

Both Blackwake and Tempest both manage to pin down aspects of a good pirate game, but both fall a bit short of delivering the whole package.

2016’s Tempest is a Singleplayer title that wins points for it’s atmospheric style and inclusion of magical elements to mix up the gameplay, but falls down with the story and lacklustre melee combat. It has a lot of good things going for it, although it’s hard to ignore that it was created by a tiny team on a limited budget, and players may be looking for a game with more money behind it. Blackwake is a fun multiplayer arena style ship to ship combat game where each player acts individually on their vessel to load cannons, fire broadsides, repair damage and pump out water, as well as engage in boarding actions.
BLACKWAKE INITIAL RELEASE DATE SERIES
Similarly, the Monkey Island series is immensely popular, but having to go back that far to find a successful pirate themed title demonstrates the issue. Sid Meier’s Pirates holds a special place in a lot of people’s hearts, but it’s a 2004 remake of a game from the 80s. For other examples with merit you need to look either to the indie scene or far back enough to remember some classics. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is an excellent singleplayer RPG with a compelling story, but this falls more into traditional RPG territory with some pirate elements thrown in, and the naval combat is usually seen as one of the game’s weaker aspects. There are a few other success stories that are notable. If a game can be a title with a primary focus on something other than being a pirate, but still be cited as one of the best games for pirate fun, why can’t a purely pirate themed game pull this off? Rather ironically, it’s often suggested as a good pirate game to play if you can bothered to go through the Assassin’s Creed stuff (note: the story and non-pirate related gameplay isn’t necessarily poor, but holding no interest in the series might put you off playing it if you are just looking for fun on the high seas). This entry in the franchise often tops lists of good pirate games, despite the fact that the pirate aspects are secondary to it being an Assassin’s Creed title. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is an interesting example. The few standout successes also show that the execution of such a title is feasible.

It’s not that these games are not being made, we can demonstrate that demand is there, but more often than not these games end up being failures rather than successes. The lack of solid titles in this setting makes it feel as though game developers have all the pieces to build something amazing, but someone has misplaced the assembly manual. Despite, what on paper is, a fantastic setting for a video game, there seems to be a distinct lack of quality pirate themed games out there. Normally pirate curses refer to treasure hoards that will bring misfortune upon those who steal the gold, but there seems to be a different kind of pirate curse affecting the video game world.
