Sea Of Thieves’ Pirates Of The Caribean Expansion Makes It A Lot Less Painful To Play Alone

The largest draw of A Pirate’s Life, the brand new enlargement content material for Sea of Thieves, may be Captain Jack Sparrow and the numerous different Pirates of the Caribbean characters now part of the reside sport’s world. However whereas it is good to delve into the crossover content material to see nods to each Disney’s movies and its theme park sights, the story and Easter eggs aren’t the rationale it is best to take a look at A Pirate’s Life. What the brand new enlargement actually excels at is giving new pirates and lone scallawags a brand new, low-stakes solution to have interaction with Sea of Thieves with out the specter of getting riddled with enemy cannonballs and dropping hours of progress.

A Pirate’s Life launched as a free enlargement to Sea of Thieves this week, and whereas it makes just a few adjustments to the sport at massive, it largely consists of 5 new “Tall Tales” that particularly concern Pirates of the Caribbean mainstays Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, Captain Barbosa, and others. These tales take you on a journey to uncover what’s introduced Captain Jack to the Sea of Thieves, sending you to some new areas that have not been a part of the sport earlier than.

These aren’t the one Tall Tales within the game–there are fairly just a few others that take you on prolonged voyages throughout Sea of Thieves–but the story chapters in A Pirate’s Life (or a minimum of the primary three, as that is all I’ve accomplished up to now) are a little bit of a special velocity than the remainder of the sport. They signify a fairly strong on-ramp into Uncommon’s glorious swashbuckling journey sport should you’ve by no means performed it. They’re additionally enjoyable to tackle alone, filling a spot in Sea of Thieves content material that is been there all through the sport’s life.

For brand spanking new gamers, A Pirate’s Life is a pleasant solution to get began in Sea of Thieves. You may bounce into the brand new content material as quickly as you have accomplished the tutorial mission, Maiden Voyage. After a fast story introduction, you are capable of sail your ship straight right into a portal that takes you to the Sea of the Damned, a brand new location for A Pirate’s Life. When you’re via the portal, you are alone within the new space (except you introduced a crew, that’s), free to discover its story, resolve its puzzles, and uncover its secrets and techniques.

The Tall Tales of A Pirate’s Life really feel like extra conventional, linear online game ranges than a lot of the remainder of Sea of Thieves, and that is helpful should you’re studying the ropes. The content material has you determining easy methods to make your method via the Sea of the Damned’s areas, but it surely will not actually check you. Die in fight or fall too far as you are climbing a wrecked ship, and you may respawn shortly to offer it one other go.

That provides you an opportunity to get the texture for Sea of Thieves whereas additionally providing you with one thing fascinating to discover with out the danger of working afoul of different gamers. Pirates marauding the waves are the central draw of Sea of Thieves, but in addition its best annoyance–because even should you’re simply beginning out, you are at all times vulnerable to getting run down, cannoned, boarded, and slain by different cutthroats. It could actually make getting used to the sport harrowing. Because you’re alone within the story of A Pirate’s Life, nonetheless, you might have an opportunity to get used to the sport earlier than going up in opposition to different gamers.

That is additionally what makes the brand new content material an amazing addition for solo pirates. You may play Sea of Thieves alone usually, however it’s a fraught life on the excessive seas. Crusing a sloop by yourself is exhilarating, and Uncommon’s sandbox results in some nice issues if you’re alone. You have to continually scan the horizon for different, stronger ships that may resolve you are a plump goal, and should you spot somebody, Sea of Thieves shortly turns into a stealth sport to keep away from detection–or a horror sport in case your maintain is stuffed with treasure and it’s essential to run.

The truth that Sea of Thieves can assist so many alternative experiences is nice, however enjoying it alone can be typically irritating. Spot a galleon when you’re hauling treasure or attempting to advance your varied in-game rankings, and you may lose numerous progress. Getting chased round islands can suck up hours as effectively. With a crew of associates, this unpredictability is the draw of Sea of Thieves, however alone, it might get irritating to continually be deprived as a buccaneer. Have sufficient sloops sunk beneath you, and also you may resolve the pirate’s life is not for you, in spite of everything.

So these new Tall Tales assist fill a void in Sea of Thieves by making it a bit of extra viable to play by yourself. There’s a bit of little bit of high-seas journey concerned, however for essentially the most half, you are off in your individual little world as you uncover these tales. Although they embrace fight with varied enemies and creatures, together with bosses, they don’t seem to be so troublesome you can’t deal with them alone. Uncommon has additionally labored to make sources plentiful everytime you’re challenged, so it is exhausting to get wrecked in a solo combat. Even should you do, although, you may simply respawn straight again into the fray and take a look at your luck once more.

It is good to have content material in Sea of Thieves that does not require coordinating with a bunch of associates and clearing a block of time to play, and actually, Uncommon ought to take into consideration this form of design extra typically. Sea of Thieves is a good sport, with numerous compelling concepts and mechanics–but it is notably nice with different individuals, and quite a bit much less so if you’re alone. Stuff like A Pirate’s Life could make the sport a bit of extra enjoyable for a wide range of gamers, whether or not they’re simply beginning out within the sport or do not have entry to a crew however would nonetheless like to lift a sail and draw a sword.