Last year, no other game I played at E3 made my face hurt from smiling so much more than Sea of Thieves

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I began at the docks with IGN’s Joe Skrebels, Brandin Tyrrel, and Brendan Graeber. In each of our inventories were three documents: two maps of separate islands, each with an X marking the spot of some treasure; and a rhyming riddle that promised to also lead us to a treasure. We opted to pick one of the unmarked islands. We boarded our ship, located the island using the map table below decks, and set sail. As ever, it takes a crew to make your ship go: someone to man the sails, someone to raise the anchor, a lookout to help guide us and watch out for enemy ships from the crow’s nest, maybe a musician to serenade us while we sail, and of course one on the wheel.

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Above: The Sea of Thieves gameplay trailer from the Xbox E3 Press Briefing.

“ A lot has been fleshed out since last year’s Sea of Thieves build.

We sailed our way towards our target destination, foolishly not realizing until we were quite close that we in fact had three sails and not two. So we could’ve gone a good bit faster. But nevertheless, we enjoyed the ride as we navigated a storm, adjusted the angle of our sails to account for the wind, kept one person near the map room to help keep us on course, and just barely avoided a rock formation in the water as we neared the island. We didn’t see anyone else along the way, save for a few skeletons milling about on Chicken Isle that Joe callously blasted with one of our cannons.

Speaking of which, a lot has been fleshed out since last year’s Sea of Thieves build. Cannons must now be loaded (or unloaded so that you can load yourself in there; more on this in a bit), with cannonballs, planks to repair your ship if it gets damaged in combat, bananas to restore your health if you’re hurt, and more supplies located below decks. Meanwhile, holding LB opens your inventory, which items like your grog tankard (hold RT to drink; the longer you hold it the closer to empty the mug gets and the drunker and stumblier you get), your shovel, and more. The Y button cycles between your sword and guns.

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Above: Head of Xbox Phil Spencer plays an early build of Sea of Thieves.

“ ...Further indication that mythical encounters with the likes of Krakens will be part of the final game.

Once we got close enough to our destination, we worked together to quickly drop our anchor and lower our sails. Then we each loaded ourselves into a cannon and fired ourselves towards the shore. And yes, that’s as goofy and fun as it sounds. Next we had to open the map. Again, Sea of Thieves refreshingly has no tutorials or HUD navigational aids. You’ve got a compass, a map, the sun, and each other. Use them! After wandering the island for a bit, blasting and slashing a few skeletons that got in our way, we realized that we’d somehow managed to land almost exactly where the treasure was buried. Sure enough, we took out our shovels, dug into the sand and unearthed a treasure chest as the sun set. Ominously, on a rock just above where we were digging was a cave painting of a huge crab attacking people -- further indication that mythical encounters with the likes of Krakens will be part of the final game.

I carried the chest back to the ship, escorted by my crew who were keeping their eyes peeled for sharks or rival pirates while I was encumbered with the loot. I placed it down in our hold and we checked the ship’s master map for the location of the nearest outpost we could visit to cash in our spoils for coins. Once again we set sail. This time, as we neared our destination, we were faced with a choice. Veering slightly starboard side would take us safely to the outpost. Adjusting slightly to the port side, however, would take us to a head-to-head encounter with the rival player-run ship we’d spotted from the crow’s nest. Taking them down might’ve been fun, but if we’d lost, our treasure would sink along with our ship.

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Above: Need more Sea of Thieves? Here's 43 minutes of it from Xbox's Mixer broadcast after the press conference.

“ Sea of Thieves is shaping up to be something special.

With the clock ticking on our demo session, we opted to complete our mission by continuing to the port. And so we brought ship just offshore, dropped anchor once again, and carried the chest to the trader near the dock. Each of us received 342 gold pieces we could spend on...what, exactly? Nothing in this demo, but we spoke with Rare studio head Craig Duncan and Sea of Thieves design lead Joe Neate after we finished and asked that very question. Rare’s plan is to allow for weapon upgrades as well as customization options for yourself and your ship, in addition to the possibility of buying different kinds of ships. For the moment, we concluded our demo by walking into the island’s tavern and raising a tankard in celebration of a successful treasure hunt.

And I realize that, on paper, the moment-to-moment gameplay of Sea of Thieves might not sound worthy of the borderline hyperbolic praise I’ve heaped on it for two years running now. But ask any IGN staffer who’s played it, anyone who’s participated in the ongoing Sea of Thieves technical alpha tests (though they’re under NDA for now, admittedly), or simply anyone who’s played Rare’s biggest project in over a decade and they’ll all tell you the same thing: Sea of Thieves is shaping up to be something special. Yes, the combat is simplistic. Yes, there’s still the matter of how the long tail on the game will work and if there will be an overarching main quest to guide you through the experience. Yes, it’s probably going to suffer a lot if you’re not playing it with friends. But if you can bring in a group of real-life pals or catch a good crew using Xbox Live’s new Clubs feature, you’re almost certainly going to have a smile on your face by the time you turn off your Xbox for the night.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and Xbox Guru-in-Chief. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan , catch him on Unlocked , and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.