Sea of Thieves: hands-on with the hilarious co-op pirate adventure

This buccaneering multiplayer game is truly collaborative, with everything from digging for gold to fighting off sharks undertaken as part of a group

We're often told by veteran designers that the best game stories are the ones told, and experienced, by the players themselves. The little moments of personal drama, victory or tragedy that happen to you and only you while exploring a world, can be more memorable than any big cinematic crescendo.

Sea of Thieves, the online co-operative pirate adventure from Rare, is a game based around those moments. It isn't just about sharing tasks, it's about co-authoring stories. At the beginning of the game you're thrust into a galleon with a small group of other players, and from here you must explore the ocean, using treasure maps to locate islands loaded with loot, before digging up the goods and clearing the heck out. At any moment, however, the game's seamless multiplayer system may throw another ship full of players into the same waters - they may fight you for your gold, trade with you or suggest an alliance, but it's all planned and decided by the players themselves.