10 Best Open-World Games Of 2018

10. Sea Of Thieves

Sea of Thieves, like Hello Games' No Man's Sky before it, suffered from severe content malnourishment on launch last year. Despite its charming visual aesthetic and the truly epic feeling of captaining an old-style vessel on the open seas, Rare was ultimately unable to give players a meaningful reason to stick around after satisfying their curiosity.

The parallels have always been plain to see, but now, more than ever, the two games share an eerily familiar history. Since release in 2016, No Man's Sky has evolved beyond what anyone thought possible with a deluge of free content updates that have literally reshaped its entire universe, as has Rare's swashbuckling adventure. New areas to explore, sea monsters to hunt and frequent limited-time events, to name but a few, have injected Sea of Thieves with reasons to spend time in its water-filled playground at no extra charge.

With a completely revamped quest system and player-vs-player focused Arena update due to dock within the first few months of this year, Rare's turnaround of a seemingly inescapable sinking ship has been remarkable. If you've not played beyond launch, do yourself a favour and regain those sea legs. You won't regret it.