I did not realize this, but there are a lot of pirate-themed games on Steam. I discovered this little piece of trivia because tomorrow, September 19, is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and that means—you guessed it—it's time for a Steam sale.
Some of the games in the sale are straight-ahead pirate games, which others are more of a stretch: Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, for instance, is a party-based fantasy RPG from Obsidian, but you're exploring islands aboard a big saililng ship, and so it's in. (It's also half price.) The Tropico games are also in there, as are Solar Sails—pirates in space!—and something called Girls' Civilization 2 VR, although it's not actually out yet.
My favorite of the bunch, though, has to be V ARRR, an HTC Vive game about defending your ship from pirates. User reviews on Steam are mixed, but the title alone is worth the purchase price. (It's on sale for $1.)
Here are some slightly more serious suggestions:
- Sea of Thieves ($28/£25/€28, 30 percent off—you can also get it for 50 percent off on the Microsoft Store, if you're willing to put up with the Microsoft Store)
- Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag ($7/£6/€7, 67 percent off)
- The whole Monkey Island collection (69 percent off, price will vary depending on which games in the bundle you already own)
- Maelstrom – (it's a free-to-play naval battle royale, but quite good)
- Sid Meier's Pirates! ($3/£2/€3, 75 percent off—This the newer one by the way, but if you want the OP experience, it's also on sale)
- Abandon Ship ($18/£14/€16, 30 percent off)
There's quite a bit more—there really are a lot of pirate games on Steam—so it's worth a browse if you're looking for something new to play. The Steam Pirate Sale is live now and runs until 10 am PT/1 pm ET on September 21.