Ahoy there!
I'm currently working on a guide to pirate games to post on Reddit in r/gaming. I hope to raise awareness of our beloved genre and prove all those YouTubers wrong, who claim that it's dead and no good pirate games are made anymore.
It is only a draft and I still need to write texts about the entries in the list. But I already wanted to post it here to get feedback on what could be changed, removed, and/or added. Though I'm asking to refrain from adding further Black Flag-bashing^^
Maybe you know even more titles for the list?
Here we go!
Ahoy there!
First of, major shoutout to horse gamers worldwide. We know of your plight, and you are definitely not alone! Consider yourself hugged!
Alright, that's it!
We, the ladies and gentlemen of the PiratesAhoy!-community are sick of our favourite genre getting trampled on, ignored, called dead and bad!
We are no longer willing to just sit there and watch its decline!
Today, we will show you that there are entire new horizons to explore behind the behemoth's shadow, Black Flag! Show you that the genre is plentiful and alive, that we have competent and dedicated developers willing to take you, your ship, and your crew to the vast world on the water, towards adventure and glory!
Thus we present to you...
The most piratey guide to pirate games that has ever pirated in the history of pirate games!
If you want to skip the following old man ramblings and get to the good stuff right away, then scroll down until you hit the big, bold text.
But first, lemme tell you a touching story... just to illustrate where players from the PiratesAhoy!-community come from.
Once upon a time,you died. The end. modems made funny noises, smartphones were pure science fiction, video shops were the number one spot for renting games, and Mario Party killed palms, there was a wee lad. This lad went with daddy to the friendly local video shop to find games for his N64 and discovered a very particular one:
Cutthroats: Terror on the High Seas, released in 1999, from Eidos Interactive.
It looked edgy with that jolly roger and the gold surrounding it, the lad's tiny eyes filled with wonder, and his daddy got it for him.
This tiny man couldn't even fathom what exactly would await him - the huge ass manual (yes, it was a book) made big promises about swashbuckling adventures, neat. Once he inserted the disk, ran the installer (no online-bullshit, imagine that), and was greeted by triumphant music and a simple menu. Not knowing what would happen next, he started a new game, and was immediately thrown into the Caribbean, which in this game included the Gulf of Mexico. Together with his first mate's notion that the crew would follow him straight into hell.
Little did he know that he has just entered the short and brutal life of a pirate, always threatened by dwindling supplies, loyalty, death around every corner by running into warships and pirate hunters, a pissed off governor, or simply sinking because the enemy got lucky hits in and got the powder storage. The lad never fully understood how the game worked, especially land and sea combat, which both played like an RTS.
It was ludicrously complex, brutally difficult, hilariously unfair, had stupidly high amounts of (badly) explained systems, and it constantly steered you towards playing a murderous psychopath.
And the lad loved every second of it.
He pushed through, found shortcuts to catapult himself from a puny sloop to a mighty galleon (hint: raid Tortuga, your starting town), looked for towns where the governor's mansion could be destroyed by sea, conquered, found out that leaving unhappy crew behind in towns led straight to mutiny and a game over, decimated fleets with his own...
It was glorious. The feeling when he finally defeated a city, didn't accidentally torture the governor to death to get his secret stash (Did I tell you how edgy the game was?), and dividing the plunder so that his crew stopped thinking about betrayal...
A true pirate simulator, whose complexity would never be matched ever again.
Today, it's abandonware.
He hungered for more. The advent of 3D-games brought Buccaneer, the Sea Dogs-series and their mods, Sid Meier's Pirates, MMOs like Pirates of the Caribbean and Pirates of the Burning Sea... it was an awesome time to be a fan of the genre.
Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room: Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.
What's wrong with it?
Absolutely nothing.
It's a fun game that plays great, is accessible, looks great, and comes with a cinematic story. It may be too shallow and arcadey for our community's tastes, as it's an AC first, a pirate game second, and it shows - like brigantines attacking ships of the line and winning. But hey, preferences, right? Personally, I love arcade-racers which are constantly being shit on for being too unchallenging, and consider Burnout Paradise the best of them all!
So where are our problems with Black Flag?
Well, it has led to a majority of people putting it on a throne, hailing it as the holy grail of pirate games, and dismissing everything that's neither looking nor playing exactly like Black Flag. Imagine a game dev's - and our - frustration when he finishes his pirate game in 6+ years, puts it on Steam, and either nobody cares, or receives negative reviews with stuff like "no boarding", "mobile game graphics", "too slow", "too complicated", "can't turn cannons", "too repetitive" (And Black Flag isn't?), "I'm only the ship" (Fun fact: you're also the ship in Black Flag when you steer it), "can't jump", and some more.
And then YouTubers come along, claiming that the genre is dead and nobody makes good pirate games anymore, with thousands upon thousands of people agreeing with them. The release of Pirate Yakuza only doubled down on that.
For all that's holy, ignore those voices. Not only are they far from the truth, they are also actively harming the genre by preventing people from looking outside the "Big Four"-bubble, as I'd like to call it. Those Big Four namely being Black Flag, Sea of Thieves, Sid Meier's Pirates!, and Skull & Bones. The genre already has it hard enough, so why keep kicking it down?
But don't worry, this thread isn't about bashing Black Flag, or telling you that you are wrong for liking it. It's also not about discussing the Why's of the genre's niche existence. I'm sure that everyone has their answers to that, and we likely wouldn't come to a conclusion even after days of talking.
The most piratey guide to pirate games that has ever pirated in the history of piracy!
For the sake of your convenience, and to not make this list explode, I'll limit this list to pirate games where you control a ship (in)directly that also has some gameplay-related usage instead of only being fluff. It will also only list games set in the era of wooden ships & iron men, otherwise, you would have to take tons of sci-fi games too.
Not included are games which aren't playable in any form as of the time of writing, are abandoned despite being unfinished, frankly bad (I have dug through some shit, trust me), nobody of us has played (yet), and have PlayWay as a publisher. They are notorious for clogging the stores with concepts, which are then developed depending on wishlists. Suffice it to say, their pirate games will never come to fruition.
The games will be categorized into subgenres, and if they have optional multiplayer, are in Early Access and/or have demos available as of the time of writing, I will mark those with (MP), (EA), and (D) respectively.
Reminders and notes to increase enjoyment with indie pirate games:
-You can already find a lot on the Steam store by using the "Pirate"-tag. If you aren't sure about their quality, feel free to post it here. Nobody asks you to blindly try and purchase random titles.
-If your sole goal is "Black Flag but better", then you'll only find disappointment, because such a game doesn't exist (yet). The best the guide can accomplish in that case is pointing you towards similar games.
-Many titles look like cheap, ugly mobile games at first glance and may or may not use Unity assets. By my honour, I can guarantee you that not a single title on this list sucks.
-Pirate games are repetitive by default, because there is only so much that can be done to make "ha ha ship go brrrrrrr" exciting for hours, outside of adding extra steps and difficulties to the process of "Shoot until sunk". You're still turning your guns towards your targets, and the ocean doesn't allow for creative level design without going into the realms of fantasy.
-Finding a game you like is less a question of "What's the best", but "What do you prefer the most" because indie devs put in what they would enjoy in the genre. And because fully-fledged ship- and land stuff (boarding, exploration, etc.) essentially means developing two different games.
-If absolutely nothing appeals to you, then that's okay: that only means that the pirate game you want doesn't exist yet!
Onto the categories!
Pirate Simulators (Black Flag; feature both land and sea content)
-New Horizons
THE pirate simulator. Based on Pirates of the Caribbean/Sea Dogs 2 from 2003, this mod is the most known one, has been in the works since 2004 and has gained tons of content and features to create a unique experience unmatched by anything else on the market - except Caribbean Legends, see next entry.
High focus on historical accuracy, 7 nations including the USA (from 1780 onward), over 300+ customizable ships split between different time periods, 20+ characters to play, some even with unique storylines (Freeplay characters not counted), and plenty of sidequests and towns to explore, discover, and conquer. And yes, you can play as your favourite PotC-characters. Except Salazar.
It is rough, clunky and buggy, ugly, very frustrating at times, has a failure of a tutorial, and savescumming is encouraged. But push through and you may have the very best pirate game of all time in your hands.
There are three versions available: "Beyond New Horizons" (free), "Maelstrom New Horizons" (Many improvements, must buy the engine for 12,-€), and "B14" (Almost identical to BNH, but needs a physical copy of the original game). Try out BNH first, and if you like it, get the Maelstrom-version.
Also has a TVTropes-page, that gets updated now and then and is currently pretty extensive.
-Caribbean Legend (D)
A mod based on a mod. An updated, remastered re-release of "Sea Dogs: To Each His Own", itself a mod for "Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships", this one adds more content, fixed bugs, and a massive 200+ hours-storyline. Plays very similar to New Horizons, but sacrifices player freedom to focus on the main story, though freeplay is also available. The demo, with freeplay only, is even free and lets you explore a titan of a game before having to fork money over! What you like more is ultimately a matter of preference - New Horizons has a greater emphasis on freeplay and isn't as punishing, while Caribbean Legend is the opposite.
-Tempest (MP)
If you need proof that mobile games don't always have to be oversimplified trash designed to empty your pockets, this is the game! Originally for mobile devices, this was ported to PC and ultimately became known as a sleeper hit among pirate gamers. This one puts a huge emphasis on ship customization similar to Skull & Bones where you install different guns and modules depending on the build you want to run, and replace them at will. But instead of crafting them, most will be rewarded for quests, which you unlock by increasing your reputation. Doesn't have that many ships like S&B, but hey, at least you gotta sail galleons and ships of the line here! Their models don't look good, though.
Combat is greatly enhanced by giving you tons of different ammunition-types and special weapons which may be standard mortars - or juicy stuff like magical stones that let you call down funny things like lightning or meteors onto your enemies. Those include sea monsters.
A story is sorta there, but the highlights are really the quests and the legends, themselves entire questlines with unique rewards, each being the game's take on nautical myths. The Seeker's final quest is my personal favourite!
There's so much to talk about this game, I could go on the entire day. I can only recommend reading my review of it.
-Buccaneers! (D)
A condensed and concise Sea Dogs-experience with zero fat and the best parts kept in. It offers everything in a neat package: Fleet building, boarding (now with double teaming!), town assaults, RPG-mechanics, ship customization similar to the aforementioned games, and a story. You can join four factions, each offering unique bonuses encouraging different playstyles, and also equip your character with several weapons which loadout can be changed freely. Want to go guns akimbo with two pistols, headshotting every poor sod coming your way? Sure, go nuts!
Most criticism of the game is its short length—but if it's so short, then that only speaks for the game's quality, right? The options also include sliders to change the speeds of ships and cannon reloads, so you can decide yourself if you want a slow sim-like feel or go full throttle for non-stop arcade action!
Feel free to give my review a read, as I could also spend the entire day talking about it!
-Captain Bones (EA)
An Action-Adventure combining an Open World with Survival - one of those close contenders to being a spiritual Black Flag-successor. With crafting being a huge part here, you collect materials to build weapons and ships, and make your name in the big wide world! You start with a raft, and then can upgrade to bigger ships with crew (which you'll need to feed), and then board enemy vessels on the ocean, all in real time with no pauses or within instanced levels! A story is there, though you'll probably spend most of your time exploring and crafting.
-Sailist (EA) (D)
Sandbox. This is more a concept in its current state with little content, no story, only trading and fighting, essentially one of those games where you have to set your own goals. In that case, building the biggest fleet that has ever fleeted. But there are a couple things it does very well: Crew management plays a large role as you have to set the crew manually to different stations and have to pay attention to their exhaustion (don't worry, no Skull & Bones-shenanigans), rendering combat a surprisingly challenging and tactical affair. Exploration is also done interestingly; every port has their own selection of equipment, ships, and trade goods, and to expand on their offers, you have to complete quests for them. The world is massive, and there are many towns - but unfortunately, the game doesn't keep track of that, so you either remember everything (good luck with that), or you do it just like me: download the map in the steam guides, open paint or whatever you use, and note your findings yourself. Luckily I already did that, so you can simply download mine.
So far this is also the closest you can get to a "Royal Fortune"-expy from Skull & Bones, which not only looks remarkably similar but also carries almost the same number of guns.
The newest update has added colony building, so you can create settlements and supply them with materials to gain trading goods free of charge!
Unfortunately, there is currently no option to speed up the game, and sailing is slow - I'm not kidding if I suggest Alt-Tabbing out during long travels.
The optimization is also quite bad; it doesn't lag, but it heats up your system pretty bad. Don't play this during summer: just don't.
Not convinced? Have this review of mine right here!
-Forgotten Seas (MP)
It looks at first glance like another survival-slop, this time in a pirate setting, but hear me out, okay? This has a very unique concept: as a pilot of a lost air battalion from WW2, you crash with your plane in the Bermuda Triangle, need to survive, and find out how to escape this place. Like every survival-game, you start with nothing, and have to secure the necessities first, before spreading out, finding members of your unit, and building your home base. Nothing new so far. But throw in a storyline, a load of sidequests which serve as tutorials at first, random events and locations with timers, shipbuilding, and character builds, and you have a game at your hands that, even in its current state, will entertain you easily for dozens upon dozens of hours - if those kind of games are to your liking in the first place, that is. The world has many unique islands that have their own resources and threats, different biomes require certain clothing and other items, and every ship serves a purpose. For instance, the caravel has high resistance against physical attacks, the cutter can withstand storms, the brig is resistant to fire, and so on. Things get spicy once you get to the endgame battle royale that has you battle entire fleets with all kinds of elemental damages thrown in, so multiple ships are required. And yes, you need to participate to get special materials for certain ships.
But of course, outside of fighting, you can keep building your bases, set up facilities for production and refining to sell special goods to traders. But wait, there are also treasure maps, and...
If you haven't figured it out from reading already, this game already has a lot in it. It is a bit grindy, sure, but you'll be constantly hounded by the feeling of "Just this building, just this upgrade, I also need fruits from this temporary island that despawns in ten minutes, maybe I can get some storm essence from the storm while I'm there..." It's this kind of stress that feels awesome and always drives you to keep going! It's also one of the rare games that reward you for building nice-looking bases, as you gain bonuses for staying in them.
The latest update has added crafting from storage chests as a highly requested QoL-feature!
-Neverseas (EA) (D) (MP)
Easily the closest you can get to a Black Flag-successor. To drive the point home, it outright has the very same songs used in that game - don't ask me if its copyright infringement.
Neverseas throws you in a mystical place on Earth where you can never die (and leave), but vast riches await - imagine a darker version of the Sea of Thieves. Open world? Check. Different nations to fight against? Check. A character you control directly and can move freely from land to ship? Check. Fast-paced melee combat with different attacks? Check. Never leaving the 3rd-person-perspective when sailing? Check. Upgrading ship and character? Aye. Quick and brutal arcade-style combat? You bet. As a nice bonus, you now have different ships to sail. But it also comes with crew management; meaning you have your officers who can man certain stations, have their own stats and levels, and need to be swapped out when they get exhausted after a while. It also comes with a story, sidequests, and multiplayer!
As of time of writing, there is no demo on the Steam-page, but if you come onto their Discord-server, you can request keys for playtesting.
-Corsairs Legacy (EA)
-Blood & Gold: Caribbean!
Naval Simulators (Sid Meier's Pirates! and Skull & Bones; No or barely any land, only sea)
-Terror of the Seven Seas
-Fluffy Sailors (D)
-Mystical Maritime Adventure
-Windward (MP)
-King of Seas (D)
-Pirates of the Polygon Sea
-The Pirate: Caribbean Hunt & The Pirate: Plague of the Dead
Pirate Adventures (Sea of Thieves; may or may not feature both land and sea content with low amounts of combat, and a high focus on exploration)
-Salt & Salt 2: Shores of Gold (EA)
-Sailwind (EA)
MMOs (Online-MP only)
-Pirates of the Burning Sea
-Naval Action
-World of Sea Battle
-Blazing Sails
-Legend of Pirates Online
-Battle Sails
Miscellaneous recommendations (Don't necessarily fit either category, but are still noteworthy)
-Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond
-Blackwake (MP)
-Rebel Galaxy
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
-Republic of Pirates (D)
-Return of the Obra Dinn
-Rogue Waters (D)
-Survival: Fountain of Youth (D)
-Flint: Treasure of Oblivion (D)
-Black Legend
Future releases worth keeping an eye on:
-Sink Again
-Dawn of Piracy
-Rise of Piracy
-Ahoy
-Windward Horizon
-Following Seas
-Seven Seas
You want better and more pirate games? Then please consider supporting your friendly indie dev! If they get successful enough to get noticed by big studios, then maybe we'll get another high-value production one day!
The good pirate games are out there, people! They just want to be found and enjoyed, and not treated like the unloved stepchild.
I'm currently working on a guide to pirate games to post on Reddit in r/gaming. I hope to raise awareness of our beloved genre and prove all those YouTubers wrong, who claim that it's dead and no good pirate games are made anymore.
It is only a draft and I still need to write texts about the entries in the list. But I already wanted to post it here to get feedback on what could be changed, removed, and/or added. Though I'm asking to refrain from adding further Black Flag-bashing^^
Maybe you know even more titles for the list?
Here we go!
Ahoy there!
First of, major shoutout to horse gamers worldwide. We know of your plight, and you are definitely not alone! Consider yourself hugged!
Alright, that's it!
We, the ladies and gentlemen of the PiratesAhoy!-community are sick of our favourite genre getting trampled on, ignored, called dead and bad!
We are no longer willing to just sit there and watch its decline!
Today, we will show you that there are entire new horizons to explore behind the behemoth's shadow, Black Flag! Show you that the genre is plentiful and alive, that we have competent and dedicated developers willing to take you, your ship, and your crew to the vast world on the water, towards adventure and glory!
Thus we present to you...
The most piratey guide to pirate games that has ever pirated in the history of pirate games!
If you want to skip the following old man ramblings and get to the good stuff right away, then scroll down until you hit the big, bold text.
But first, lemme tell you a touching story... just to illustrate where players from the PiratesAhoy!-community come from.
Once upon a time,
Cutthroats: Terror on the High Seas, released in 1999, from Eidos Interactive.
It looked edgy with that jolly roger and the gold surrounding it, the lad's tiny eyes filled with wonder, and his daddy got it for him.
This tiny man couldn't even fathom what exactly would await him - the huge ass manual (yes, it was a book) made big promises about swashbuckling adventures, neat. Once he inserted the disk, ran the installer (no online-bullshit, imagine that), and was greeted by triumphant music and a simple menu. Not knowing what would happen next, he started a new game, and was immediately thrown into the Caribbean, which in this game included the Gulf of Mexico. Together with his first mate's notion that the crew would follow him straight into hell.
Little did he know that he has just entered the short and brutal life of a pirate, always threatened by dwindling supplies, loyalty, death around every corner by running into warships and pirate hunters, a pissed off governor, or simply sinking because the enemy got lucky hits in and got the powder storage. The lad never fully understood how the game worked, especially land and sea combat, which both played like an RTS.
It was ludicrously complex, brutally difficult, hilariously unfair, had stupidly high amounts of (badly) explained systems, and it constantly steered you towards playing a murderous psychopath.
And the lad loved every second of it.
He pushed through, found shortcuts to catapult himself from a puny sloop to a mighty galleon (hint: raid Tortuga, your starting town), looked for towns where the governor's mansion could be destroyed by sea, conquered, found out that leaving unhappy crew behind in towns led straight to mutiny and a game over, decimated fleets with his own...
It was glorious. The feeling when he finally defeated a city, didn't accidentally torture the governor to death to get his secret stash (Did I tell you how edgy the game was?), and dividing the plunder so that his crew stopped thinking about betrayal...
A true pirate simulator, whose complexity would never be matched ever again.
Today, it's abandonware.
He hungered for more. The advent of 3D-games brought Buccaneer, the Sea Dogs-series and their mods, Sid Meier's Pirates, MMOs like Pirates of the Caribbean and Pirates of the Burning Sea... it was an awesome time to be a fan of the genre.
Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room: Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.
What's wrong with it?
Absolutely nothing.
It's a fun game that plays great, is accessible, looks great, and comes with a cinematic story. It may be too shallow and arcadey for our community's tastes, as it's an AC first, a pirate game second, and it shows - like brigantines attacking ships of the line and winning. But hey, preferences, right? Personally, I love arcade-racers which are constantly being shit on for being too unchallenging, and consider Burnout Paradise the best of them all!
So where are our problems with Black Flag?
Well, it has led to a majority of people putting it on a throne, hailing it as the holy grail of pirate games, and dismissing everything that's neither looking nor playing exactly like Black Flag. Imagine a game dev's - and our - frustration when he finishes his pirate game in 6+ years, puts it on Steam, and either nobody cares, or receives negative reviews with stuff like "no boarding", "mobile game graphics", "too slow", "too complicated", "can't turn cannons", "too repetitive" (And Black Flag isn't?), "I'm only the ship" (Fun fact: you're also the ship in Black Flag when you steer it), "can't jump", and some more.
And then YouTubers come along, claiming that the genre is dead and nobody makes good pirate games anymore, with thousands upon thousands of people agreeing with them. The release of Pirate Yakuza only doubled down on that.
For all that's holy, ignore those voices. Not only are they far from the truth, they are also actively harming the genre by preventing people from looking outside the "Big Four"-bubble, as I'd like to call it. Those Big Four namely being Black Flag, Sea of Thieves, Sid Meier's Pirates!, and Skull & Bones. The genre already has it hard enough, so why keep kicking it down?
But don't worry, this thread isn't about bashing Black Flag, or telling you that you are wrong for liking it. It's also not about discussing the Why's of the genre's niche existence. I'm sure that everyone has their answers to that, and we likely wouldn't come to a conclusion even after days of talking.
The most piratey guide to pirate games that has ever pirated in the history of piracy!
For the sake of your convenience, and to not make this list explode, I'll limit this list to pirate games where you control a ship (in)directly that also has some gameplay-related usage instead of only being fluff. It will also only list games set in the era of wooden ships & iron men, otherwise, you would have to take tons of sci-fi games too.
Not included are games which aren't playable in any form as of the time of writing, are abandoned despite being unfinished, frankly bad (I have dug through some shit, trust me), nobody of us has played (yet), and have PlayWay as a publisher. They are notorious for clogging the stores with concepts, which are then developed depending on wishlists. Suffice it to say, their pirate games will never come to fruition.
The games will be categorized into subgenres, and if they have optional multiplayer, are in Early Access and/or have demos available as of the time of writing, I will mark those with (MP), (EA), and (D) respectively.
Reminders and notes to increase enjoyment with indie pirate games:
-You can already find a lot on the Steam store by using the "Pirate"-tag. If you aren't sure about their quality, feel free to post it here. Nobody asks you to blindly try and purchase random titles.
-If your sole goal is "Black Flag but better", then you'll only find disappointment, because such a game doesn't exist (yet). The best the guide can accomplish in that case is pointing you towards similar games.
-Many titles look like cheap, ugly mobile games at first glance and may or may not use Unity assets. By my honour, I can guarantee you that not a single title on this list sucks.
-Pirate games are repetitive by default, because there is only so much that can be done to make "ha ha ship go brrrrrrr" exciting for hours, outside of adding extra steps and difficulties to the process of "Shoot until sunk". You're still turning your guns towards your targets, and the ocean doesn't allow for creative level design without going into the realms of fantasy.
-Finding a game you like is less a question of "What's the best", but "What do you prefer the most" because indie devs put in what they would enjoy in the genre. And because fully-fledged ship- and land stuff (boarding, exploration, etc.) essentially means developing two different games.
-If absolutely nothing appeals to you, then that's okay: that only means that the pirate game you want doesn't exist yet!
Onto the categories!
Pirate Simulators (Black Flag; feature both land and sea content)
-New Horizons
THE pirate simulator. Based on Pirates of the Caribbean/Sea Dogs 2 from 2003, this mod is the most known one, has been in the works since 2004 and has gained tons of content and features to create a unique experience unmatched by anything else on the market - except Caribbean Legends, see next entry.
High focus on historical accuracy, 7 nations including the USA (from 1780 onward), over 300+ customizable ships split between different time periods, 20+ characters to play, some even with unique storylines (Freeplay characters not counted), and plenty of sidequests and towns to explore, discover, and conquer. And yes, you can play as your favourite PotC-characters. Except Salazar.
It is rough, clunky and buggy, ugly, very frustrating at times, has a failure of a tutorial, and savescumming is encouraged. But push through and you may have the very best pirate game of all time in your hands.
There are three versions available: "Beyond New Horizons" (free), "Maelstrom New Horizons" (Many improvements, must buy the engine for 12,-€), and "B14" (Almost identical to BNH, but needs a physical copy of the original game). Try out BNH first, and if you like it, get the Maelstrom-version.
Also has a TVTropes-page, that gets updated now and then and is currently pretty extensive.
-Caribbean Legend (D)
A mod based on a mod. An updated, remastered re-release of "Sea Dogs: To Each His Own", itself a mod for "Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships", this one adds more content, fixed bugs, and a massive 200+ hours-storyline. Plays very similar to New Horizons, but sacrifices player freedom to focus on the main story, though freeplay is also available. The demo, with freeplay only, is even free and lets you explore a titan of a game before having to fork money over! What you like more is ultimately a matter of preference - New Horizons has a greater emphasis on freeplay and isn't as punishing, while Caribbean Legend is the opposite.
-Tempest (MP)
If you need proof that mobile games don't always have to be oversimplified trash designed to empty your pockets, this is the game! Originally for mobile devices, this was ported to PC and ultimately became known as a sleeper hit among pirate gamers. This one puts a huge emphasis on ship customization similar to Skull & Bones where you install different guns and modules depending on the build you want to run, and replace them at will. But instead of crafting them, most will be rewarded for quests, which you unlock by increasing your reputation. Doesn't have that many ships like S&B, but hey, at least you gotta sail galleons and ships of the line here! Their models don't look good, though.
Combat is greatly enhanced by giving you tons of different ammunition-types and special weapons which may be standard mortars - or juicy stuff like magical stones that let you call down funny things like lightning or meteors onto your enemies. Those include sea monsters.
A story is sorta there, but the highlights are really the quests and the legends, themselves entire questlines with unique rewards, each being the game's take on nautical myths. The Seeker's final quest is my personal favourite!
There's so much to talk about this game, I could go on the entire day. I can only recommend reading my review of it.
-Buccaneers! (D)
A condensed and concise Sea Dogs-experience with zero fat and the best parts kept in. It offers everything in a neat package: Fleet building, boarding (now with double teaming!), town assaults, RPG-mechanics, ship customization similar to the aforementioned games, and a story. You can join four factions, each offering unique bonuses encouraging different playstyles, and also equip your character with several weapons which loadout can be changed freely. Want to go guns akimbo with two pistols, headshotting every poor sod coming your way? Sure, go nuts!
Most criticism of the game is its short length—but if it's so short, then that only speaks for the game's quality, right? The options also include sliders to change the speeds of ships and cannon reloads, so you can decide yourself if you want a slow sim-like feel or go full throttle for non-stop arcade action!
Feel free to give my review a read, as I could also spend the entire day talking about it!
-Captain Bones (EA)
An Action-Adventure combining an Open World with Survival - one of those close contenders to being a spiritual Black Flag-successor. With crafting being a huge part here, you collect materials to build weapons and ships, and make your name in the big wide world! You start with a raft, and then can upgrade to bigger ships with crew (which you'll need to feed), and then board enemy vessels on the ocean, all in real time with no pauses or within instanced levels! A story is there, though you'll probably spend most of your time exploring and crafting.
-Sailist (EA) (D)
Sandbox. This is more a concept in its current state with little content, no story, only trading and fighting, essentially one of those games where you have to set your own goals. In that case, building the biggest fleet that has ever fleeted. But there are a couple things it does very well: Crew management plays a large role as you have to set the crew manually to different stations and have to pay attention to their exhaustion (don't worry, no Skull & Bones-shenanigans), rendering combat a surprisingly challenging and tactical affair. Exploration is also done interestingly; every port has their own selection of equipment, ships, and trade goods, and to expand on their offers, you have to complete quests for them. The world is massive, and there are many towns - but unfortunately, the game doesn't keep track of that, so you either remember everything (good luck with that), or you do it just like me: download the map in the steam guides, open paint or whatever you use, and note your findings yourself. Luckily I already did that, so you can simply download mine.
So far this is also the closest you can get to a "Royal Fortune"-expy from Skull & Bones, which not only looks remarkably similar but also carries almost the same number of guns.
The newest update has added colony building, so you can create settlements and supply them with materials to gain trading goods free of charge!
Unfortunately, there is currently no option to speed up the game, and sailing is slow - I'm not kidding if I suggest Alt-Tabbing out during long travels.
The optimization is also quite bad; it doesn't lag, but it heats up your system pretty bad. Don't play this during summer: just don't.
Not convinced? Have this review of mine right here!
-Forgotten Seas (MP)
It looks at first glance like another survival-slop, this time in a pirate setting, but hear me out, okay? This has a very unique concept: as a pilot of a lost air battalion from WW2, you crash with your plane in the Bermuda Triangle, need to survive, and find out how to escape this place. Like every survival-game, you start with nothing, and have to secure the necessities first, before spreading out, finding members of your unit, and building your home base. Nothing new so far. But throw in a storyline, a load of sidequests which serve as tutorials at first, random events and locations with timers, shipbuilding, and character builds, and you have a game at your hands that, even in its current state, will entertain you easily for dozens upon dozens of hours - if those kind of games are to your liking in the first place, that is. The world has many unique islands that have their own resources and threats, different biomes require certain clothing and other items, and every ship serves a purpose. For instance, the caravel has high resistance against physical attacks, the cutter can withstand storms, the brig is resistant to fire, and so on. Things get spicy once you get to the endgame battle royale that has you battle entire fleets with all kinds of elemental damages thrown in, so multiple ships are required. And yes, you need to participate to get special materials for certain ships.
But of course, outside of fighting, you can keep building your bases, set up facilities for production and refining to sell special goods to traders. But wait, there are also treasure maps, and...
If you haven't figured it out from reading already, this game already has a lot in it. It is a bit grindy, sure, but you'll be constantly hounded by the feeling of "Just this building, just this upgrade, I also need fruits from this temporary island that despawns in ten minutes, maybe I can get some storm essence from the storm while I'm there..." It's this kind of stress that feels awesome and always drives you to keep going! It's also one of the rare games that reward you for building nice-looking bases, as you gain bonuses for staying in them.
The latest update has added crafting from storage chests as a highly requested QoL-feature!
-Neverseas (EA) (D) (MP)
Easily the closest you can get to a Black Flag-successor. To drive the point home, it outright has the very same songs used in that game - don't ask me if its copyright infringement.
Neverseas throws you in a mystical place on Earth where you can never die (and leave), but vast riches await - imagine a darker version of the Sea of Thieves. Open world? Check. Different nations to fight against? Check. A character you control directly and can move freely from land to ship? Check. Fast-paced melee combat with different attacks? Check. Never leaving the 3rd-person-perspective when sailing? Check. Upgrading ship and character? Aye. Quick and brutal arcade-style combat? You bet. As a nice bonus, you now have different ships to sail. But it also comes with crew management; meaning you have your officers who can man certain stations, have their own stats and levels, and need to be swapped out when they get exhausted after a while. It also comes with a story, sidequests, and multiplayer!
As of time of writing, there is no demo on the Steam-page, but if you come onto their Discord-server, you can request keys for playtesting.
-Corsairs Legacy (EA)
-Blood & Gold: Caribbean!
Naval Simulators (Sid Meier's Pirates! and Skull & Bones; No or barely any land, only sea)
-Terror of the Seven Seas
-Fluffy Sailors (D)
-Mystical Maritime Adventure
-Windward (MP)
-King of Seas (D)
-Pirates of the Polygon Sea
-The Pirate: Caribbean Hunt & The Pirate: Plague of the Dead
Pirate Adventures (Sea of Thieves; may or may not feature both land and sea content with low amounts of combat, and a high focus on exploration)
-Salt & Salt 2: Shores of Gold (EA)
-Sailwind (EA)
MMOs (Online-MP only)
-Pirates of the Burning Sea
-Naval Action
-World of Sea Battle
-Blazing Sails
-Legend of Pirates Online
-Battle Sails
Miscellaneous recommendations (Don't necessarily fit either category, but are still noteworthy)
-Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond
-Blackwake (MP)
-Rebel Galaxy
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
-Republic of Pirates (D)
-Return of the Obra Dinn
-Rogue Waters (D)
-Survival: Fountain of Youth (D)
-Flint: Treasure of Oblivion (D)
-Black Legend
Future releases worth keeping an eye on:
-Sink Again
-Dawn of Piracy
-Rise of Piracy
-Ahoy
-Windward Horizon
-Following Seas
-Seven Seas
You want better and more pirate games? Then please consider supporting your friendly indie dev! If they get successful enough to get noticed by big studios, then maybe we'll get another high-value production one day!
The good pirate games are out there, people! They just want to be found and enjoyed, and not treated like the unloved stepchild.
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