In the three years since Sea of Thieves' unveiling, I've been cautiously optimistic. On the one hand a light-hearted pirate adventure on the open seas sounds fantastic, but on the other hand shared-world competitive experiences that all but require you to play in groups and risk being steamrolled by other more practiced players are not my cup of tea.

British developer Rare has crafted an absolutely beautiful world, filled with amazing sunrises, spectacular rolling waves and mysterious islands all rendered with a charming cartoonish presentation. Backing that up is a style of play bereft of the endless menus and abstractions of many online games, where you actually need to work with a team to operate a ship by angling sails, dropping anchors, turning wheels and reading maps. If you get into combat with rival pirates, you'll not only need to fire the canons but also repair your own hull and bucket out water to avoid sinking and losing whatever treasure you're hauling.

Yet while the game is a joy to look at — and while I thoroughly enjoy relaxing on the open seas, operating the boats and uncovering the mysteries of the treasure-filled world — my fears about the usual online multiplayer issues getting in the way of my pirate roleplaying fantasies turned out to be well-founded.

At least at launch, Sea of Thieves is almost wholly concerned with providing the tools and incentives for groups of friends to link up virtually in order to seek fame and fortune. Much of the fun comes from chatting with your crew via headsets while you vote for which voyage you'll take, discuss strategy and possibly sing shanties. To this end the game provides a lot of fun toys — like musical instruments to play, or the ability to hold up maps so that your crew can read them — which tend to lose their lustre if you're not playing with good friends.