Taylor Hatch

A game that has promise but comes up, unfortunately, lackluster, Sea of Thieves has intuitive sailing mechanics and fun aspects that can make for a satisfying and relaxing afternoon of play. However, all of this is very harshly contrasted by the game being rife with bugs, a lack of proper content for those wanting something more than a sailing (and now fishing+cooking!) simulator - When the only incentive to continue with content is to accrue wealth and purchase cosmetics with said wealth, the game's small pool only gets smaller and more finite, if not outright tedious. Bugs have been reported over turning in quests but not receiving the payouts, incomplete quests that need redoing entirely, minor visual glitches (that can be overlooked, such as players rendering in as green skeletons or bald and underwear-clad characters because the servers have not rendered the data properly), as well as a lack of in-depth combat where the right-click block, almost certainly and without fail, does not block attacks from even NPC skeleton enemies makes for terrible pitfalls in an otherwise visually stunning and stylized game. This is nothing to say of the online community on PC ports. If you're looking to purchase the game for a kid, the lack of friends-only matches or server selection may prove frustrating and draining. The community is absolutely riddled with griefers, boat-sinkers, macro-users, and no in-game support staff to report aggressive behaviors making for a hostile environment. Granted, from time to time, there are players that subvert this and engage in alliances, but those are few and far between. The players who stick around with the game and have collected each piece of content they can garner are left with nothing to do, it seems, and thus, turn toward other players to sate their need for engagement. The game is fun, don't get me wrong. But it is certainly not worth its price-tag. (It's CERTAINLY not worth "Premium Cosmetics", allegedly coming soon in the form of doubtless micro transactions where the game is already starved for content and it's only progression is in the form of unlocking, surprise, non-monetized cosmetics) In fact, if you'd like an equally fun and non-stressful game with amazing visual design by Rare, Viva Pinata (while not even comparable in the least to a Pirate Themed Epoch) by far has still got to be one of my favorites.