13 Best Pirate Games To Play in 2026: Plunder the High Seas!

If you love pirate games as much as I do, then stick around and prepare your sea legs as we embark on a voyage to uncover top-tier pirate games to play!

Our Top Picks for Pirate Games

What you’ll see below are the most outstanding pirate games our team has picked above all the other promising titles in the genre, with all five games boasting the best swashbuckling high-seas adventure you’ll ever have in your life:

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced ACTION-ADVENTURE

Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition

ADVENTURE

The best multiplayer pirate sandbox around, now in its most content-packed form yet. Eight years of live updates, a full Faction Battle overhaul, and the new Custom Seas mode make this the definitive co-op pirate experience for anyone who loves emergent sandbox chaos on the open seas.

Windrose

ADVENTURE

The co-op pirate survival game the genre has been crying out for, built around procedural maritime survival crafting loops and naval combat that flows from broadside exchanges straight into boarding action. Already 1.5 million copies sold in Early Access, and it is only getting bigger.

Don’t agree with our list? Hold your pistols, as we have five more terrific pirate games that are guaranteed to blow you away. So sail on, scroll down, and check out the full list below!

13 Best Pirate Games to Rule the Open Seas

With how awesome the pirate games released in the past several years are, the good news is that you’ll have quite a lot of titles to choose from – ranging from vast open-world RPGs with phenomenal story and role-play potential to naval battle-focused titles that’ll test your ability to captain your ship.

Without further ado, check out these awesome games our team has picked out for you, as well as why I think they’re a must-play for pirate genre lovers (or newcomers) like you!

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

Overall Best Pirate Game

• Our score
• ☆
• ★
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• ★
• PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
• Creator
• Ubisoft Singapore
• Average playtime
• ~24 hrs

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

• is the ground-up remake of arguably the best pirate game ever made, rebuilt by
• Ubisoft Singapore
• on the latest
• Anvil

engine.

The next-gen ray-traced ocean graphics set a new visual benchmark for the genre – dynamic weather, micropolygon rendering, and ray tracing across all modes make the Caribbean look genuinely spectacular at launch on July 9, 2026.

The original story stays intact, but Ubisoft has added new missions for Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet, three new Jackdaw officers with unique origin stories, and brand-new scenes by original writer Darby McDevitt. Rebuilt dynamic broadside cannon physics give naval combat a weightier, more tactical feel – positioning and timing matter more than ever in Jackdaw battles.

Combat on foot is reworked too, with faster attacks, chained takedowns, and a tighter parry system. No multiplayer, no DLC – a pure solo experience, and that is the right call.

My Verdict:

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

is the most anticipated pirate game of 2026 – a faithful, fully rebuilt remake that looks set to improve on everything that made the original a classic.

Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition

Best for Online Play

• Our score
• ☆
• ★
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• ★
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• PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One

2018 (2026 Edition: 2026)

• Creator
• Rare
• Average playtime
• ~7 hrs

Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition

• is the best entry point into
• Rare
• ‘s open-world pirate sandbox –
• a fresh package launched April 8, 2026

that bundles eight years of live-service content into one clean purchase. Custom Seas lets you build your own game rules from scratch, and the full Faction Battle overhaul gives both newcomers and returning crews plenty to dig into.

The emergent sandbox chaos and boarding loops remain the core of what makes Sea of Thieves special – every session tells a different story.

The dynamic broadside cannon physics demand real coordination, and the new Last Ship Standing Sloop-only mode puts those skills to the ultimate test.

Local couch co-op split screen multiplayer is fully supported too, which makes it just as fun on the couch as it is online. The simplified Doubloon currency is a long-overdue clean-up. Experienced PvP crews can still make early sessions rough for fresh players.

My Verdict:

Eight years in and Sea of Thieves is still the king of multiplayer pirate games. The 2026 Edition makes now the best time to set sail.

Windrose

Best for Co-Op High-Seas Survival

• Our score
• ☆
• ★
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• PC
• Creator
• Kraken Express
• Average playtime
• ~50–70 hrs

Windrose

• is the co-op pirate survival game the genre has been waiting for, and
• Kraken Express
• launched it into Early Access in April 2026

with numbers that speak for themselves:

1.5 million copies sold in under two weeks and 210,000 concurrent players at peak.

Windrose

‘s procedural maritime survival crafting loops are surprisingly accessible too – hunger and sleep exist but won’t get you killed for neglect, so the focus stays on exploration and combat.

You and up to seven crewmates sail an ocean packed with 90+ handcrafted dungeons, shipwrecks, and rival pirate factions.

The emergent sandbox chaos and boarding loops are where the game truly shines – naval battles transition seamlessly from long-range broadside exchanges to close-quarters deck brawls in ways that feel genuinely alive.

The story takes a back seat in its current Early Access state, but for this genre,

Windrose

is already setting a new standard.

My Verdict:

Windrose

is the co-op pirate survival game fans have been asking for since Sea of Thieves first launched. At $29.99 in Early Access, the timing to jump in has never been better.

Read More 10 Best Games Like Subnautica to Play Next Explore alien oceans, survive the unknown depths, and discover the best games like Subnautica with immersive underwater worlds, crafting, and survival gameplay.

Return to Monkey Island

Best for Stylized Visuals and Humor

• Our Score
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• MacOS, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Linux, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, iOS, Android
• Creator
• Terrible Toybox
• Average playtime
• ~10 hrs

Return to Monkey Island

• is
• an easy recommendation for gamers who prefer a more casual and humorous pirate experience

. It comes packaged with a pleasing, abstract art style that’s a treat to look at, not to mention a retro-coded soundtrack that’s as catchy as it is nostalgic.

This game is filled with witty dialogue and funny moments, which, combined with its innovative puzzle design, will challenge your skills and leave you satisfied (provided you’re smart or stubborn enough to solve them, of course). It’s most definitely a strong successor to the beloved Monkey Island games that I grew up with.

This is one of the top point-and-click adventure games released in recent years too, so you definitely won’t regret getting this one if you’d love to have puzzles, mystery, and lots of self-aware comedy on your pirate game.

My Verdict:

Return to Monkey Island

is weird and impossible not to love. It’s proof that pirate stories can still make you laugh as much as they make you think.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Best for Non-stop Beat ‘Em Up Action

• Our Score
• ☆
• ★
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• PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
• Creators
• Ryu Ga Gotoku StudioSEGA
• Average playtime
• ~17 hrs

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

hit us Ryu Ga Gotoku fans like a wild curveball when it first got announced, but don’t let this distract you from the fact that Mr. Krabs sold Spongebob’s soul for 62 cents to Davey Jones, or that a studio that’s been making great Yakuza games for decades has given us one of the best pirate-themed ARPGs ever released.

Despite its departure from the series formula, I and many other fans see this great game as an absolute win for the Yakuza series, showing us how creatively wacky the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio devs can get while still delivering a great product.

With a madman like Goro Majima as the protagonist, you get exactly what you expect, which is an off-the-rails adventure filled with all sorts of rowdy pirate antics portrayed with signature Yakuza humor, topped off with high-octane ship combat that lets you shoot down enemy ships with all manner cannons, machine guns, and even rocket launchers!

My Verdict:

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

shouldn’t work, yet it totally does. It’s wild, funny, and unapologetically weird in the best “Yakuza goes pirate” way.

One Piece Odyssey

Best for Anime fans

• Our Score
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• ★
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• Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
• Creator
• ILCA
• Average playtime
• ~33 hrs

One Piece Odyssey

• is the game all
• One Piece
• fans have been dying to play since forever, and that includes yours truly. Off the rip, this game stands among the
• best
• One Piece
• games

ever released.

Sporting top-notch modern graphics, original voice actors from the anime, dynamic turn-based combat, and a touching storyline that follows Luffy and his friends’ adventures, you really can’t go wrong in picking this game up as a fan of any pirate-related video game title.

One Piece, after all, is one of the most famous pirate-themed entertainment IPs in history, and for good reason. What better game to hoist up the skull and bones in as an anime fan or just a pirate game enthusiast in general than

One Piece Odyssey

? Nuff said.

My Verdict:

One Piece Odyssey

ist that anime dream; heartfelt moments, sharp combat, and all the charm you’d expect from Luffy and the crew.

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

Best for Immersive Simulation Mechanics

• Our Score
• ☆
• ★
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• Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, Mac OS X, Wii, PlayStation Portable
• Creator
• Firaxis Games
• Average playtime
• ~10 hrs
• If you’re a fan of the pirate genre or just a veteran gamer in general, then

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

is most likely a title you’ve heard of at least once, and for good reason. This game, after all, is argued by many in the gaming community to be the best game in the piracy genre, despite being more than a decade older than most titles on this list.

Having completed many playthroughs of this game on my old, trusty PSP myself,

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

gets my vote for the number one game all new pirate genre fans should play right away, considering it has a little bit of everything for RPG lovers and simulation games enthusiasts alike.

It also provides a stimulating experience that only the best strategy games ever could in terms of tactical gameplay elements, so you’ll definitely be eating well if you like playing as a cerebral captain who plans every move – managing mutiny risk, crew metrics, and fleet positioning all at once.

My Verdict:

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

doesn’t need flash to impress. Its pure gameplay brilliance that proves smart design never ages. Still the ultimate captain’s sandbox.