Sea of Thieves is unique. If someone would ask me to describe the game in one word, it would be exactly that … Unique.
But why do I think so? Is it the wide sea that not only offers some of the best water rendering ever seen in a videogame but also can be scary at the same time? Is it the timelessly beautiful graphic style? Or is it the way the game integrates sound and music into the game to make it a crucial part of the gameplay? Well, to be honest, it's pretty much a mix of everything. Sea of Thieves begins to shine just in the moment you enter the world. With its unique cartoon-is art style, it's pretty much a timeless game that should look just as good in 10 years as it does today.
Let's get a few technical basics out of there way first. The game offers pretty much everything you would expect here from a modern AAA title. Sea of Thieves runs on Unreal Engine 4. On Xbox One S, the game renders at a native 1080p resolution. On Xbox One X, the game performs at a native 4K resolution and most of the effects/shadow resolutions are set equivalent to the PC Ultra settings. HDR is completely supported and the game makes excessive use of playing with colors and light. In addition the game supports the 3D audio format Dolby Atmos.
The PC version is very scaleable and should pretty much run on a toaster with its lowest settings available. At the same time and with the right hardware you can obviously also play the game at a smooth and crisp 4K resolution and 60 frames-per-second. Ultra-Wide is also supported. This PC requirements table should give you an idea about the scalability of the game.
As the sea obviously plays a huge role in Sea of Thieves, the water rendering needed to be on point. I think it's safe to say that they completely nailed that part. The way the water works together with the ship is just amazing. The physics of the waves look incredible. The moment you are on the sea and see your first setting of the sun, it's a breathtaking moment. The reflection on the water surface, the ambient lighting changes, the relaxing atmosphere. All the small details lead to an impressive overall image. It may sounds like a dumb statement, but at times the water rendering in combination with the light creates scenarios that look better than I've ever seen them in real-life. It's interesting that other Microsoft games make use of the water rendering developed by Rare - Forza Horizon 3 was the first one to do so and I'm sure more will follow. It's interesting to note that even Rares last title - Kinect Sports Rivals - had amazing water rendering. It's safe to say the water rendering in Sea of Thieves is an ongoing development of that.
Of course the game has a fully dynamic real-time day-and-night cycle. There is a real time system in the game that makes the sea and lighting look different each time you take a look through your spyglass.
But it's not only the water that's super impressive. Another huge role are the fully procedural and volumetric generated clouds. The sky never looks the same and you can almost feel the clouds as they are a real rendering within the world. They play with light and shadow. They move. They can be thick. They can be thin. At night, the stars shine bright and auroral lights can be seen.
In addition storms play a big role in Sea of Thieves. It is raining. Your ship fills with water. Lightnings can hit your ship. It's pure chaos.
The islands offer great atmosphere. The vegetation is completely physical and can be moved by the players and wind alike. Islands offer caves, waterfalls, wildlife animals, birds, fireflies, fish, mural arts and many more landmarks to make each island feel unique.
All of the items and objects in the game have a guideline to make everything look pirate. From used swords to old wood, from ancient chests to broken shovels. Skins for weapons and items don't look separated like they often do in other games - it feels like they are all carefully crafted with the pirate theme in mind. Everything leads to a harmonic overall experience.
For the most of of time, Sea of Thieves completely renounces a HUD. There are no markers in the world where to go. There are no arrows that leads you to the next treasure. Rare tried to make everything in the game itself. This leads to an immersive experience that doesn't get interrupted by huge fonts or numbers blocking your screen view.
Last but not least, this game is integrating its sound effects and music as a real gameplay element. Not only you can play music with your crew together, different sound effects also give you clues about the world and other gameplay moments.
About one year ago I got my hands on the game for the very first time. Since that day I always knew Sea of Thieves will be something very special. It may sound like a completely trivia thing to say - but that feeling you generate when playing music instruments with your crew together, looking down on the horizon and seeing the sun going down while soft waves clash onto your ship is an experience I haven't had in 20 years of videogame history.
I can't wait for launch and hope that as many people as possible will have a chance to experience the game. Completely detached from gameplay opinions, I hope people can take a moment to simply enjoy the beautiful style and world this game has to offer. If Sea of Thieves teaches me one thing, it's that the magic only Rare can create is still there. People come and go. That's pretty much the case for every corporation. But the magic stayed. And Sea of Thieves proves just that.
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