Don't get fooled by 18 hours. I have at least 500-600 on Xbox where I played the game since day one until I got anxiety from thieves. Might sound funny, but you know when you work hard for hours at a time to get loot and the game gives you no recognition for it unless you deliver it to the proper destination of course you will ♥♥♥♥ your pants when you see the player ship on horizon. I can maneuver my sloop pretty good and escape faster ships against the wind, but running away can easily turn into a multi-hour anxiety-inducing horror gameplay. Keep that in mind. However, the sea without thieves that was introduced last month, 5 years after game release, might just give me an opportunity to catch all the fish I was never been able to while I was constantly watching over my shoulder.

To be completely honest, Sea of Thieves is PROBABLY my favorite video game of all times. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

If you are a new player and if you are into story content there is at least a 100-200 hours of stuff for you. Enter calm seas or whatever they call it now and start Sea of thieves lore first. It's a nine-chapter cool little saga that will introduce you to this world's characters.

Then go through Pirates of the Caribbean story and finally the Monkey Island story-line. For Caribbean I recommend playing co-op, but for Monkey Island I recommend puzzling solo.

Once you are done with all of it I recommend dipping your toes into actual Sea of Thieves. Test if you can handle other players and go from there. If not, it was a 40€ well worth it. If you end up liking it kudos for you and see you on the high seas!