Sid Meier's Pirates!

veri gud gejm, 10/10 recomened

OG pirate game, a lot more fun than some of the new games out there today.

Hours and hours and hours playing this game. Maybe a LITTLE dated but still totally playable. If you like pirate genre, play. If you don't, don't.

Super fun pirate sim game, perhaps the most fun of all. While the graphics aged, the gameplay totally didn't, and it's a blast to play. I really wish they'd made a new Pirates! game.

It's a 100% real sandbox open world, in which you truly play the way you want. If you want to be a privateer and stick with working for one of the four countries that are colonizing the Americas, you can. If you want to be a mercenary and attack anyone and everyone depending on your mood, you can. If you want to strictly be a "pirate", in the pure sense of the word and never visit a governor for missions, thus never taking sides, it'll make things harder and you will miss some key events, but it's not impossible either. The game has a great set of difficulties you can choose from, and like in the examples of playstyles I've given, you can make it hard or easy for you as well through your own way of playing it.

There are key objectives that you can meet if you want, but they're not obligatory either.

It's a very colorful game with joyful music throughout. The animations are a bit cartoony but they still hold up. The graphics are dated but they still retain a charm and they're good enough so you eventually don't care.

The game is divided in multiple gameplay genres, some of which are "mini-game-ish", but all of them are fun to me. From roleplaying to seafaring, to inventory and crew management, to dancing with the ladies, to land exploration and so on, and it even has late-game RTS gameplay in which you can attack colonies with your pirates and plunder entire cities. It's an ever-changing gameplay experience.

It has a few secret locations you find through treasure maps, real historical pirates to challenge, real historical locations and you have a very profound impact on that world by killing pirates like Blackbeard or Henry Morgan, siding with countries to invade cities and much more! I wish the historical pirates had a little more oompf to them, like side quests, dialogues or unique animations, because they all share the same animations even though their models are very different and loyal to their real life selves. They also could've added more real life personalities, like real governors at the time, just for the sake of adding more veracity, kinda like what Crusader Kings does.

The game does feel a bit thinner near the end when you completed most objectives. It throws a few side quests at you seldomly. However, your character ages over time so it kinda forces you to end things eventually, which is actually a good thing so you don't get tired of playing the same missions over and over again. Still, I wish there were more side quests because at some point all you do is plunder galleons, conquer colonies and arrest criminals in taverns.

Some mechanics could've been worked on a bit harder, but then again you need to tell yourself this is a very old game and back when it was released, it was the best that they could do at the time. For example, it's very easy to keep your crew content all the time if you have about 300k gold. Your crew's happiness ( and the risk of them turning on you ) depends solely on the amount of gold pieces you carry in relation with the amount of crewmembers you have. There's a threshold that you may reach at some point which never makes them unhappy, so they become "mindless" and don't care if they never get paid. You can exploit this to never distribute your loot and age slower ( because normally, you need to distribute your loot and time flies when you do that ), making your chances of completing each objectives before you get too old much greater.

The UI is great, the menus and settings show the game's age but it's fine. I think it's one of those games that really would benefit from an HD remaster, or, like I said, a sequel! It's a barely exploited genre that can be appealing to anybody if done right.

If you played the very old original game, it's pretty much exactly like it, but improved in every way. I consider it an absolute classic. There's nothing that truly compares to "Pirates!".

It has decent replay value with its diffculty settings and also through its open sandbox gameplay. I highly recommend it if you are looking for cheap accessible fun!

Absolutely love this game, I always come back to it for fun and nostalgia! Been hooked since childhood!

I first played this game on a friend's iPad on a car ride home some fifteen or so years ago. When I first saw the Steam version I was excited to have a new go-around, since the app version had never been ported to Android. I just actually beat it for the first time, with my captain having saved and avenged his family. I used the Brig of War until a Ship of the Line spawned randomly, though honestly I think I prefer the BoW now.

oldie goldie

A classic. This game really needs a remake.

Great Game

Believe me or don't, but even in 2025 this is still one of the best pirate games to date.

I could crack on and on, but the only thing that's genuinely 'eh' about it is sailing around the map and being forced, at times, to sail directly into wind because that's the direction you legitimately are headed. That sucks. But otherwise, the game absolutely slaps. Best part is capturing an enemy frigate in the early game and making it work by the skin of your teeth.

This game is so much fun. Sure it is retro but it allows for such interesting game play. Find your family, plunder for Gold and get Famous. Just hours of great game play.

This version works great on Windows 10. As far as I can tell it's the exact same as the CD-ROM version that I loved a couple decades ago. I probably have a few hundred hours on that before I had anything on Steam. Any many hundreds more back in the 1980s and 1990s with my Commodore 64 version of the original Pirates!

The style of the game does show its age. I think if I didn't have the nostalgia aspect of this one I would prefer a first-person version. That said, this game was one of the pioneers of "Open World" and lets you choose what you want to do... pirate, privateer, costa garda, merchant, etc. It was also a pioneer of the "mini-game"... I always liked those, not sure why that concept has lost popularity. May be a bit too grindy for today's gamers, but if you played this back in the day, or are really into pirate themed games, this one is a certainly a classic.

awesome!

amazing game, tempted to say "needs a modern remake" but honestly why bother, has basically everything already. W game

Sid Meier's games are always fun and endlessly replayable.

wonderful take me back to the days of my apple2

A gem of its era. Only thing I wish it had was achievements to drive me into playing longer. Game functions fine on a modern (Ryzen 3900X3D + 4080) setup - not sure why others have had issues. Fencing and sea combat are spammable on low difficulty, higher difficulty is a bit tougher (not too much though). Worth all 3$

The game is a classic from when I was a kid. I recommend you install the East Indie mod. It is like a brand new game.

A fun (now old) game.

Best game ever made 100000/10

So fun that you will forget you're playing at 4:3 below native res to overcome old Windows bugginess. I think the difficulty options could be more granular, but Firaxis isn't here to fix it anyway.
Oh, and it crashes when you alt-tab.

Been playing this for literal decades and still one of the best pirate games available to play.

The classic 2004 remake of Sid Meier's Pirates (1987) still keeps most of the features of the original game but upgrades it to somewhat modern graphics -- definitely one of the best pirate games to be released. There are a couple of small mods for the game which can update the graphics somewhat but this might be too vintage for some.

Simple fun to relax.

great game. love the exploration and combat

Good old game. Quite oblosette now.

Great game

THE PIRATES LIFE FOR ME

.

One of the great classic games of all times. Everyone should get a chance to enjoy this masterpiece.

Years and years of reliable game play

The best Privateer and Pirate game that i have ever played. You can play as a Privateer and work for your chosen faction or engage in high seas Piracy by attacking everyone including the faction that gave you a letter of marque. You can also recreate Henry Morgan's 1671 sacking of Panama. The game does well in finding the balance between fun and history(thank god there is no scurvy and syphilis lol)

A game that truly grasps just how bad I am at dancing with pretty women and brings it to life in game with flawless accuracy.

As good as I remember 20 years ago back when I was a kid, and also just as bullshit at the higher difficulties.

Well worth your time.

2025 and this game is still an absolute banger.

Owned this game back in the day on DVD. Bought it on sail,...,er, sale. (See what I did there?). Still fun. A more lighthearted kid-friendly alternative to Assassin's Creed Black Flag, but still totes full of buccaneering fun.

I HAD THIS GAME ON DISK AND ON STEAM it 2025 an this is still the best pirate game

Excellent remake of the even older Pirates! Love it.

One of my favorite childhood games. Its also one of the best pirate games ever.

Sweet game. Unmatched by copykatz.

I played the old Sid Meier's Pirates on Atari in the 80s and the "gold" version on PC/DOS in the 90s. This Firaxis/2K recreation is true to the original, looks good and still great fun to play 20 years after it's release.

Pirates provides the player with layers of quests and achievements to be pursued in tandem. From revenging the ill deeds of the evil Marquis Montalban to capturing cities, finding a suitable wife befitting your social standing to influencing the colonial landscape of the 17th century Caribbean islands and the Spanish Main. All of this laced in with the everyday plunder and pillage of a pirate fighting for influence and wealth against Captain Kid, Henry Morgan and Captain Blackbeard to name a few.

Firaxis/2K - Please release a remake of Sid Meier's Covert Action!

Played this about 15 years ago when I was a kid and decided to pick it up again. It's gameplay loop is still very fun and there is some replayability with mods profiding new maps etc.. Also, install the hd mod. It's a shame there never was a sequel.

I had played this game over 20 years ago and it was a sequel to Pirates from the microprose days. I think a classic from the early 90s.

this game is a classic and it is due a remastering, when this game first came out, wide screen monitors were only just coming onto the market, so the picture is 4:3 ratio.

i had bought the game again on steam, so I don't need to find the cds or the manual to enter to key in to install.

The game is typical Firaxis, it seems to have a lot of bugs that need fixing. It would be nice to get a update to fix all the bugs. One my own pc the game would slow down due to the graphic drivers.

the game is about a young man who becomes a pirate and he has to rescue his family who were captured by a evil count. the game is a seafaring trading game, where you have to recruit a crew keep them happy with gold and plunder and go on quests to find your missing family and hunt down pirates, so it is trading game with bounty hunter missions and you develop skills like dancing and dating the govenors daughter and sword fighting other pirates,

for me this game needs to be revisited and given the remastered treatment, so I can plan on a widescreen monitor, instead of bars on the side.

piss around in the caribbean during the 17th century to find your family who hasn't aged a day since you lost them, a bunch of misplaced hidden native cities, and to make the spanish wish you were dead.

A great comeback to the classic Pirates! from the 1980s.

This is still my favorite pirate game of all time. While Black Flag was great and Sea of Thieves was okay, they both distinctly lacked the level of player freedom allowed in Sid Meier's Pirates. I hate to say the funny line, but yeah, this game really does make you FEEL like a ship captain. While I've never been interested in the turn-based nature of the Civilization series, the real-time strategy involved in the combat here is far more engaging, and the management aspects involved in maintaining a healthy ship and crew over extended periods of time felt highly immersive. Discovering legendary pirates, buried treasure, lost cities, etc. are all highlights to the experience which provides so much hidden content. This game definitely holds a special place in my heart from my childhood, and I really wish that modern pirate games would take lessons from this one.

This game was awesome, I enjoyed sailing my ship around and destroying my enemies!

Every game is different and there are several different components and strategies to trial

It's a classic I fell in love with waaaaaaaay back on a Commodore 64. Still holds my interest. :)

I played this way back in the day on the original Xbox and it's still the goofy and fun game I loved. It could be nostalgia talking but I think the game looked better and was more fun on the Xbox, minus the dancing mini-games of course.

Even if it's true and the xbox version is better you can't mod it and dowloading custom flags and a dance automation game modification more than make up for it.

Some personal challenges to expand the playability are as follows:
1. Stick with your starting ship as long as possible.
2. Ditch your cannons and go for a melee only build.
3. Focus on cannons as much as possible and avoid melee.
4. Be practical and regularly change ships. Sailing east is annoying because of the wind, if I'm in a rush I'll switch to a sloop (it has invisible oars to go upwind) and literally sell my flagship, even if I have something like a Brig of War or a frigate. Don't get attached to ships.
5. Don't load a save when you lose, accept the consequences.

no game today can have such a charm. such a fun game