Ok so I've played this game for about the 2 years it's been out and if I'm gonna be honest; it's a mixed basket of The Good, The Bad, and The Friggin Stupid. The freedom to do essentially whatever you want is kinda neat, but at times can be taken too far to the extreme. Wanna level up your rep in any of the companies be it grinding out the levels via quests or if ya wanna steal ♥♥♥♥, you can. Wanna go on a murderous rampage and possibly get some plunder, you can. (Though I personally prefer not to but i'll get to that later.) Doing raids on active Skull Forts and Skeleton Fleets are a nice way to earn some coin and rep, but be mindful that everyone else is probably thinking the same thing. The Tall Tales offer a PvE experience that's pretty good and expands on the lore of the Sea of Thieves while also making you feel like you have a place in the world you're in. There's a lot to do and you can spend a whole day sailing but barely scratch the surface. That being said you aren't alone out there on the seas, even though most days it can feel like it. If you wanna keep your loot or your boat afloat you'll have to be vigilant. Any other ship out there is a potential threat or possible "friend" and if you have something of value (or even nothing) they'll kill you for it. This game can be played "solo", but I'd advise against that for your own sanity since you still share an ocean with other crews. A good crew of friends is an absolute must if you want to have a decent shot at surviving out there. Granted there's a learning curve from both combat and sailing, but after you've gotten your feet wet it isn't too hard to figure out from there. I had mentioned I normally don't go mindlessly slaughtering random ships for loot and here's why; resources are important! Whatever you dump into sinking another player or crew, you either better spend as little as you need to sink them as efficiently or get used to stopping for supplies constantly. Granted they have made gathering supplies much easier then when it was at launch, but even with a supply crate it takes time to gather and that's less time you're out getting loot or traveling to your destination. Not saying you can't do that and that it isn't fun (cause it can be), but also ask yourself; is it even worth dunking on someone if they're just outta the tutorial and all they have is a castaway's chest?. In regards to that Stupid bit before; there's a lot of players in this game who will do dumb things and don't learn from their mistakes that will keep coming back, even if you've sunk them 5 times. You'll encounter a variety of those players out there and even some chill people to ally up with. There is an Arena type game mode if that's your thing, but I'd advise from staying away from that till Rare figures out if they want it to be a scavenger hunt or a murder simulator. About the only thing I'd really wish they would fix is people running around with two guns cause lets be real; it's not fun getting blasted into oblivion by a guy you can't close the gap on or stay away at a range when him and his buddies are rocking the same loadout. Other than that a pretty solid swashbuckling good time when with good company!

One thing I did forget to mention since writing this is there are also PvE encounters like the Meg, Skeleton Ships, and Kraken to watch out for which is another reason to be mindful of your supplies.

TL;DR If you don't like PvPesc games this ain't for you :(