Sea of Thieves The Board Game review: Setting sail for adventure

Steamforged Games isn't messing around when it comes to video game adaptations. We've already covered the Dark Souls board game's Sunless City standalone version and the Gears of War Card Game, but this time, we're taking to the seas.

What fascinates me about the Sea of Thieves property as a choice for a board game is that, in many ways, the video game is so open-ended I wondered how you could translate its free-flowing nature and lack of real 'end goal' to something that simply can't run forever.

The solution? Making the board game version just as malleable and approachable from multiple angles.

Set sail!

The Sea of Thieves Board Game is set on a hex-based board and sees players taking control of a pair of ships each, and that's the first major way it diverges from the original game - it sounds an odd choice, but means you have drastically more options available at any point in time, prompting difficult decisions for not only which action to take, but which ship to take that action with.

You'll complete tasks for the game's three guilds, earning reputation with each, and these are offered as Voyages. These card-based quests offer a series of objectives that come in a variety of levels. Meagre Voyages will help you earn some gold to upgrade one of your ships, but you'll work towards progressively more ambitious ones for your reputation to move along the track.

What I like about this is that you can go about your business racking up reputation from just about anywhere, meaning you can focus on whatever type of play you want to enjoy. That's pretty much in line with the video game, too, where players can be any type of pirate they choose to be.

You can abandon quests you're not prepared for, too, at the risk of incurring a penalty, but overall I really appreciate the flexibility on offer. You win the game once a player hits 25 reputation, but this can be made up of gold, fleet, crew, and Voyages completed, meaning you can never quite tell just who is in front until the late game.

I also appreciate that while Steamforged Games could've added intricately detailed ship models, it opted to go for cardboard standees. Not only do they serve their purpose just as well, but they likely help keep the Sea of Thieves board game's price down - you can find it for around £50, a far cry from some of the company’s more ambitious sets.

Special praise goes to the play guide, which is nicely laid out and never feels too bogged down in the explanation of mechanics, preferring a "show, don't tell" method of branching statements when it comes to combat.

To arms!

Whichever type of pirate you want to be, you'll almost certainly come to blows in the game's naval combat - whether that's against another player or another fearsome foe like the Kraken.

In fact, combat feels more tuned for those non-player entities to be the true test of your trigger finger than ship-to-ship fights. Each has its own mechanics, like the Kraken's numerous tentacles needing to be dispatched one by one.

Once you encounter a foe, you'll roll the dice for firing upon your opponent and then have the chance to steal its cargo, try and fight its crew, or loot from a bag of tokens for a random reward.

After combat, you'll need to use resources to repair your ship, preventing the water level from reaching too high. To give you an added edge in combat, you can hire legendary pirates like Vlad the Impairer or Sudds. These have their own unique abilities but don't come cheap - meaning it can be a gamble to put your crew’s lives in the hands of an "all or nothing" special crew member.

You'll also need to be mindful of where you lick your wounds. Some hex tiles include "treacherous" areas where you can end up dashed on the rocks if you're not careful.

It's worth noting that you'll be rolling to do pretty much everything, so while you can strategically plan every step of your route to pick up booty before heading home, you can come a cropper with a rough spot of luck. For me, I found that meant no one player ever felt miles ahead on the reputation track, but for others, they’ll want to see their strategic thinking trump some of the more luck-based outcomes.

Seasick

In some ways, the random nature of the Sea of Thieves board game is what keeps matches from playing out the same. The contracts are relatively limited, and upgrading your ship is relatively routine after your first time.

It's still a fun game, but outside of rolling the dice, it doesn't tend to break away massively from the same template each time. For my playgroup, that's fine - it was fun to set sail and plunder each other's treasure, but if you're looking for something that changes drastically match-to-match, you may be disappointed.

Final Verdict

While Sea of Thieves The Board Game is relatively basic in many ways, it still offers a more laidback tabletop experience whether you’ve played the long-running video game or not.

It’s relatively affordable and well worth a look for your next game night, but more experienced board game players may yearn for more adventurous seas.

4/5