A game built not by the original developers but have restored my faith in them after the terrible Mafia 3!

The game is capped at 60fps but I’ve managed to get mine running at 100fps which feels a lot better and it’s smooth.

My favourite game which is pure genius remade in a modern engine.

Graphics: The graphics have had a massive overhaul in every way. They are pretty to look at and overall have an amazing appeal. There are some areas where it’s lack lustre like when driving through large puddles (you see this in the first car chase in the country when you drive through a large puddle) there is no splash effect, just drive through but the smoke from cars to the shine off the neon lights are all there and offer that great eye appealing visual making it worth wild.
Sometimes the reflecting or car wheel turning does look blurry or out of focus like some sort of antiailising bug too I noticed.

Audio: The audio from the voice actors, which has been redone and personally, it’s not for me, I do prefer the original actors after revisiting the old game, do not get me wrong the actors done a good job but it just doesn’t feel the same. It’s hard to explain. The music also has been redone and some of the older songs are missing I think because I’ve sat and listened to each radio station multiple times and got some amazing music on the original, yes the remake has good songs from that era but it’s not the same as the original music which some songs are missing. Also, the gun shooting was taken directly from Mafia 3, you can hear it 100% when shooting. Otherwise the city sounds are all great and offer nice engine noises to tram dinging they horn in excitement to move and horns. All good stuff.

Controls: The controlling of Tommy and the cars are spot on. The controls are simple but effecting.. I do not like the weapon wheel mechanic and find it not appealing to me but the game has different control aspects for the game making the car control all feel different but the general idea for car controls, character controls are all simple and effective making it decent to get a hold off.

Gameplay and everything else: The game is a rebuilt version of the amazing Mafia 2002 version, which is my all time favourite game. Mafia 2 was almost as good but lacked some areas and then Mafia 3 was a complete garbage GTA style game with nothing from the original.

You play a cab driver from the 1930s end he’s telling a story, so as it’s told you act out the missions in a long winded affair, that I will not spoil for anyone, but during this story telling around a camp fire, you come across the mob who get you to do jobs for them, eventually becoming a trusted member. It’s pretty simple but you’d have to play the game and then the second one because Tommy’s story doesn’t end in the first one, it’s tied up in Mafia 2 as an Easter egg mission which is great :)

Thankfully, when creating a new game there is an option for classic, which I 100% chose because the working fuel gauge, which I’ve not tested yet but the speeding past police, to get a ticket works and all those little things that made the game stand out, they seem to be there and working making it appealing.

Yes, there is free ride in the game once you’ve completed the first mission. Does the game have the other mode which was free ride extreme? No but the free ride extreme is built into the basic freeride and it involves answering telephones but this is in-game challenges that are NOTHING like the original extreme mod! Also Easter eggs? Not found any apart from the wilhelm scream at the beginning of the game which I noticed and a teddy bear in the prison mission which you shoot plays noises etc, worth checking out.

They have because hanger 13 like too... add collectibles which are a complete waste of time and where not in the original game. You collect magazines throughout the game. I will not be doing this because they are a waste of game space and coding when more effort could of been put elsewhere.

Something I did notice was petrol.. In the original you drove in, got a cut scene of the guy filling up, now it's just a short drive in, cut to drive in and out.. that's it, the original charm is missing.

There used to be traffic lights and tons of brown phone booths around the map but it seems traffic lights have been removed and phone booths have been cut down to white small boxes and then barely any of them. Little strange but the phone booths still can be driven through, if you find one because there is hardly any compared to the original, so there is a slight positive.

If I managed to test and they are not, I will update this review straight away but until then, consider it all working on classic.

The cars do run slightly faster than the original which is strange but I understand it’s for the more fun aspect which is kinda okay.

The country does look and feel like Mafia 3, the shooting and cover system is a direct clone from Mafia 3, even the gun sounds and the upwards recoil angle is mafia 3! I can push past that.

There are some more flushed out areas because when you leave the city to go, into the country the little cabin is on the right straight away in the original, in this it’s a bit further away and has a completely different building and style.

The game has a build in stealth system now, it was not in the original from what I remember so again, something new!

There are some extra dialogue cutscenes let’s say which is good.

There are little but silly things like, at the start when getting chased on the map, you see little arrows to drive through to lose the people chasing you.. if you drive past and circle and look on the map, there are NO cars chasing you but still in the cutscene, circle back and go into the arrows with no cars chasing.. you will then get a cutscene with a car chasing you and it crashes! Like where did the other car come from?! Nowhere, it’s just a cutscene clip which is frustrating and this happens A LOT and can even replicate in the world with police chasing you. There are a few little silly things like this I noticed but nothing that will put you off, others are how the city doesn’t feel alive as the original and often you can watch the AI to do the dumbest things and feel like a placement and not like an actual AI, if you hit them slightly with the car, nice puff of red for blood? Strange!

Would I recommend the game? Yes for both old and new comers it’s something really interesting to play and experience a great story with updated visuals and mechanics. Hanger 13 done a decent job and restored players faith I think.

So my time may look small but I can assure you, I've been playing SoT since the start!
I was an alpha player in the first 100 people to get in on the game, met the Devs at Gamescom, been an Insider since the start so I think my review is more than enough!

Always getting updates, always adding free content. Worth the play!

(Lots of people asking how I have so many hours - It's because I am an insider so I've been playing the game on Steam before it was released)

Microsoft Store I've passed like 500hours so yes, let us begin with the review!

Graphics: The graphics are cartoonish with not super duper Crysis level, but they are stunning softcore graphics and in some settings like sunrises, the water graphics etc are superbly gorgeous to look at, it's also not a massively graphical demanding game, making almost anyone to play it!

Audio: The audio is top notch with humour, music, sounds, rumbles, flames, crackles, birds, distance animals, krakens, sword swipes, it's all really well done!

Controls: Super super easy to pickup and go, but learning the game because it's a slight mind game having to micromanage your ship with wind, turns, angles, anchor, sails and always being observant on people but controlling it all is super easy.

Gameplay and everything else after: So the game is a large open world pirate sailing (DayZ no trusting anyone) style game.

There is a lot to do, level up, unlock, progress through different factions for unlocks. There is always things to find and do or go and explore.
There are skeleton forts which you can just about solo and then fort of the damned which is designed for a full team, but probably the hardest thing the game can throw at you, but it's super fun to do. It's like waves of different skeletons on the forts, but all players see this active and can come to steal, always enjoy a good fort :)

The ONLY issue I have is the game is very grindy! You need to grind a lot of the same style or types to get levels... If you want that "Pirate Legend" status and not a fake pirate, you got to earn it but even then the cosmetics after for endgame are serious work!

Grinding can be okay on the small part if you are having fun, but this game puts a whole new spin on forcing you to grind for reputation.. Gold is easy and so is rep but you get so little at times it takes a while to get levels, which is sad.

ALL the game is cosmetic based! Nothing is pay to win, there is NO upgrade cannons, hull, mast.. It's all cosmetic so there is no pay to win in this game which sets this game in a perfect spot for a fair advantage for people to enjoy and love

They release free content A LOT in the basis of tall tales.. Which tell the story of "Sea of Thieves" It's work to do BUT super enjoyable and kinda like The Goonies style under water solving puzzles and secrets, which is amazing! - The newest update adds the feature to pause this tall tale and resume it another time via checkpoints, which is awesome.

Right now, there is no other game like this on the market. The developers also make twitch drops, mixer drops, weekly videos, updates, fixes etc are all on time and quick things..

There has been some issue's but the devs are fast to act. The game has a lot of humour and going for it it invites you to play, sometime's it's frustrating with players just being trolls to attack, but often or not you barely get them and form alliance's to team up.

You have a sloop which is 1 person or 2.. The second is a Brig which is max 3 people and then a Galleon which is max 4 people.. All can be done solo but work is involved to manage them.

The cosmetics on store here are awesome, you can unlock and buy with ingame gold.. All the real money again is ingame cosmetics.

You can form alliances with other ships on the sea, but sadly if you have a ship and your friend has a ship, you cannot join each others server.. Which is really crappy, but I understand because otherwise servers would be over-run by teams... Which does happen with server alliances... Time consuming to setup, but can work!

An alliance is when both teams put their flag up, you both join and let's say YOU cash in a chest, you get 100% of the gold, your alliance gets a share, like 50%... Same thing their end, THEY cash in, they get 100% and you get 50%... It's a good way for rep and gold with alliances... The more you have, the more you get

There is so much I can say on store here for SoT but you really have to hop in, look, YouTube videos and see for yourself.

The game involves getting missions, sailing, exploring, looting, pillaging, slaying, befriending, cashing in and repeating.

Would I recommend this game? 100% yes! I am a fan of Sea of thieves with Rare and what they've done here deserves recognition and now on Steam.