The Xbox E3 2017 Briefing took place yesterday and it was packed with games. Only a handful received lengthy demos, though, such as Rare’s Sea Of Thieves. Microsoft showed a nine-minute-long gameplay for Sea Of Thieves that takes players through several different aspects of gameplay, giving gamers a good look at the game before its early 2018 release.

Even though Sea of Thieves was announced in 2015, there was not a lot shown for the multiplayer pirate adventure. Luckily for fans interested in Rare’s new title, this new gameplay demo is the most extensive look at Sea of Thieves to date.

via: Engadget

The demo starts with four players on a ship in search of treasure. The game has a light-hearted tone, from its art direction to the narrator constantly making jokes. The players find a ship at the bottom of the ocean, and a chest within it which they bring back to the boat. Their quest from then on is guided by a scroll with clues, taking the journey to a nearby island. Once the players find the treasure, skeletons start spawning to fight the player and get their treasure back. Back on the ship, the trailer highlights some naval combat before ending with one pirate getting eaten by a shark.

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The trailer showed a mix of puzzle, adventure, and combat mechanics. Finding the treasure is up to the players’ abilities to decipher riddles and to use their compasses to help them find the next objective. That seems to be the main focus of the game, but combat plays a major part as well. One pirate has to carry the treasure away from its hidden location while the others fend off the spawning enemies. The swashbuckling combat features swords and pistols, but there could be more shown before release. Naval combat has players use cannons to hit the other ships with cannonballs, or to launch the pirates onto enemy ships.

The Xbox One needed more focus on true console exclusives, and this was a step in the right direction. Sea of Thieves has potential to bring Rare’s unique charm to Xbox One, a console known for having more militaristic and gritty experiences. More gameplay footage might be necessary to convince some Xbox owners to purchase it, but this gameplay demo shows that Sea of Thieves has potential.