Sea of Thieves on PlayStation 5 review – you’ll laugh, you’ll sail, you’ll drink grog until you’re sick

Microsoft; PS5 (version tested), Xbox, PC; Rare
You're pirates on the ocean wave, fighting sea monsters and digging up buried treasure, but you're also larking about playing musical instruments

When Sea of Thieves originally set sail on Xbox in 2018, it promised a journey filled with shared adventure, but set off a little short on supplies. Though early sailors found a vast multiplayer ocean to explore, it was tough to get a reliable crew together and when you did, the quests were limited in scope and the islands offered little in the way of emergent entertainment. You came, you dug up what you were told to by one of the game's quest givers, and you returned to an outpost to cash in your treasure, perhaps occasionally battling another crew of players en route.

Over the past five years, however, developer Rare has added layer upon layer of extra content, from pets to fireworks to longer themed quests entitled Tall Tales, which are effectively games in their own right and include tie-ins with both The Secret of Monkey Island and Pirates of the Caribbean. Now various tasks and adventures can be discovered wherever you go, in shipwrecks, caves and other scenic features, so it's possible to sail around in your boat, spotting interesting stuff and getting lost in side quests, like a pirate-themed version of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.