Rare is still feeling out the “emergent world” of Sea of Thieves as the game nears its closed beta testing phase. In an interview with AusGamers, the studio expressed how it’s trying to strike a balance between allowing players to be proper pirates without robbing the game of a sense of community and fun.
“We wanted a game that wasn’t overly punishing like a DayZ or EVE Online [where] you’ve got these shared roles where there’s a lot of loss and it’s permanent,” said Design Director Gregg Mayles. “So we’ve [been trying] to find the balance; the world needs to feel like there’s peril and you can lose your ship and you can die, but it’s not the kind of loss where [you’re punished unfairly].”
If you were hoping that Sea of Thieves would allow you to turn on your fellow crewmates, then this isn’t the game for you. Rare disabled friendly fire once it saw how it negatively impacted early tests, and instead the studio worked on adding incentives for teams to work together.
Rare also posted its very first episode of its “Tales from the Tavern” podcast for the upcoming game. You can listen to it after the break!
