Arena ModeBased on the handful of matches I managed to play at a recent Sea of Thieves press event, Arena Mode is astonishingly good fun. It offers exactly 24-minutes of swashbuckling carnage per game as five crews of four battle it out, galleon-to-galleon, on a truncated version of the familiar Adventure Mode map, frantically outmanoeuvring each other to accrue the most coins.
Superficially at least, Arena Mode is designed as one big treasure hunt. At the start of a game (once you've been whisked away from the gorgeously designed social hub, where all players assemble pre-match for casual banter and innocently saucy hot tub fun), every team is handed a clutch of identical maps. Or sometimes just the one.
Almost immediately, the race is on, with crews hoisting anchor, lowering sails, and bravely setting forth in the same direction, all primed to dig up some chests and earn those precious points - or, as is more likely the case, to tumble headlong into pure PvP pandemonium.
If that was the extent of Arena Mode, I'm sure it would be a blast, job well done. However, its smartest trick is that coins are rewarded for pretty much any notably aggressive act, meaning there's a huge amount of scope for employing different strategies and play styles.
Sure, you'll get points for digging up treasure and turning it in at the nearest makeshift floating outpost, as delineated by the plumes of smoke on the horizon, but you'll also gain a few for taking a speedier approach, simply tapping a chest with your shovel then racing along to the next one. And there are points for stealing opponents' chests and cashing them in yourself, or for embarking on a rampage of sword-swinging slaughter, and there are significant amounts up for grabs if you successfully manage to sink an enemy ship (and a nice chunk of points to lose if they sink yours). You can even increase your tally by pummelling another vessel with cannonballs, making long-distance aggression a reasonable strategy of its own.
All these tweaks, changes, and adjustments to the familiar Sea of Thieves formula are profound. And Arena mode unfurls in 24-minute-snatches of astutely designed, sweaty palmed, frequently hilarious mayhem, in which crews switch and refine strategies on the fly, desperately attempting to wrestle some kind of order out of the chaos - firing cannonballs, stalking outposts, laying spontaneous traps, all with the added pressure of that ever-ticking clock. It's immensely entertaining (in that inordinately tense, skin-of-your-teeth kind of way), fiercely competitive, and has ample scope for intelligent, skilful play. Even I, oceanic pacifist that I ordinarily am, immediately wanted to hop back in for another crack at sweet, bloodthirsty victory.
Victory does, of course, enable you to climb the ranks of the new Sea Dogs trading company - meaning there's now a choice of five possible paths (including Adventure Mode's new Hunter's Call) toward Pirate Legend. For the most part though, Arena Mode is as consequence-free as it is frenzied. And with the shackles off, even the most PvP-averse pirate might be surprised at just how much of a bloodthirsty scoundrel they can be.
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