10 Video Games You Gave Up On (That Are Actually Great)

7. Sea Of Thieves

Sea of Thieves Emissaries
Rare

Under Nintendo's contracts, Rare were one of the most respected developers in the industry. After signing with Microsoft, that reputation began to slip fast.

Around 2009, Microsoft put the team to work exclusively on Kinect titles. The legendary Rare working on games for a failing gimmicky peripheral just felt like a total waste and key staff members left the company fast.

As such, Sea of Thieves was Rare's real comeback. This high-sea exploring pirate adventure looked at the state of multiplayer online titles and saw to inject the genre with something unique.

After a delay the game finally released in 2018 and, as an always-online world, Sea of Thieves encountered the common but no less dreaded server issues. Furthermore, when players did finally get into the game many of them found themselves eventually asking "well, what is there to do?" and began to move onto something else.

A thoughtful roadmap kept the core audience engaged and convinced players to return in a year's time when the content and progression system was much deeper. Since then, Sea of Thieves has only gone from strength to strength. Now, if a player was to jump in, they'd find a game fit to burst with experiences from random encounters with ghost-ships to story-driven adventures, as well as pretty impressive crossovers with the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Contributor

Coming from a content creation background that now spans over two decades, Psy cut her teeth on personal video production and community radio. Originally joining the team as a writer and presenter, she added video editing duties to her responsibilities over time and became the longest-standing editor of the irreverent gaming show Tues Your Own Adventure. Psy has worked on many previews and reviews, long-form editorials (either her own, or supporting as an editor), as a frequent quizmaster and more. Praised for the two-pronged attack of her hard work ethic and light-hearted editing style, Psy is otherwise known as a font of retro video game knowledge which has caused her to rack up many gaming quiz wins. Outside of WhatCulture, Psy runs First Aid Spray Podcast - a long-running channel that focuses on Resident Evil in all of it's forms. You can follow her on BlueSky at http://psywhite.bsky.social and Instagram at http://instagram.com/therealpsywhite