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Sid Meier's Pirates!
Sail the Caribbean, marauding all on the high seas or ally your ship and crew as a privateer in search of riches - the life you choose is up to you. Face dogged enemies, raid unsuspecting villages, woo fair maidens, avoid capture or dig for buried treasure. Discover what it takes to become one of th
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-08-31 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
107 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“The game gets kind of repetitive even within a short playthrough and not being able to go fast because of the unchanging wind is frustrating, but it's still a fun experience with its music, ship fights, and atmosphere.”
“The game gets kind of repetitive even within a short playthrough and not being able to go fast because of the unchanging wind is frustrating, but it's still a fun experience with its music, ship fights, and atmosphere.”
“If you're looking for a fun little game to play during your downtime, but then end up playing for 5 hours straight without even thinking about it, then Sid Meier's Pirates is that game for you! I bought it during one of…”
11 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“If you're looking for a fun little game to play during your downtime, but then end up playing for 5 hours straight without even thinking about it, then Sid Meier's Pirates is that game for you! I bought it during one of…”
“Pirate simulation at its very best. Nostalgic and fun in an odd way, even though I wasn't familiar with the game until recently. A great modern remake of the original [i]Sid Meier's Pirates![/i] for C-64. Runs fairly…”
“I must say, this is an awesome casual and good pirate game, still going strong after two decades. I bought the original when it was new, the version on steam was my only option to play it again at this point in time, so…”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Pirate simulation at its very best. Nostalgic and fun in an odd way, even though I wasn't familiar with the game until recently. A great modern remake of the original [i]Sid Meier's Pirates![/i] for C-64. Runs fairly…”
“This is one of my favorite classic pirate games. It was running far too fast a couple of years ago on modern hardware and I just tested it out here in May 2026 and while it runs a bit faster than it should, has full…”
“A callback to simpler days. No need for fancy graphics or even internet, this thing just runs and does so very well even on older machines. Very fun, but can be repetitive and is arguably bland. Controls are setup for a…”
5 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Way better than I thought it was going to be. Want to revisit it and beat it on the harder difficulties. Extremely fun”
“Fantastic game. Map is always changing which makes it fun and the player has a high degree of agency for affecting the map on each playthrough.”
“this ♥♥♥♥ is sooooo tuff. i'm an adult and i haven't figured out how to beat the game but that's fine, i think i'll figure it out next time i play. i just think it's super fun going around and being this big bad pirate…”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“The game gets kind of repetitive even within a short playthrough and not being able to go fast because of the unchanging wind is frustrating, but it's still a fun experience with its music, ship fights, and atmosphere.”
“this game has thick latinas 10/10 oh pirate stuff is cool too”
“a classic pirate game in they sid meiers games style a match made in haven. this game has a retro feel but also holds up to todays standerd. there is so many diffrent routs you can take within they game wether you want…”
22 of the 103 reviews raise this · 13 of them still recommend the game.
“The game gets kind of repetitive even within a short playthrough and not being able to go fast because of the unchanging wind is frustrating, but it's still a fun experience with its music, ship fights, and atmosphere.”
“The game gets kind of repetitive even within a short playthrough and not being able to go fast because of the unchanging wind is frustrating, but it's still a fun experience with its music, ship fights, and atmosphere.”
“Pretty Enjoyable.. Lots of content, things to do, and play around with, but the Wind system could be better.”
12 of the 103 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“Pirate simulation at its very best. Nostalgic and fun in an odd way, even though I wasn't familiar with the game until recently. A great modern remake of the original [i]Sid Meier's Pirates![/i] for C-64. Runs fairly…”
“Really good game played the frick out of it when i was younger. Only downside is that it crashes if you alt-tab and the resolution is stuck with blackbars.”
“Well its a good old classic, but it also breaks down constantly on my machine, so quite unplayable.”
10 of the 103 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“This is one of my favorite classic pirate games. It was running far too fast a couple of years ago on modern hardware and I just tested it out here in May 2026 and while it runs a bit faster than it should, has full…”
“This is one of my favorite classic pirate games. It was running far too fast a couple of years ago on modern hardware and I just tested it out here in May 2026 and while it runs a bit faster than it should, has full…”
“A callback to simpler days. No need for fancy graphics or even internet, this thing just runs and does so very well even on older machines. Very fun, but can be repetitive and is arguably bland. Controls are setup for a…”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“I grew up on this game. My friends and I would swap strategies and philosophies on the best ways to make money and what kind of pirates to play as. Even today, I love to go in trying to decide how I am going to dominate…”
“Really good game played the frick out of it when i was younger. Only downside is that it crashes if you alt-tab and the resolution is stuck with blackbars.”
“This is one of my favorite classic pirate games. It was running far too fast a couple of years ago on modern hardware and I just tested it out here in May 2026 and while it runs a bit faster than it should, has full…”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“This is one of my favorite classic pirate games. It was running far too fast a couple of years ago on modern hardware and I just tested it out here in May 2026 and while it runs a bit faster than it should, has full…”
“This is one of my favorite classic pirate games. It was running far too fast a couple of years ago on modern hardware and I just tested it out here in May 2026 and while it runs a bit faster than it should, has full…”
“Well its a good old classic, but it also breaks down constantly on my machine, so quite unplayable.”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 94.4% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“It's over 20 years old and is still the GOAT of pirate games. I wish there was a modern remaster/remake.”
— a player, Steam review · 51 hrs played“[h1]8/10[/h1] Crazy that a game so old still holds up to this day. It was still is very fun open world rpg game. Only thing that still annoys me is forcing the ending and dances are kinda useless.”
— a player, Steam review · 7 hrs played“This game is over 20 years old and is still somehow the best open world pirate rpg ever made As a bonus, I know so much about different classes of ships now”
— a player, Steam review · 39 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | RPG |
| Player tags | Pirates · Open World · RPG · Adventure · Singleplayer · Naval · Sailing · Sandbox · Historical · Strategy · Classic · Economy (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English |
| Official site | http://www.2kgames.com/pirates/pirates/home.php |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP, Pentium® 1.0 GHz or higher, 256 MB RAM, 1.2 GB Free HDD, 64 MB video card* with Hardware T&L support, Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible sound card*, DirectX® version 9.0b (included) or higher * Indicates device should be compatible with DirectX® version 9.0b or higher.