This Might Be a Gen Z Take, But Sea of Thieves is the Best…

With the help of two of my most roguish friends, I’ve recently fallen back into Sea of Thieves, and though this is my third tryst with the title, I keep asking myself why I ever stopped playing in the first place. It’s the greatest and worst game I’ve ever played, often within the same hour, depending on the wind, the servers, or the outcome of our last skirmish. That volatility is exactly the point, though, and it's partly why Sea of Thieves is the best game Rare has ever made.

That statement might’ve triggered some people's fight-or-flight response, but understand that while I’m a member of Gen Z and have no rose-tinted nostalgia glasses, I have a serious respect for gaming history, especially when it comes to Rare’s catalog. There isn’t a single bone in my body that fails to recognize the impact of GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, or Donkey Kong Country on their genres and generations alike. But there are no games like Sea of Thieves, not really. There is no experience (certainly no games-as-a-service experience) in gaming today that's as unique, so visually and auditorily distinct, and so pro-player choice.

Sea of Thieves Is Utterly Unique

I understand the weight of the comparison here:

GoldenEye 007 revolutionized the console FPS.
Banjo-Kazooie helped define the 3D collect-a-thon.
Donkey Kong Country helped Nintendo win the 1990s console war outright.

Those are monumental achievements, and their legacy is untouchable. Even still, Sea of Thieves surpasses them for me, because it offers something they never could: a living thing that has player choice as its heart and the perfect presentation of pirate life as its soul.

If the ability to do anything you want in Sea of Thieves speaks to you, there is simply no alternative. It feels so liberated, despite being held together by an intricate web of systems, and that looseness allows for the most genuinely human moments of betrayal, alliance, and wildly engaging consequences I’ve seen in the medium. You’re given a ship, a host of things to potentially do, and a sea full of other pirates equipped with the same tools; what happens next is entirely your call.

A Sampling of Pirate Life

This quality might seem immaterial on paper, so let me pitch an example: you and your sloop crewmate are raiding a Fort of the Damned when a larger brigantine appears on the horizon, sails fully into the wind as it races toward you. Do you rush the encounter and gamble on a clean escape with only the best loot, or abandon the PvE fight entirely to mount a naval defense? A Megalodon might surface mid-broadside to complicate things, and someone might've already boarded your ship to wait below deck, but you have to make the call, or you'll lose everything.

That may seem awfully eventful for a regular gameplay session, but moments like this happen almost every time the sails drop. If you can carve your own path, no other game comes close to the sheer number of things to do or experiences that feel this consequential. Emergent storytelling is a common enough buzzword, but with systems that overlap naturally and player goals that collide unexpectedly, Sea of Thieves has it on a scale few games can touch.

No Other Game Captures Piracy Like This

Few other games so perfectly captures the themes and tones of its setting, either. It looks like a watercolor painting come to life, and Sea of Thieves' ocean is a technical and artistic marvel: it's clear enough to see shipwrecks and coral beneath the surface, dynamic enough to create dangerous-looking storms with pitch-black waves. The world otherwise maintains that same painterly quality, saturated and inviting, with golden-hour lighting that lasts forever and repaints the turquoise shallows a deeper blue or sickly green, depending on the situation.

That invitation extends to Sea of Thieves' sound design, too, which is crisp, communicative, and deeply musical. The creaking hulls and snapping sails signal just as much as the distant cannon fire of an enemy ship or the seagulls circling over a recent wreck, and it’s all perfectly atmospheric, especially when layered with playable instruments and selectable shanties. Music stings punctuate cannon fire in moments of success or danger perfectly, reinforcing the drama without overwhelming it.

Sea of Thieves also includes an HRTF-enhanced headphone mode that no other PVP game, bar Call of Duty, has, and it’s customized by Rare’s audio team and enabled by default.

A Masterclass In Visual and Auditory Cohesion

Official screenshot of the game's naval combat - Sea Of Thieves

The cohesion of these elements makes moving through Sea of Thieves’ world feel second to none. The pirate fantasy should feel romantic first and dangerous second, and Rare baked that priority into every frame. I’ve never fancied myself a virtual photographer, but Sea of Thieves constantly invites you to stop and appreciate it all. Sea of Thieves naturally has the benefit of modernity compared to Rare’s previous titles, but I genuinely believe it earns top marks on the merit of the art design alone, as some of the developer’s best work ever.

The Sea of Thieves is Choppy and Imperfect

Despite this lengthy praise, Sea of Thieves is far from perfect. Bugs, server instability, and hit detection issues remain frustratingly common, and in 2026, the in-game economy for Sea of Thieves is undeniably inflated. As an eight-year-old game, the pace of innovation has slowed, with fewer players than at its peak and repeatable events that may feel stale to veterans. The downside of such freedom of choice also means you are just as likely to suffer through hours of being trolled as you are to progress on the path to pirate legend.

Sea of Thieves also shines brightest with a crew of two to four; solo play is absolutely possible, but I find it difficult to compare to partying up in terms of fun.

But Sea of Thieves’ problems and limitations have earned my leniency, because they don’t outweigh the sheer ambition of a massive shared world built on complex physics systems. It’s also the ideal live-service title, respecting players' wallets with zero pay-to-win mechanics, while continuously expanding the experience they've already paid for with relatively consistent free updates, and multiple tie-ins to other IPs like Monkey Island or Pirates of the Caribbean.

The Most “Rare” Rare Game

A ghostly pirate crew is ready for battle - Sea Of Thieves

Ultimately, in looking back over this appraisal of Sea of Thieves, I’ve realized "best Rare game" is a less-than-valuable claim. Someone who grew up speedrunning Donkey Kong Country or hunting Jiggies in Banjo-Kazooie won't suddenly regard Sea of Thieves highly just because I claim it's the best. A better claim, one that better respects the legacy of these titles, is that Sea of Thieves might be the most "Rare" Rare game.

Rare has historically prioritized uniqueness over trend-chasing, even when that meant taking risks and missing the mark. GoldenEye took a risk on consoles, Banjo took a risk on collect-a-thons, and Kinect Sports was just sort of risky. By trusting us to make our own fun and treat each other with honor or treachery as we see fit, Sea of Thieves took a risk on players themselves, and that's what makes it unmistakably, undeniably Rare. Gen Z take or not, this is why I feel it earns its place at the top of my *new* list.

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