back onto the water; however, the previous name of the send will exist removed and of course, every bit just mentioned, whatsoever treasure might accept been taken by the pirates who just stole it. That's Rare's attempt at balancing both sides of this situation.

If you want to take your treasure to a safe place, you'll accept to head into a settlement. That's right, because despite the name Bounding main of Thieves will have identify as much on the transport as it does on the state and even though we haven't seen them yet, Chapman promised pirate towns populated past all sorts of NPCs and shops. These will allow players to customize their character, to restock their transport, to change or upgrade the weapons and to accept their hard-earned booty to the treasure dealer.

What Bounding main of Thieves won't exist is massive in terms of gamers playing together. Information technology's rather focused on a more intimate feel, and while specifics haven't been nailed nevertheless, that's what Chapman said on the thing:

When you lot start getting to a higher place five or six players, information technology becomes less personal. You bail less, it becomes just like a rabble of pirates. So nosotros purposely chose that number for this ship [on screen] because it gives you that perfect crew gameplay where over time you lot can bond, you can piece of work together. Any more than and information technology gets a flake chaotic.

After the presentation, I was able to try the game for a while. There's no denying that the coiffure gameplay on the ship feels immediately intuitive and engaging, and exchanging cannon shots with another ship is a rather thrilling experience as both crews endeavor to calculate each shot's trajectory so that the cannon assurance hit the weakest spots of the enemy vessel.

It's not easy at all to land hits, at to the lowest degree for newcomers, as the ship is constantly moving. Analogous with the coiffure and so that someone can rapidly go downstairs to prepare hull leaks is critical, as taking in too much water will eventually sink the vessel.

Unfortunately, the demo build still did not feature any grade of melee or ranged gainsay, which made boarding the other ship rather pointless as there was no way to harm enemies. This is a crucial office of the pirate fantasy experience and Chapman assured the states that swords, blunderbusses and pistols will all be in the game.

In that location's besides the question of whether the rest of the gameplay experience (adventuring on state, searching for treasures, fighting krakens/ghost ships and the likes) will be every bit fun as transport gainsay, but we'll demand to play more in order to answer it.

In the concurrently, what can unequivocally be said is that Sea of Thieves looks amazing. Powered past Unreal Engine 4, information technology stands out for what's maybe the best rendition of h2o in games yet, only there are many other graphics highlights such as the captivating art style, smooth animations, lighting and clouds.

The game will exist out on both Windows x PC and Xbox One. Although he could not confirm cross-play, Chapman was very confident nearly the characteristic since the game's pace doesn't translate into a clear reward of mouse & keyboard against controller.

There'due south no appointment yet, as the developers are aiming to get Sea of Thieves in the closed beta stage first and foremost. Even so, nosotros'll go along a watchful eye on what could be Rare's definitive comeback.