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 good pirate games aren't 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 piracy!
If you want to skip the following sack of old sacks-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. Probably one of the best cases of foreshadowing ever in media.
Because 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 destroyed 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 nice, 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 simplistic, 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", "I'm only the ship", "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. This thread especially isn't about talking about what a pirate game even is; is it the setting? The player controlling a ship, and how many are available to you? Boarding and content on land? Nobody knows for certain; even our very community here is divided on that. So let's just proceed to the fine digital treasures awaiting you here.
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 is integral to the gameplay instead of being mere fluff. It will also only list games set in the Age of Sail, 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 in EA, frankly bad, 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/decrease disappointment 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 lemme tell you the bitter truth: It doesn't exist... yet. The best the guide can accomplish 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. You know what they say: looks can be deceiving.
-Pirate games are repetitive by default - yes, including Black Flag, and especially Pirates! -, 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 circling each other, turning your guns towards your target, and the ocean doesn't allow for creative level design without going into the realms of fantasy. Sea of Thieves would be the same without the multiplayer interactions.
-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 since fully-fledged ship- and land stuff (boarding, exploration, etc.) essentially means developing two different games, priorities have to be set.
-If absolutely nothing appeals to you, then that's okay: that only means that the pirate game you want doesn't exist yet! And if you already have found that with Black Flag, then continue having a blast with it!
Onto the categories!
Pirate Simulators (Black Flag and Sid Meier's Pirates!; feature both land and sea content)
-Blood & Gold: Caribbean!
For Germans, purchase over GOG.
Do you like Mount & Blade, have played the old pirate mod from 2007 and hoped that someone would make a game out of it? Then consider your prayers heard, because this is that game! This is a total conversion for Warband, still featuring the mass battles on land, now also at sea! So far this is the only pirate game in existence with no compromises regarding boarding, perfectly replicating the chaos and slaughter in tight spaces - for better or worse. If you're the type for that, you can even set up massive tavern brawls for shits and giggles!
Unfortunately, the naval part isn't good. The engine simply wasn't made for that, and it shows - only flat water, ships are stiff and buggy (some can only shoot diagonally), sink immediately like stones, and outside of naval battles, they are static props. Major kudos though for pulling it off in the first place!
Again the question: do you like Mount & Blade? If yes, go for it, right now!
-Buccaneers! (D)
Brought to you by Armada of Hearts of Oak- and New Horizon Remastered-fame, 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, 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 per playthrough (8-10 hours) - but if you crave more of it, 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! Also comes with a VR-mode, but don't ask which models are supported. The Index at least isn't.
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.
-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.
-Corsairs Legacy (D) (EA)
An attempt to modernize Sea Dogs, this thrusts you in the shoes of a smuggler in the 17th century Caribbean, who gets into piracy - of course. This however is solely focused on the narrative, with freeplay being an afterthought and added later, so that's neat. Apart from that, it also has everything you'd expect from Sea Dogs: a large island to explore without loading times, melee and ship combat, and you can also loot and capture enemy ships!
-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 fight 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, distribution of keys for playtesting has been suspended, but open alpha playtesting is about to start soon. No set date yet. Rumour has it though that you may still receive one if you ask nicely on their Discord. If someone asks: you didn't get that information from me, okay?
-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 above.
High focus on historical accuracy, 7 nations including the USA (from 1770 onwards), 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. What will you be? A humble merchant? A respected naval officer? A privateer in service to a nation? Or a dreaded pirate captain? You decide!
Aiming is either done automatically in 3rd-person-mode, or manually by going 1st person. You can actually run around your ship in battle and give orders to fire. If that's not awesome, I don't know what is.
And yes, you can play as your favourite PotC-characters. Except Salazar.
It is rough, clunky and buggy, slow (time can be accelerated in steps), ugly, very frustrating at times, the tutorial is ass, and savescumming is encouraged. But push through and you may have the very best pirate game of all time in your hands. Unfortunately, it keeps breaking down the more progress you make in the endgame.
Thanks to a cooperation with their modelers, the mod features high-quality ships from Pirates of the Burning Sea. Ever wanted to sail a Trinity/Terror Second Rate, but either played the wrong class or didn't want to bother with the grind? Now you can just capture one, no strings attached!
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.
A shame that this won't ever be on Steam, as it uses copyrighted content.
Also has a TVTropes-page, that gets updated now and then and should give you a great overview regarding the features.
-Sailist (EA) (D)
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 damn good. Don't play this during summer: just, don't.
Not convinced? Have this review of mine right here!
-Tempest (MP) / Under the Jolly Roger (PlayStation Store)
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 boring mortars - or juicy stuff like magical stones that let you call down funny things like lightning or meteors onto your enemies.
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!
Multiplayer can be toggled on or off, and then it functions like a rudimentary MMO.
The three DLCs add new ships, a new region, a port you can build and develop, and land-based missions that reward you with souped-up equipment, which gets lost after dying.
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.
Naval Simulators (Skull & Bones; No or barely any land, only sea)
-Fluffy Sailors (D)
Come on, if you don't find that cute af, you must be a heartless landlubber. D:
This is a roguelike in all its classic glory: try to complete runs, keep dying, purchase upgrades before every run, rinse and repeat until you defeat the final boss.
You play as a mouse in service to the queen whose cook got kidnapped by crocodiles, and it's your and your army of mice on a heroic mission to rescue him! Your army is so vast, in fact, that you use your crew as ammunition! After all, mice breed explosively, right?
In fact, all factions shoot themselves at their enemies!
Gameplay so far is pretty standard: sail around a level, defeat all enemies to gain access to the next one, and spend loot on upgrades and supplies. Your ship itself is also fairly standard, being some sort of galleon that can only fire broadsides, but your enemies field their own unique ships as well - the cats for instance only shoot forwards and backwards. And also true to a roguelike, you die very fast at the very beginning, which is why one ship will always surrender to you each level to expand your fleet. Should you sink, you simply pick another one and keep going until you either finish the run, or lose all ships.
And now all together:
D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!
-King of Seas
A loot shooter like Windward, but SP only, with a story, much more content, and more equipment variety, which makes it almost feel like Borderlands on water. The type of ship is also important, since they come with their own special skills. However, the game is also slower and focuses more on area control, so it comes down to what you prefer. Dying is also more punishing, choosing the Soulslike-approach of having to get back to where you sunk, or else you lose everything you had on you. Once you finish the story, you'll be rated on a scoreboard - difficulty adding a multiplayer to it. So if you chase highscores, there's an additional motivation for you!
-Mystical Maritime Adventure
Don't worry, this may sound like something drug-related, but it's just the English translation of its Chinese name - maybe, because the Purchase button calls it Ocean Odyssey. And yes, this is a perfectly normal pirate game. No jokes here.
This is a sandbox-game in an open world with traditional gameplay: start small, get money through fighting, trading, and looting, get bigger ships and eventually a fleet, until you are strong enough to conquer the world. Or just build up a merchant empire, if you're not the type for that.
Combat itself is very fast-paced, but always start with some sort of battle planning where you can place your ships on a grid, give them orders, and engage. The fight itself is in real-time, however.
It's only 9 bucks, and for that price, you still get a very competently made game - if you ignore the English translation that's on the level of Google Translate, that is. But I'm sure you'll be able to understand enough to get the gist of it.
-Pirates of the Polygon Sea
Not available in Germany.
Okay, this has a very interesting concept!
It's best described as an arena game where every player is trying to gain as many points as possible before the end of a match. How do you get them? By doing pirate stuff, of course! Raid merchants! Fight monsters and sharks! Sink competing players! Sell loot and treasure! Build up your port to achieve gain access to better ships! There's not much content to be honest, so it's best enjoyed as a party game - if it had ever received multiplayer! DX
-Terror of the Seven Seas
My personal GotY of 2024.
After 8 years of development, every single asset being original, this was absolutely worth the wait!
This is essentially Naval Action for single-player, meaning that you only, and only, have ship gameplay. And frankly, that's all it needs.
You take control over 30+ ships from a humble raft to the biggest vessels humanity has ever built, have 14 factions to fight for or against, 120+ ports to conquer, the whole frickin' world to sail in (Scandinavia and the West African Coast are especially neat), and complex controls with plenty of combat options. No story, just you, a tiny tub, and ambitions that may or may not have something to do with world domination. It utilizes several systems from other games to create an awesome experience, like some Best of pirate games; for instance, the damage- and skill-system from Pirates of the Burning Sea, the order of fire and level-system from Naval Action, equipment from Tempest and Buccaneers!, and fleet commands from New Horizons. Combat is further enhanced by giving you special weapons like mortars, fireships, and bombs, which will you give an edge over stronger foes. Ammunition is infinite, but no, you still won't take down a ship of the line in a sloop without some copious amounts of cheesing, or serious backup. There is an achievement for that, so you can certainly try.
But if fighting isn't your thing, then no problem, as you also get rewarded with EXP for trading. Just load up some European goods, sail over to China, sell and load Asian wares, rinse and repeat until the VOC becomes jealous of you.
The game also attempts to make your travels - which you can accelerate, luckily - more rewarding and less monotone by placing special event locations around the map, each featuring small quests that play out like "Choose your own adventure"-books (Dev isn't a native speaker, sadly), the results differing by your choices. And even if they repeat and you think to have memorized the sequences to get certain rewards, the game still can throw curveballs at you to keep you on your toes. Those events also level with the player, so you never have to be afraid to suddenly get annihilated by an unbeatable force that spawns out of nowhere. For additional income, you can hunt whales - or krakens, if you feel confident.
As a nice bonus, this game is one of three in existence that features the obscure "Duke of Kent" - the 180-gun-ship of the line that was never built and only exists on paper and as a model. It's also the only ship ingame that can't be captured, so keep on piling the dosh!
One must admit that it's quite buggy, sadly. There are no gamebreakers and everything can be resolved by quickloading, but they still get annoying after a while.
Ye know what? Just have my review here - that is so long, I had to continue it in the comments.
-The Pirate: Caribbean Hunt & The Pirate: Plague of the Dead
Another mobile port, this time bringing in MTX into the fray for certain real life ships, including the "Duke of Kent", making this the second game on the list to feature that leviathan. Though they're F2P, so there's that. That also means F2P-progression, albeit not as bad as its contemporaries. Which is honestly a shame, because they're very competently made! You have once again the Caribbean, can build up a base, send captured ships on missions with a chance to either rake in dosh or outright sink, and you have a story! It's honestly forgettable, but hey, it's there and still has a better plot than Skull & Boner.
Its sequel, Plague of the Dead, offers more of the same, but takes a decidedly supernatural angle which was completely missing in Caribbean Hunt. So if you like that or not, is once again up to you.
As mentioned before, it's F2P, so give them a sail sometime!
-Windward (MP)
A loot shooter with zero plot, tab target-combat and procedurally generated maps which you can also customize a bit, where the goal is to reach the center of the world. You can also start instanced raids tailored to your current level, and guaranteed loot that's better than your current equipment. Don't expect fancy weapons and unique effects depending on gear though, as it's only about the numbers.
The real deal regarding combat are the myriad of skills you can equip, and allow tons of different builds, compounded by the ships you decide to use! Needless to say, that you won't use a ship of the line if you only plan on using hit-and-run-tactics.
There's honestly nothing much to it except chasing higher numbers, but if you like that, then this game will entertain you for a looooong time. Especially once you go online, which more or less transforms the game into a MMO. There are still a few dozen people playing it online! You could have taken their raids dammit, Skull & Boner!
Pirate Adventures (Sea of Thieves; may or may not feature both land and sea content with low amounts of combat, if at all, and a high focus on exploration)
-Sailwind (EA)
An open world sailing simulator with survival elements that's entirely focused on handling your ship. You'll have to tack, reef your sails depending on the weather, constantly adjust them to the weather, and every single ship has their own sailing characteristics, which can also be outfitted with different sails. You can run cargo, fish, cook, decorate and customize your ship, and have to realistically determine your heading and position by using a compass and quadrant; yes, it's more on the hardcore side.
Oh, and depending on your destination, a trip can take hours. Real hours. Good thing that there is no combat, because believe me, sailing alone is already challenging enough!
-Salt (MP) & Salt 2: Shores of Gold (EA)
There was a time, where I called it the better Sea of Thieves, mostly due to rewarding exploration, offering more quests and an actual plot. Of course, this was when SoT just got released and was lambasted for having no content, so that point is totally moot nowadays. Which doesn't mean that Salt simply sucks now, because it absolutely doesn't!
Both games place you in an endless procedurally generated world with many islands and mysteries for you to unravel. On your journey, you will map out the world entirely by yourself, placing down icons to remember what you can find there, and fight pirates to level up and loot better gear. There's a story - yeah, also forgettable (See a trend yet?) -, but you can already spend a lot of time just exploring and decorating your ship, which you all have to find first. Beware however that there is no ship combat. All ships even come unarmed by default. You can find cannons which you can mount on your ship and need ammo, but they have more novelty value than actual practicality. There are no deep systems; it almost counts as a cozy game.
The sequel offers better graphics, more varied biomes and enemies, a refined combat system, and actual dungeons to fight through, but other than that, it's more of the same. Oh, and it has no multiplayer.
MMOs (Online-MP only; and no damn Sea of Conquest)
-Battle Sails
Guess what, it's Roblox!
Are you done laughing?
If yes, let's continue.
This is a simplified Naval Action with focus on big PvP-battles, and... yeah, that's it. Only on Roblox.
Nobody of us plays Roblox (I know that breaks the rules, but pirates don't care about that, so shaddap), and YouTube-videos only show ship combat, though it also features boss battles against Krakens. Curiously, this is the third and final game on this list to have the "Duke of Kent", and you can even paint it! Like in pink!
So this is essentially foreign territory for us, so if you play Roblox, you should check this out!
-Blazing Sails
If you saw this and immediately thought "Wait, my Sea of Thieves looks a bit weird", then you are correct!
This is a shameless SoT-ripoff. If Microsoft were like Nintendo, then the developers would have been sued to death long ago, with all traces of it purged. So thank god they aren't Nintendo!
Differences are minimal. The three ships have different loadouts favouring certain tactics, and its Arena-like mode has teams conquering islands like some sort of naval-focused Battlefield. Where the game truly shines are all the different weapons one can equip, offering much more variety over SoT - but if that alone would be enough for you to consider playing it, is a question only you can answer. After all, you won't likely find anything particularly noteworthy here.
This sounds very negative so far, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad game. If you like SoT, then you'll like Blazing Sails, no questions asked.
-Legend of Pirates Online
-Naval Action (F2P)
Let's ignore all the drama and controversy surrounding it for a bit...
The naval simulator for all hardcore-fans, this offers the best ship combat in known history by a wide margin. Giving you no crosshairs or similar aids, each battle will prove to be a true test of skill by having to gauge distances first before preparing a broadside - only to find out that you miscalculated, wasted everything, and now the enemy has ample time to retaliate. And successful broadsides will even inflict debuffs on the target, rewarding good aim even more. To give you options, you can set the order of fire, the "firing cone" (spread) and fire single shots mainly used for testing. But if you really want to be a professional, you aim below the waterline to sink the enemy quickly and efficiently. Though only true masters can accurately shoot masts, until the enemy finally lies dead in the water. Speaking of masts: the game lets you control all sails manually, giving you even more mobility, and letting you sail backwards. This will be essential, as depending on angles, shots can bounce off. Yes, you can do it the old-fashioned way of simply sailing next to each other and exchanging broadsides until one of you sinks - usually the one with more guns winning -, or you can fully utilize your moveset and utterly destroy your target with barely any scratches. Don't get me even started on crew management, which you'll have to permanently contend with during fights, because they need to be directed towards the different stations and tasks on board.
No need to worry, there is an extensive combat tutorial. It may seem overwhelming at first, but once you get the controls down, it pretty much plays like any other pirate game. Meaning you still sail around the Caribbean, trade and fight to gain money and level up, and build up your ships.
Beware however that "hardcore" doesn't only extend to the combat. The world is positively huge. So huge, you need real-life hours to get from one end to the other, with nothing happening in between. Ship building might as well be a different game in itself (alts recommended), and boarding is more or less an enigma, and a very weird and complicated one that's never explained in-game. I never understood it myself and simply bought all ships from the auction house.
There is a PvE- and PvP-server (beware of gankers!) available, both getting regularly wiped. Players who bought the game before it went F2P have exclusive access to a permanent PvE-server, which is honestly a very chill experience. Don't ask how to access that nowadays, I have no idea.
Their DLC prices are really fucking disgusting, though.
-Pirates of the Burning Sea (F2P)
Probably the most well-known pirate MMO right next to Pirates of the Caribbean Online/Legend of Pirates Online. Began with a subscription model, but was converted into F2P, this one offers lots and lots of ships, quests, skills, and locations, so you can easily put hundreds of hours into it. It plays like a classic MMO: tab targeting, skill bars with cooldowns, and ship combat isn't much different, as that utilizes a slightly changed land combat system, with crew and morale being used to activate skills. Noteworthy is that this is the only game so far that lets you choose which batteries you want to fire, instead of only firing complete broadsides. Due to the economy being entirely player-driven, you buy new ships directly from the auction house, or place orders. Or you join a clan, that may supply you with cheaper ships. If you want to engage in the economy as well, you should probably be ready to create alts. Also beware of pvp-areas: Tortuga, the pirate's homebase, is regularly caught in one, so it helps to have at least one ship there so you can just teleport to it whenever you need something. Also mind you that there are some limits in place due to it being F2P, for instance that you can only have two ships at all times. Expansions can be bought with real cash, or by purchasing "Burning Sea Notes" with lots of ingame money, though the last time I played, purchase of BSNs was suspended.
The original server is still available, albeit with a ridiculously inflated economy, but has also introduced a legacy server for players to start anew.
-Puzzle Pirates
-Uncharted Waters Online
-World of Sea Battle (F2P)
Hoo boy, I don't know where to even begin with this one! So this will be short and sweet - as short and sweet a game like this can be described.
No Steam-Release yet, so you have to download it through their site.
It's a Sandbox-MMO with no plot, that throws you on Fantasy-Earth with non-fantasy ships. You have once again a large world which you can sail around freely to explore ports and points of interest. And, yeah, whatever you do after completing the tutorial quests, is up to you.
I think it would be best described as a mix of Skull & Bones and Pirates of the Burning Sea, that brings exciting features into play. It's completely naval-focused with no melee combat, though boarding plays out almost like a tactical RTS, with you commanding your crew, itself containing different unit types, picking targets and ordering units to defend themselves. Whoever has less crew after a short amount of time wins the boarding.
The ship's customization is incredible. Not only do you have a myriad of modules and weapons available, which you can upgrade separately, but you can also set. Every. Single. Cannon. No, you don't equip entire sets like in S&B. Single cannons. That also means that this is literally the only game in existence that lets you accurately recreate armaments that were actually used throughout history. Of course, nothing prevents you from running a ship of the line entirely with 32-pounders, but you can certainly do it.
Similar to PotBS, you can build facilities in ports that let you craft refined materials, and you can find certain spots on the map to construct buildings that automatically gather resources for you. You can even upgrade them, but you'll have to manually supply them yourself. Automatic collection is available, but severely limited, and will cost you very valuable cash, that's hard to come by unless you know some efficient methods.
Ships are acquired either through building them (Beware: they require special materials only gained through PvP or the auction house), or buying them at the auction house. So if you don't want to bother with the grind for materials - like me -, you can earn money to simply purchase them. There are also no level-requirements. Just fork over the money and it's yours to keep, and in a pleasant subversion, you can never lose your ships! Instead they lose durability, and if that reaches zero, you need to repair it first. By gathering materials...
Gameplay is, as usual, standard. Fight, trade, explore, get the biggest ships, you name it. You'll often band together fighting bosses and forts (Rewards depend on damage dealt and your overall contribution), take on random quests, and take over ports. Garnish the whole thing with excellent graphical details like animated gunports and the crew walking around changing depending on its composition.
And all of that is just scratching the game's surface.
If S&B may be too simplistic and you seek something to dig your teeth in, then this may be the Pirate-MMO just for you!
Beware however that it contains P2W-elements, and will attempt to force you into PvP!
Miscellaneous recommendations (Don't necessarily fit any category, but are still noteworthy)
-Abandon Ship
A roguelite combining the gameplay of FTL and the narrative of Sunless Sea, and infused with a moderate dose of cosmic horror, this might be the only Lovecraftian Age of Sail-game in existence. The story features an evil cultist suddenly snapping out of his madness during a great ceremony (the statue he holds even looks like Cthulhu), frees two prisoners, makes his way to an anchored ship, and escapes with other cultists in hot pursuit. From there on you explore a vast world with many unique biomes, locations, and questlines, equip lots of different weapons and upgrades, and thwart the cult's plans, while also discovering his own past.
If you are familiar with FTL, then you'll learn combat quickly. You control a handful of crewmembers who have to man stations on the ship, and repair damages to modules and sections. You can hire different classes like gunners and surgeons, each with their own sets of skills, and even name them. Sink the enemy ship or kill its crew to win, though the latter yields higher rewards.
On your travels, you'll find encounters that may or may not be beneficial - difficulty affects enemy health and damage and your "luck" during events -, and until you have arrived at a certain point in the story, you'll constantly be hounded by an invincible Kraken, so keep going! Luckily, sinking yourself isn't an immediate game over, as your captain can survive on floating debris (crew dies, though) and hope to be found by a passing ship, or if you have a lifeboat, your crew will also make it through.
Other campaigns include freeplay, which takes place after the story, a combat campaign with limited stops at ports and a new storyline, and finally a cultist campaign as the dude who failed to stop the escape and must now hunt the protagonist down. And this one lets you control a Kraken directly.
Beware though that there's a lot to read! But don't worry, it's not as wordy as Sunless Sea.
-Black Legend
A tactical RPG set in the fantasy version of the Netherlands, with names to match. Enter Klaas, the sharpshooter!
A mysterious, dangerous fog has beset a Not!Dutch city, and you and your group of mercenaries have been tasked to cleanse it and destroy an evil cult that has taken control. You'll fight cultists, former mercenaries turned mad by the fog, monsters, and mutants, and you have 15 playable classes at your disposal, depending on the equipment. Every class has unique skills and armour, creating many combinations and possibilities for synergies. Combat itself is pretty basic - action points, movement, cover, attack bonuses by flanking or backstabs -, but is enhanced by its unique "Alchemy"-system. Each attack inflicts certain coloured charges on an enemy, and depending on the charge-combos he receives, it deals additional damage. It's difficult to explain in text without seeing it, so you better check out some gameplay-footage.
Difficulty can be customized to your liking, so you can have it as easy or hard as you wish. If you are a fan of TRPGs, give this a try!
-Blackwake (MP) (F2P)
The spiritual successor to Pirate Ship Wars on Garry's Mod. Like in the original, you have two teams duking it out on the open sea utilizing Battlefield's ticket system, and whoever loses all tickets first, loses. Gameplay was greatly enhanced, however: reloading cannons is now a lengthy process, a player with a spyglass needs to gauge distances for gunners, ships can and need to be repaired and water pumped out, and you have different types of ammo and weapons at your disposal. There are also different ships, each featuring unique loadouts and encouraging certain tactics. The junk for instance has bowguns, making it excellent at instigating boardings. The ship itself can only be steered by the captain who is elected by player vote (Which can be problematic) once the match starts, or after a mutiny. At that point you have to ask yourself if you are fine with one person mainly dictating a ship's - and your - performance and K/D-ratio, if you care for that. Fortunately, just keeping the ship afloat also rewards points, and depending on how often it gets damaged, purely playing support can easily net you MVP-status at the end of a match.
New game modes have been added, namely CTF and some sort of conquest-mode where one team defends a fort against the other. They aren't as popular as simple deathmatches, though.
After suffering a low playerbase for years, it was officially made F2P, and has a dedicated community, hosting servers. Check out the Steam forum for info on that.
Don't expect realistic sailing, though: ships move like cars, unaffected by wind.
-Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond
If someone tells me that former DreamWorks-employees were involved, then I'd buy that immediately. Because it looks and plays like a DreamWorks-movie with beautiful graphics and animations, terrific voice actors (The titular captain Sabertooth being my favourite), and cutscenes that might as well be from a trailer for an unreleased movie. If someone would also tell me that lots of the budget went into those cutscenes, then I would immediately believe that too, because some aspects of the game seem to have suffered as a result, but one thing at a time.
This sells itself as a Metroidvania for children. Gameplay is insofar simple with a low difficulty - except for the underwater-sections which are surprisingly hard due to enemy spam you can't fight against -, a nonsensical plot with zero logic and dumb characters (Stop treating children like they are too stupid to follow deeper stories, dammit!), with a handful minigames thrown in like wave defence with a cannon and pinball; Pinball being so easy, you have to deliberately lose to end it, because its literally impossible to fail. I'm not kidding. And whoever thought it to be a good idea to limit
exploration by having to purchase treasure maps first needs to walk the plank. No, really: you'll come across spots where you would be rewarded with upgrades, but you can't get those until you buy the corresponding treasure map. Just... why? Some sort of misguided attempt to not overwhelm children? Why would you do this?
Apart from that, it's pretty much standard: explore the levels, get new gear that allows you to explore further, get upgrades for health, weapons, and ammunition, until you defeat the final boss.
Don't get me wrong, lots of love and effort has went into the game, and if you want to introduce your children to Metroidvanias, then this is perfect. If you seek a challenge and more content, however, then this isn't it. But then you probably aren't the target demographic. It's only ten bucks though, so you still should try this out!
-Flint: Treasure of Oblivion (D)
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
-Republic of Pirates (D)
An Anno 1800-clone, and it's not even hiding it. You build up your islands, set up production chains, manage workforces, earn money, and make sure to keep the needs of your pirates fulfilled. If you have played Anno 1800, then you already know how it works. Even the statistics are the same - only the blueprints are missing. It even has a story-mode where you unlock buildings the further you go. So what's actually different, then?
Well, it gets rid of influence entirely (thank god), and puts a much, much higher emphasis on combat and fleet building. It helps that goods are shared between all islands. If you like that or not, is entirely up to you.
Before you can settle on new islands, you need to defeat its occupants first, and fleet size is limited by "Captain's Inn"s that can only be built on special spots on islands. Some ships require materials only gained through sinking enemies, and other ships are exclusive quest rewards. Also, every ship has a special ability and captains, who you must hire via those inns, have different specializations and bonuses, and can level up. Of course, they can die as well.
There are also different factions that can either support, attack, or sabotage you, depending on your reputation with them, but they don't build settlements. They simply have their many ships sailing around the map, which you can attack freely. Interaction mostly happens through trades and quests, which all come in randomly. If you think now that you'll have to carefully balance your reputations with each group, because they are naturally opposed to each other and thus someone would always hate you - there are special occasions you can activate yourself that will reward flat reputation increases. Oh, and there are neutral pirates roaming around you can sink to your heart's content.
It's the Anno 1800 for people who find it too complex and wish for more combat.
And I love it for that.
Also, the newest update has added a custom map editor for freeplay!
-Return of the Obra Dinn (D)
From the developer of Papers, Please, comes a narrative-driven adventure that puts you in the shoes of an insurance investigator of the EITC, who enters a deserted ship and has to find out what happened to its crew. It's a detective game at its core and requires lots, and lots, of deduction, logic, a watchful eye, and if all else fails, guesswork. You are given a magical watch that lets you experience every single death onboard, and you are tasked to determine the fate of every single soul on board, of which there are 60. Find out their names, their causes of death (if they died), who or what killed them, and go home after a job well done. And let me tell you, this is bloody difficult, even if the game throws you a bone in that sometimes it will accept multiple solutions regarding causes of death - and you can brute force solutions via trial & error if you are desperate. The story especially is something I'd like to see as a movie.
It's not a long game. In fact, if you just rush it and don't care for the best ending, you'd be done in a few hours.
If you are a fan of those type of games, then definitely go for it! If not... yeah, pass.
Beware of spoilers!
-Rogue Waters (D)
A classic roguelike from the ladies and gentlemen of Hard West 2, so you can already expect high quality and excellent voice acting. You are Captain Cutter, who served under the notorious Captain Blackbone, but got betrayed by him after the last treasure hunting went horribly wrong, and Cutter smashed a magic rock into his eye (It makes sense in context). And now you are determined to get revenge, and nothing is stopping you - no matter how many times you die.
So, now there you are, with your crew, your ship, and the base, and lots of upgrades. Each run starts there, and after choosing a difficulty, you can either select a raid that's only for the purpose of gaining resources, or a story-raid that moves the plot forward if you complete it. Like in every other roguelike, the beginning is very hard, and your first successful run will be a major accomplishment. But don't worry, because you can't lose the resources you have collected - winning only nets you a bonus.
You move your ship along on linear paths, pick battles, ports to purchase or repair equipment, or special event encounters, and at the end, will assault a fortress after which you can finally go home as the victor and enjoy your spoils.
Combat encounters are entirely turn-based, and happen in two phases: first, you have to damage the enemy ship as much as you can within three turns while minimizing damage yourself. Just pick a cannon, choose your target (module, cannon, or crew), and then spend command points (hint: upgrade those first, asap) to fire it. You can always see beforehand which targets the enemy has chosen, so you can plan around. As a nice bonus, if you manage to kill the entire crew in the first phase, then you have automatically won the encounter.
Phase two, the boarding, is the core of this game. Just like in Hard West, you control a group of characters with different stats, weapons, and skills, and have to defeat the enemy crew. A major part of it is knockback, which can either push enemies onto positions where you can hit multiple ones with AoE-damage, or just smack them against walls and obstacles for additional damage. But that's not all, since Cutter can summon sea monsters for especially devastating attacks using a special monster resource. Those can also be upgraded, of course.
And you can always rewind to previous turns if you aren't happy with their outcomes, except during ship battles.
If Hard West 2 was too linear or too punishing, or simply like pirates more, then Rogue Waters should be more to your liking. Or if you are simply a fan of the genre.
-Survival: Fountain of Youth (D)
-The Caribbean Sail
Future releases worth keeping an eye on:
-Ahoy
-Corsairs - Battle of the Caribbean
-Dawn of Piracy
As the director himself says: "Dawn of Piracy is in the spirit and a reimagination of the Sea Dogs pirate game series, running on Unreal Engine 5. Set in the Caribbean of the 17th century, the world is your oyster to be conquered in this epic single player experience. The game is aimed to release at the end of 2025."
If you want to follow its development closely, consider joining the PiratesAhoy!-Discord!
-Following Seas
-Rise of Piracy
-Seven Seas: Adventures (D) (MP)
From the developer himself:
"Seven Seas: Adventures is an open world, sandbox, Age of Sail RPG set during the golden age of piracy with an emphasis on exploration and player freedom. Create your own character aligned with one of the games six playable cultures, with a free-form play style system, you can be everything from a pirate, merchant, privateer, or any combination of these - the choice is yours!
Own facilities and produce the very goods that keep the worlds economy alive - manipulate the markets through clever trading or bringing your goods to ports with scarcity to make hefty profits! But if legal trading is not enough for you, smuggle goods into ports where they're considered contraband and earn a fortune... but be careful, the Port Authority is always watching! Acquire special items like false bottom chests and more to sneak your illicit goods into ports.
Interact with over 100 characters in 9 historically accurate factions in the Caribbean, where every action influences their opinion of you - sink their ships, aid them in battle, or help them with various quests, all while earning their favor! Lead your very own faction and invite characters and/or other players to join you!
When you're ready to really leave your mark on the world, siege ports and take control over them - control tax rates, port laws, build new facilities and manage citizen happiness - if the people don't find you to be a trust worthy governor, you'll quickly find yourself out of a job when rebels take over! (feature in development)
Best of all? Play the entire game with other players online with private/public servers - where every port, facility, and fleet is player owned!"
-Sink Again
-Windward Horizon (MP)
The sequel to Windward. Plays the same but introduces a world map, story missions gained from unique NPCs and a complicated yet interesting equipment system: your ship has a grid which you can fill with modules like cannons, armour, and crew and shift them freely (with some exceptions) around to gain adjacency bonuses, and the stats directly influence each other. It's a min-maxers dream, and your crew and first mate level with you the more often you use their skills.
You want better and more pirate games? Then please consider supporting your friendly indie dev! Motivate them! Show them that you actually care! If they get successful enough to get noticed by big studios, then maybe we'll get another high-value production one day! Have you ever dreamt about a pirate game from Rockstar Games?
The good pirate games are out there, people! The genre is more alive than ever! 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 good pirate games aren't 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 piracy!
If you want to skip the following sack of old sacks-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. Probably one of the best cases of foreshadowing ever in media.
Because 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 destroyed 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 nice, 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 simplistic, 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", "I'm only the ship", "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. This thread especially isn't about talking about what a pirate game even is; is it the setting? The player controlling a ship, and how many are available to you? Boarding and content on land? Nobody knows for certain; even our very community here is divided on that. So let's just proceed to the fine digital treasures awaiting you here.
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 is integral to the gameplay instead of being mere fluff. It will also only list games set in the Age of Sail, 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 in EA, frankly bad, 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/decrease disappointment 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 lemme tell you the bitter truth: It doesn't exist... yet. The best the guide can accomplish 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. You know what they say: looks can be deceiving.
-Pirate games are repetitive by default - yes, including Black Flag, and especially Pirates! -, 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 circling each other, turning your guns towards your target, and the ocean doesn't allow for creative level design without going into the realms of fantasy. Sea of Thieves would be the same without the multiplayer interactions.
-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 since fully-fledged ship- and land stuff (boarding, exploration, etc.) essentially means developing two different games, priorities have to be set.
-If absolutely nothing appeals to you, then that's okay: that only means that the pirate game you want doesn't exist yet! And if you already have found that with Black Flag, then continue having a blast with it!
Onto the categories!
Pirate Simulators (Black Flag and Sid Meier's Pirates!; feature both land and sea content)
-Blood & Gold: Caribbean!
For Germans, purchase over GOG.
Do you like Mount & Blade, have played the old pirate mod from 2007 and hoped that someone would make a game out of it? Then consider your prayers heard, because this is that game! This is a total conversion for Warband, still featuring the mass battles on land, now also at sea! So far this is the only pirate game in existence with no compromises regarding boarding, perfectly replicating the chaos and slaughter in tight spaces - for better or worse. If you're the type for that, you can even set up massive tavern brawls for shits and giggles!
Unfortunately, the naval part isn't good. The engine simply wasn't made for that, and it shows - only flat water, ships are stiff and buggy (some can only shoot diagonally), sink immediately like stones, and outside of naval battles, they are static props. Major kudos though for pulling it off in the first place!
Again the question: do you like Mount & Blade? If yes, go for it, right now!
-Buccaneers! (D)
Brought to you by Armada of Hearts of Oak- and New Horizon Remastered-fame, 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, 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 per playthrough (8-10 hours) - but if you crave more of it, 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! Also comes with a VR-mode, but don't ask which models are supported. The Index at least isn't.
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.
-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.
-Corsairs Legacy (D) (EA)
An attempt to modernize Sea Dogs, this thrusts you in the shoes of a smuggler in the 17th century Caribbean, who gets into piracy - of course. This however is solely focused on the narrative, with freeplay being an afterthought and added later, so that's neat. Apart from that, it also has everything you'd expect from Sea Dogs: a large island to explore without loading times, melee and ship combat, and you can also loot and capture enemy ships!
-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 fight 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, distribution of keys for playtesting has been suspended, but open alpha playtesting is about to start soon. No set date yet. Rumour has it though that you may still receive one if you ask nicely on their Discord. If someone asks: you didn't get that information from me, okay?
-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 above.
High focus on historical accuracy, 7 nations including the USA (from 1770 onwards), 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. What will you be? A humble merchant? A respected naval officer? A privateer in service to a nation? Or a dreaded pirate captain? You decide!
Aiming is either done automatically in 3rd-person-mode, or manually by going 1st person. You can actually run around your ship in battle and give orders to fire. If that's not awesome, I don't know what is.
And yes, you can play as your favourite PotC-characters. Except Salazar.
It is rough, clunky and buggy, slow (time can be accelerated in steps), ugly, very frustrating at times, the tutorial is ass, and savescumming is encouraged. But push through and you may have the very best pirate game of all time in your hands. Unfortunately, it keeps breaking down the more progress you make in the endgame.
Thanks to a cooperation with their modelers, the mod features high-quality ships from Pirates of the Burning Sea. Ever wanted to sail a Trinity/Terror Second Rate, but either played the wrong class or didn't want to bother with the grind? Now you can just capture one, no strings attached!
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.
A shame that this won't ever be on Steam, as it uses copyrighted content.
Also has a TVTropes-page, that gets updated now and then and should give you a great overview regarding the features.
-Sailist (EA) (D)
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 damn good. Don't play this during summer: just, don't.
Not convinced? Have this review of mine right here!
-Tempest (MP) / Under the Jolly Roger (PlayStation Store)
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 boring mortars - or juicy stuff like magical stones that let you call down funny things like lightning or meteors onto your enemies.
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!
Multiplayer can be toggled on or off, and then it functions like a rudimentary MMO.
The three DLCs add new ships, a new region, a port you can build and develop, and land-based missions that reward you with souped-up equipment, which gets lost after dying.
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.
Naval Simulators (Skull & Bones; No or barely any land, only sea)
-Fluffy Sailors (D)
Come on, if you don't find that cute af, you must be a heartless landlubber. D:
This is a roguelike in all its classic glory: try to complete runs, keep dying, purchase upgrades before every run, rinse and repeat until you defeat the final boss.
You play as a mouse in service to the queen whose cook got kidnapped by crocodiles, and it's your and your army of mice on a heroic mission to rescue him! Your army is so vast, in fact, that you use your crew as ammunition! After all, mice breed explosively, right?
In fact, all factions shoot themselves at their enemies!
Gameplay so far is pretty standard: sail around a level, defeat all enemies to gain access to the next one, and spend loot on upgrades and supplies. Your ship itself is also fairly standard, being some sort of galleon that can only fire broadsides, but your enemies field their own unique ships as well - the cats for instance only shoot forwards and backwards. And also true to a roguelike, you die very fast at the very beginning, which is why one ship will always surrender to you each level to expand your fleet. Should you sink, you simply pick another one and keep going until you either finish the run, or lose all ships.
And now all together:
D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!
-King of Seas
A loot shooter like Windward, but SP only, with a story, much more content, and more equipment variety, which makes it almost feel like Borderlands on water. The type of ship is also important, since they come with their own special skills. However, the game is also slower and focuses more on area control, so it comes down to what you prefer. Dying is also more punishing, choosing the Soulslike-approach of having to get back to where you sunk, or else you lose everything you had on you. Once you finish the story, you'll be rated on a scoreboard - difficulty adding a multiplayer to it. So if you chase highscores, there's an additional motivation for you!
-Mystical Maritime Adventure
Don't worry, this may sound like something drug-related, but it's just the English translation of its Chinese name - maybe, because the Purchase button calls it Ocean Odyssey. And yes, this is a perfectly normal pirate game. No jokes here.
This is a sandbox-game in an open world with traditional gameplay: start small, get money through fighting, trading, and looting, get bigger ships and eventually a fleet, until you are strong enough to conquer the world. Or just build up a merchant empire, if you're not the type for that.
Combat itself is very fast-paced, but always start with some sort of battle planning where you can place your ships on a grid, give them orders, and engage. The fight itself is in real-time, however.
It's only 9 bucks, and for that price, you still get a very competently made game - if you ignore the English translation that's on the level of Google Translate, that is. But I'm sure you'll be able to understand enough to get the gist of it.
-Pirates of the Polygon Sea
Not available in Germany.
Okay, this has a very interesting concept!
It's best described as an arena game where every player is trying to gain as many points as possible before the end of a match. How do you get them? By doing pirate stuff, of course! Raid merchants! Fight monsters and sharks! Sink competing players! Sell loot and treasure! Build up your port to achieve gain access to better ships! There's not much content to be honest, so it's best enjoyed as a party game - if it had ever received multiplayer! DX
-Terror of the Seven Seas
My personal GotY of 2024.
After 8 years of development, every single asset being original, this was absolutely worth the wait!
This is essentially Naval Action for single-player, meaning that you only, and only, have ship gameplay. And frankly, that's all it needs.
You take control over 30+ ships from a humble raft to the biggest vessels humanity has ever built, have 14 factions to fight for or against, 120+ ports to conquer, the whole frickin' world to sail in (Scandinavia and the West African Coast are especially neat), and complex controls with plenty of combat options. No story, just you, a tiny tub, and ambitions that may or may not have something to do with world domination. It utilizes several systems from other games to create an awesome experience, like some Best of pirate games; for instance, the damage- and skill-system from Pirates of the Burning Sea, the order of fire and level-system from Naval Action, equipment from Tempest and Buccaneers!, and fleet commands from New Horizons. Combat is further enhanced by giving you special weapons like mortars, fireships, and bombs, which will you give an edge over stronger foes. Ammunition is infinite, but no, you still won't take down a ship of the line in a sloop without some copious amounts of cheesing, or serious backup. There is an achievement for that, so you can certainly try.
But if fighting isn't your thing, then no problem, as you also get rewarded with EXP for trading. Just load up some European goods, sail over to China, sell and load Asian wares, rinse and repeat until the VOC becomes jealous of you.
The game also attempts to make your travels - which you can accelerate, luckily - more rewarding and less monotone by placing special event locations around the map, each featuring small quests that play out like "Choose your own adventure"-books (Dev isn't a native speaker, sadly), the results differing by your choices. And even if they repeat and you think to have memorized the sequences to get certain rewards, the game still can throw curveballs at you to keep you on your toes. Those events also level with the player, so you never have to be afraid to suddenly get annihilated by an unbeatable force that spawns out of nowhere. For additional income, you can hunt whales - or krakens, if you feel confident.
As a nice bonus, this game is one of three in existence that features the obscure "Duke of Kent" - the 180-gun-ship of the line that was never built and only exists on paper and as a model. It's also the only ship ingame that can't be captured, so keep on piling the dosh!
One must admit that it's quite buggy, sadly. There are no gamebreakers and everything can be resolved by quickloading, but they still get annoying after a while.
Ye know what? Just have my review here - that is so long, I had to continue it in the comments.
-The Pirate: Caribbean Hunt & The Pirate: Plague of the Dead
Another mobile port, this time bringing in MTX into the fray for certain real life ships, including the "Duke of Kent", making this the second game on the list to feature that leviathan. Though they're F2P, so there's that. That also means F2P-progression, albeit not as bad as its contemporaries. Which is honestly a shame, because they're very competently made! You have once again the Caribbean, can build up a base, send captured ships on missions with a chance to either rake in dosh or outright sink, and you have a story! It's honestly forgettable, but hey, it's there and still has a better plot than Skull & Boner.
Its sequel, Plague of the Dead, offers more of the same, but takes a decidedly supernatural angle which was completely missing in Caribbean Hunt. So if you like that or not, is once again up to you.
As mentioned before, it's F2P, so give them a sail sometime!
-Windward (MP)
A loot shooter with zero plot, tab target-combat and procedurally generated maps which you can also customize a bit, where the goal is to reach the center of the world. You can also start instanced raids tailored to your current level, and guaranteed loot that's better than your current equipment. Don't expect fancy weapons and unique effects depending on gear though, as it's only about the numbers.
The real deal regarding combat are the myriad of skills you can equip, and allow tons of different builds, compounded by the ships you decide to use! Needless to say, that you won't use a ship of the line if you only plan on using hit-and-run-tactics.
There's honestly nothing much to it except chasing higher numbers, but if you like that, then this game will entertain you for a looooong time. Especially once you go online, which more or less transforms the game into a MMO. There are still a few dozen people playing it online! You could have taken their raids dammit, Skull & Boner!
Pirate Adventures (Sea of Thieves; may or may not feature both land and sea content with low amounts of combat, if at all, and a high focus on exploration)
-Sailwind (EA)
An open world sailing simulator with survival elements that's entirely focused on handling your ship. You'll have to tack, reef your sails depending on the weather, constantly adjust them to the weather, and every single ship has their own sailing characteristics, which can also be outfitted with different sails. You can run cargo, fish, cook, decorate and customize your ship, and have to realistically determine your heading and position by using a compass and quadrant; yes, it's more on the hardcore side.
Oh, and depending on your destination, a trip can take hours. Real hours. Good thing that there is no combat, because believe me, sailing alone is already challenging enough!
-Salt (MP) & Salt 2: Shores of Gold (EA)
There was a time, where I called it the better Sea of Thieves, mostly due to rewarding exploration, offering more quests and an actual plot. Of course, this was when SoT just got released and was lambasted for having no content, so that point is totally moot nowadays. Which doesn't mean that Salt simply sucks now, because it absolutely doesn't!
Both games place you in an endless procedurally generated world with many islands and mysteries for you to unravel. On your journey, you will map out the world entirely by yourself, placing down icons to remember what you can find there, and fight pirates to level up and loot better gear. There's a story - yeah, also forgettable (See a trend yet?) -, but you can already spend a lot of time just exploring and decorating your ship, which you all have to find first. Beware however that there is no ship combat. All ships even come unarmed by default. You can find cannons which you can mount on your ship and need ammo, but they have more novelty value than actual practicality. There are no deep systems; it almost counts as a cozy game.
The sequel offers better graphics, more varied biomes and enemies, a refined combat system, and actual dungeons to fight through, but other than that, it's more of the same. Oh, and it has no multiplayer.
MMOs (Online-MP only; and no damn Sea of Conquest)
-Battle Sails
Guess what, it's Roblox!
Are you done laughing?
If yes, let's continue.
This is a simplified Naval Action with focus on big PvP-battles, and... yeah, that's it. Only on Roblox.
Nobody of us plays Roblox (I know that breaks the rules, but pirates don't care about that, so shaddap), and YouTube-videos only show ship combat, though it also features boss battles against Krakens. Curiously, this is the third and final game on this list to have the "Duke of Kent", and you can even paint it! Like in pink!
So this is essentially foreign territory for us, so if you play Roblox, you should check this out!
-Blazing Sails
If you saw this and immediately thought "Wait, my Sea of Thieves looks a bit weird", then you are correct!
This is a shameless SoT-ripoff. If Microsoft were like Nintendo, then the developers would have been sued to death long ago, with all traces of it purged. So thank god they aren't Nintendo!
Differences are minimal. The three ships have different loadouts favouring certain tactics, and its Arena-like mode has teams conquering islands like some sort of naval-focused Battlefield. Where the game truly shines are all the different weapons one can equip, offering much more variety over SoT - but if that alone would be enough for you to consider playing it, is a question only you can answer. After all, you won't likely find anything particularly noteworthy here.
This sounds very negative so far, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad game. If you like SoT, then you'll like Blazing Sails, no questions asked.
-Legend of Pirates Online
-Naval Action (F2P)
Let's ignore all the drama and controversy surrounding it for a bit...
The naval simulator for all hardcore-fans, this offers the best ship combat in known history by a wide margin. Giving you no crosshairs or similar aids, each battle will prove to be a true test of skill by having to gauge distances first before preparing a broadside - only to find out that you miscalculated, wasted everything, and now the enemy has ample time to retaliate. And successful broadsides will even inflict debuffs on the target, rewarding good aim even more. To give you options, you can set the order of fire, the "firing cone" (spread) and fire single shots mainly used for testing. But if you really want to be a professional, you aim below the waterline to sink the enemy quickly and efficiently. Though only true masters can accurately shoot masts, until the enemy finally lies dead in the water. Speaking of masts: the game lets you control all sails manually, giving you even more mobility, and letting you sail backwards. This will be essential, as depending on angles, shots can bounce off. Yes, you can do it the old-fashioned way of simply sailing next to each other and exchanging broadsides until one of you sinks - usually the one with more guns winning -, or you can fully utilize your moveset and utterly destroy your target with barely any scratches. Don't get me even started on crew management, which you'll have to permanently contend with during fights, because they need to be directed towards the different stations and tasks on board.
No need to worry, there is an extensive combat tutorial. It may seem overwhelming at first, but once you get the controls down, it pretty much plays like any other pirate game. Meaning you still sail around the Caribbean, trade and fight to gain money and level up, and build up your ships.
Beware however that "hardcore" doesn't only extend to the combat. The world is positively huge. So huge, you need real-life hours to get from one end to the other, with nothing happening in between. Ship building might as well be a different game in itself (alts recommended), and boarding is more or less an enigma, and a very weird and complicated one that's never explained in-game. I never understood it myself and simply bought all ships from the auction house.
There is a PvE- and PvP-server (beware of gankers!) available, both getting regularly wiped. Players who bought the game before it went F2P have exclusive access to a permanent PvE-server, which is honestly a very chill experience. Don't ask how to access that nowadays, I have no idea.
Their DLC prices are really fucking disgusting, though.
-Pirates of the Burning Sea (F2P)
Probably the most well-known pirate MMO right next to Pirates of the Caribbean Online/Legend of Pirates Online. Began with a subscription model, but was converted into F2P, this one offers lots and lots of ships, quests, skills, and locations, so you can easily put hundreds of hours into it. It plays like a classic MMO: tab targeting, skill bars with cooldowns, and ship combat isn't much different, as that utilizes a slightly changed land combat system, with crew and morale being used to activate skills. Noteworthy is that this is the only game so far that lets you choose which batteries you want to fire, instead of only firing complete broadsides. Due to the economy being entirely player-driven, you buy new ships directly from the auction house, or place orders. Or you join a clan, that may supply you with cheaper ships. If you want to engage in the economy as well, you should probably be ready to create alts. Also beware of pvp-areas: Tortuga, the pirate's homebase, is regularly caught in one, so it helps to have at least one ship there so you can just teleport to it whenever you need something. Also mind you that there are some limits in place due to it being F2P, for instance that you can only have two ships at all times. Expansions can be bought with real cash, or by purchasing "Burning Sea Notes" with lots of ingame money, though the last time I played, purchase of BSNs was suspended.
The original server is still available, albeit with a ridiculously inflated economy, but has also introduced a legacy server for players to start anew.
-Puzzle Pirates
-Uncharted Waters Online
-World of Sea Battle (F2P)
Hoo boy, I don't know where to even begin with this one! So this will be short and sweet - as short and sweet a game like this can be described.
No Steam-Release yet, so you have to download it through their site.
It's a Sandbox-MMO with no plot, that throws you on Fantasy-Earth with non-fantasy ships. You have once again a large world which you can sail around freely to explore ports and points of interest. And, yeah, whatever you do after completing the tutorial quests, is up to you.
I think it would be best described as a mix of Skull & Bones and Pirates of the Burning Sea, that brings exciting features into play. It's completely naval-focused with no melee combat, though boarding plays out almost like a tactical RTS, with you commanding your crew, itself containing different unit types, picking targets and ordering units to defend themselves. Whoever has less crew after a short amount of time wins the boarding.
The ship's customization is incredible. Not only do you have a myriad of modules and weapons available, which you can upgrade separately, but you can also set. Every. Single. Cannon. No, you don't equip entire sets like in S&B. Single cannons. That also means that this is literally the only game in existence that lets you accurately recreate armaments that were actually used throughout history. Of course, nothing prevents you from running a ship of the line entirely with 32-pounders, but you can certainly do it.
Similar to PotBS, you can build facilities in ports that let you craft refined materials, and you can find certain spots on the map to construct buildings that automatically gather resources for you. You can even upgrade them, but you'll have to manually supply them yourself. Automatic collection is available, but severely limited, and will cost you very valuable cash, that's hard to come by unless you know some efficient methods.
Ships are acquired either through building them (Beware: they require special materials only gained through PvP or the auction house), or buying them at the auction house. So if you don't want to bother with the grind for materials - like me -, you can earn money to simply purchase them. There are also no level-requirements. Just fork over the money and it's yours to keep, and in a pleasant subversion, you can never lose your ships! Instead they lose durability, and if that reaches zero, you need to repair it first. By gathering materials...
Gameplay is, as usual, standard. Fight, trade, explore, get the biggest ships, you name it. You'll often band together fighting bosses and forts (Rewards depend on damage dealt and your overall contribution), take on random quests, and take over ports. Garnish the whole thing with excellent graphical details like animated gunports and the crew walking around changing depending on its composition.
And all of that is just scratching the game's surface.
If S&B may be too simplistic and you seek something to dig your teeth in, then this may be the Pirate-MMO just for you!
Beware however that it contains P2W-elements, and will attempt to force you into PvP!
Miscellaneous recommendations (Don't necessarily fit any category, but are still noteworthy)
-Abandon Ship
A roguelite combining the gameplay of FTL and the narrative of Sunless Sea, and infused with a moderate dose of cosmic horror, this might be the only Lovecraftian Age of Sail-game in existence. The story features an evil cultist suddenly snapping out of his madness during a great ceremony (the statue he holds even looks like Cthulhu), frees two prisoners, makes his way to an anchored ship, and escapes with other cultists in hot pursuit. From there on you explore a vast world with many unique biomes, locations, and questlines, equip lots of different weapons and upgrades, and thwart the cult's plans, while also discovering his own past.
If you are familiar with FTL, then you'll learn combat quickly. You control a handful of crewmembers who have to man stations on the ship, and repair damages to modules and sections. You can hire different classes like gunners and surgeons, each with their own sets of skills, and even name them. Sink the enemy ship or kill its crew to win, though the latter yields higher rewards.
On your travels, you'll find encounters that may or may not be beneficial - difficulty affects enemy health and damage and your "luck" during events -, and until you have arrived at a certain point in the story, you'll constantly be hounded by an invincible Kraken, so keep going! Luckily, sinking yourself isn't an immediate game over, as your captain can survive on floating debris (crew dies, though) and hope to be found by a passing ship, or if you have a lifeboat, your crew will also make it through.
Other campaigns include freeplay, which takes place after the story, a combat campaign with limited stops at ports and a new storyline, and finally a cultist campaign as the dude who failed to stop the escape and must now hunt the protagonist down. And this one lets you control a Kraken directly.
Beware though that there's a lot to read! But don't worry, it's not as wordy as Sunless Sea.
-Black Legend
A tactical RPG set in the fantasy version of the Netherlands, with names to match. Enter Klaas, the sharpshooter!
A mysterious, dangerous fog has beset a Not!Dutch city, and you and your group of mercenaries have been tasked to cleanse it and destroy an evil cult that has taken control. You'll fight cultists, former mercenaries turned mad by the fog, monsters, and mutants, and you have 15 playable classes at your disposal, depending on the equipment. Every class has unique skills and armour, creating many combinations and possibilities for synergies. Combat itself is pretty basic - action points, movement, cover, attack bonuses by flanking or backstabs -, but is enhanced by its unique "Alchemy"-system. Each attack inflicts certain coloured charges on an enemy, and depending on the charge-combos he receives, it deals additional damage. It's difficult to explain in text without seeing it, so you better check out some gameplay-footage.
Difficulty can be customized to your liking, so you can have it as easy or hard as you wish. If you are a fan of TRPGs, give this a try!
-Blackwake (MP) (F2P)
The spiritual successor to Pirate Ship Wars on Garry's Mod. Like in the original, you have two teams duking it out on the open sea utilizing Battlefield's ticket system, and whoever loses all tickets first, loses. Gameplay was greatly enhanced, however: reloading cannons is now a lengthy process, a player with a spyglass needs to gauge distances for gunners, ships can and need to be repaired and water pumped out, and you have different types of ammo and weapons at your disposal. There are also different ships, each featuring unique loadouts and encouraging certain tactics. The junk for instance has bowguns, making it excellent at instigating boardings. The ship itself can only be steered by the captain who is elected by player vote (Which can be problematic) once the match starts, or after a mutiny. At that point you have to ask yourself if you are fine with one person mainly dictating a ship's - and your - performance and K/D-ratio, if you care for that. Fortunately, just keeping the ship afloat also rewards points, and depending on how often it gets damaged, purely playing support can easily net you MVP-status at the end of a match.
New game modes have been added, namely CTF and some sort of conquest-mode where one team defends a fort against the other. They aren't as popular as simple deathmatches, though.
After suffering a low playerbase for years, it was officially made F2P, and has a dedicated community, hosting servers. Check out the Steam forum for info on that.
Don't expect realistic sailing, though: ships move like cars, unaffected by wind.
-Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond
If someone tells me that former DreamWorks-employees were involved, then I'd buy that immediately. Because it looks and plays like a DreamWorks-movie with beautiful graphics and animations, terrific voice actors (The titular captain Sabertooth being my favourite), and cutscenes that might as well be from a trailer for an unreleased movie. If someone would also tell me that lots of the budget went into those cutscenes, then I would immediately believe that too, because some aspects of the game seem to have suffered as a result, but one thing at a time.
This sells itself as a Metroidvania for children. Gameplay is insofar simple with a low difficulty - except for the underwater-sections which are surprisingly hard due to enemy spam you can't fight against -, a nonsensical plot with zero logic and dumb characters (Stop treating children like they are too stupid to follow deeper stories, dammit!), with a handful minigames thrown in like wave defence with a cannon and pinball; Pinball being so easy, you have to deliberately lose to end it, because its literally impossible to fail. I'm not kidding. And whoever thought it to be a good idea to limit
exploration by having to purchase treasure maps first needs to walk the plank. No, really: you'll come across spots where you would be rewarded with upgrades, but you can't get those until you buy the corresponding treasure map. Just... why? Some sort of misguided attempt to not overwhelm children? Why would you do this?
Apart from that, it's pretty much standard: explore the levels, get new gear that allows you to explore further, get upgrades for health, weapons, and ammunition, until you defeat the final boss.
Don't get me wrong, lots of love and effort has went into the game, and if you want to introduce your children to Metroidvanias, then this is perfect. If you seek a challenge and more content, however, then this isn't it. But then you probably aren't the target demographic. It's only ten bucks though, so you still should try this out!
-Flint: Treasure of Oblivion (D)
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
-Republic of Pirates (D)
An Anno 1800-clone, and it's not even hiding it. You build up your islands, set up production chains, manage workforces, earn money, and make sure to keep the needs of your pirates fulfilled. If you have played Anno 1800, then you already know how it works. Even the statistics are the same - only the blueprints are missing. It even has a story-mode where you unlock buildings the further you go. So what's actually different, then?
Well, it gets rid of influence entirely (thank god), and puts a much, much higher emphasis on combat and fleet building. It helps that goods are shared between all islands. If you like that or not, is entirely up to you.
Before you can settle on new islands, you need to defeat its occupants first, and fleet size is limited by "Captain's Inn"s that can only be built on special spots on islands. Some ships require materials only gained through sinking enemies, and other ships are exclusive quest rewards. Also, every ship has a special ability and captains, who you must hire via those inns, have different specializations and bonuses, and can level up. Of course, they can die as well.
There are also different factions that can either support, attack, or sabotage you, depending on your reputation with them, but they don't build settlements. They simply have their many ships sailing around the map, which you can attack freely. Interaction mostly happens through trades and quests, which all come in randomly. If you think now that you'll have to carefully balance your reputations with each group, because they are naturally opposed to each other and thus someone would always hate you - there are special occasions you can activate yourself that will reward flat reputation increases. Oh, and there are neutral pirates roaming around you can sink to your heart's content.
It's the Anno 1800 for people who find it too complex and wish for more combat.
And I love it for that.
Also, the newest update has added a custom map editor for freeplay!
-Return of the Obra Dinn (D)
From the developer of Papers, Please, comes a narrative-driven adventure that puts you in the shoes of an insurance investigator of the EITC, who enters a deserted ship and has to find out what happened to its crew. It's a detective game at its core and requires lots, and lots, of deduction, logic, a watchful eye, and if all else fails, guesswork. You are given a magical watch that lets you experience every single death onboard, and you are tasked to determine the fate of every single soul on board, of which there are 60. Find out their names, their causes of death (if they died), who or what killed them, and go home after a job well done. And let me tell you, this is bloody difficult, even if the game throws you a bone in that sometimes it will accept multiple solutions regarding causes of death - and you can brute force solutions via trial & error if you are desperate. The story especially is something I'd like to see as a movie.
It's not a long game. In fact, if you just rush it and don't care for the best ending, you'd be done in a few hours.
If you are a fan of those type of games, then definitely go for it! If not... yeah, pass.
Beware of spoilers!
-Rogue Waters (D)
A classic roguelike from the ladies and gentlemen of Hard West 2, so you can already expect high quality and excellent voice acting. You are Captain Cutter, who served under the notorious Captain Blackbone, but got betrayed by him after the last treasure hunting went horribly wrong, and Cutter smashed a magic rock into his eye (It makes sense in context). And now you are determined to get revenge, and nothing is stopping you - no matter how many times you die.
So, now there you are, with your crew, your ship, and the base, and lots of upgrades. Each run starts there, and after choosing a difficulty, you can either select a raid that's only for the purpose of gaining resources, or a story-raid that moves the plot forward if you complete it. Like in every other roguelike, the beginning is very hard, and your first successful run will be a major accomplishment. But don't worry, because you can't lose the resources you have collected - winning only nets you a bonus.
You move your ship along on linear paths, pick battles, ports to purchase or repair equipment, or special event encounters, and at the end, will assault a fortress after which you can finally go home as the victor and enjoy your spoils.
Combat encounters are entirely turn-based, and happen in two phases: first, you have to damage the enemy ship as much as you can within three turns while minimizing damage yourself. Just pick a cannon, choose your target (module, cannon, or crew), and then spend command points (hint: upgrade those first, asap) to fire it. You can always see beforehand which targets the enemy has chosen, so you can plan around. As a nice bonus, if you manage to kill the entire crew in the first phase, then you have automatically won the encounter.
Phase two, the boarding, is the core of this game. Just like in Hard West, you control a group of characters with different stats, weapons, and skills, and have to defeat the enemy crew. A major part of it is knockback, which can either push enemies onto positions where you can hit multiple ones with AoE-damage, or just smack them against walls and obstacles for additional damage. But that's not all, since Cutter can summon sea monsters for especially devastating attacks using a special monster resource. Those can also be upgraded, of course.
And you can always rewind to previous turns if you aren't happy with their outcomes, except during ship battles.
If Hard West 2 was too linear or too punishing, or simply like pirates more, then Rogue Waters should be more to your liking. Or if you are simply a fan of the genre.
-Survival: Fountain of Youth (D)
-The Caribbean Sail
Future releases worth keeping an eye on:
-Ahoy
-Corsairs - Battle of the Caribbean
-Dawn of Piracy
As the director himself says: "Dawn of Piracy is in the spirit and a reimagination of the Sea Dogs pirate game series, running on Unreal Engine 5. Set in the Caribbean of the 17th century, the world is your oyster to be conquered in this epic single player experience. The game is aimed to release at the end of 2025."
If you want to follow its development closely, consider joining the PiratesAhoy!-Discord!
-Following Seas
-Rise of Piracy
-Seven Seas: Adventures (D) (MP)
From the developer himself:
"Seven Seas: Adventures is an open world, sandbox, Age of Sail RPG set during the golden age of piracy with an emphasis on exploration and player freedom. Create your own character aligned with one of the games six playable cultures, with a free-form play style system, you can be everything from a pirate, merchant, privateer, or any combination of these - the choice is yours!
Own facilities and produce the very goods that keep the worlds economy alive - manipulate the markets through clever trading or bringing your goods to ports with scarcity to make hefty profits! But if legal trading is not enough for you, smuggle goods into ports where they're considered contraband and earn a fortune... but be careful, the Port Authority is always watching! Acquire special items like false bottom chests and more to sneak your illicit goods into ports.
Interact with over 100 characters in 9 historically accurate factions in the Caribbean, where every action influences their opinion of you - sink their ships, aid them in battle, or help them with various quests, all while earning their favor! Lead your very own faction and invite characters and/or other players to join you!
When you're ready to really leave your mark on the world, siege ports and take control over them - control tax rates, port laws, build new facilities and manage citizen happiness - if the people don't find you to be a trust worthy governor, you'll quickly find yourself out of a job when rebels take over! (feature in development)
Best of all? Play the entire game with other players online with private/public servers - where every port, facility, and fleet is player owned!"
-Sink Again
-Windward Horizon (MP)
The sequel to Windward. Plays the same but introduces a world map, story missions gained from unique NPCs and a complicated yet interesting equipment system: your ship has a grid which you can fill with modules like cannons, armour, and crew and shift them freely (with some exceptions) around to gain adjacency bonuses, and the stats directly influence each other. It's a min-maxers dream, and your crew and first mate level with you the more often you use their skills.
You want better and more pirate games? Then please consider supporting your friendly indie dev! Motivate them! Show them that you actually care! If they get successful enough to get noticed by big studios, then maybe we'll get another high-value production one day! Have you ever dreamt about a pirate game from Rockstar Games?
The good pirate games are out there, people! The genre is more alive than ever! They just want to be found and enjoyed, and not treated like the unloved stepchild.
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