No Mans Sky vs. Sea of Thieves

The tale of two games released as a shell of the finished game

Grumbles

It's becoming a worrying trend within the gaming world to release games at full price, which are early access games in disguise - if anything making people distrust the early access feature, even more, when it can be a great way for smaller developers to bring games to the market and using the community to refine the game before full release.

I felt No Mans Sky had more to it upon release than Sea of Thieves, but the former got a large sway more hate for it than Sea of Thieves. I'm curious as to why?

NMS was pretty basic when it was released, yet it still had more to do than the pirate cycle - sail/ loot/sail/loot / get drunk / try drunk sailing/sink - at least you could craft, visit other worlds, see varied character models etc. The main reason for the hate was the lack of multiplayer, a lot of people really got hung up on that - for me it was never a major purchase point so I wasn't ever too bothered.

If Sea of Thieves continues to add content in the same mindset of NMS, then this time next year, it will be the game that should have been initially released, but for now its a hollowed out shell of a game and as a gaming community, its currently getting off very lightly for what is an early access game.

No Mans Sky:

Pros:

• Infinite planets that are ridiculous in scope to explore. 
• A small amount of crafting elements.
• Hunt, trade, explore.
• Blasting off from a planet to space is an incredible feeling.

Cons:

• After a few hours, things begin to feel a little bit lonely.
• Getting stuck in a poor end to the galaxy can make the first few hours a slog.
• No multiplayer (wasn't a negative for me, but a lot of people were disappointed).
• Graphics weren't anything fantastic (have been improved slightly)

Sea of Thieves:

Pros:

• THE WATER - let's face it, it's beautiful.
• Ships handle beautifully.
• Drinking grog never gets old.
• Multiplayer, it's key

Cons:

• Little end game content.
• Lack of customization beyond outfits.
• No progression.
• Poor game played solo

Conclusion:

It's fairly clear from the outcry and controversy that one particular element saves Sea of Thieves from the level of abuse aimed at No Mans Sky, and that is multiplayer.

Sea of Thieves should be getting a lot more stick then it currently is, but maybe people are going easy because Microsoft aren't awash with exclusives at present?

In truth, I'm a little bit disappointed that I bought Sea of Thieves on launch, and wish I'd waited till a few months down the line.