We Love It's Guide to…
Start as a small-ship captain, then trade, explore, fight at sea, and build a fleet to seize islands.
Released 24 Feb 2026
Build a Pirate Fleet
Adjust Cannon Shots
Bombard and Invade Islands
The perfect blend of Action, Adventure and RTS. Begin your journey as the lowly captain of a small vessel. End as the commander of a threatening fleet. Rise to glory how you see fit. Trade, fight, recruit, grow, pillage, ally, destroy & conquer.
Developed by IrishJohnGames · Published by MicroProse Software









Rise of Piracy is a campaign sandbox in which you begin as a captain with a small ship and limited funds. You can take missions, trade, hunt for treasure, fight as a pirate, or build relations with the factions you encounter.
Sea battles let you command ships directly or use an RTS-style view to direct your fleet. Recruit crews, expand your fleet, board or sink rival vessels, and adjust cannon aim and powder to shape your shots.
Explore a hand-crafted world, discover new locations, and build your standing and wealth through your chosen activities. You can bombard island defenses and send troops ashore to capture settlements, while diplomacy and changing faction relations shape the campaign.
Players who enjoy the game often praise its mix of open-ended pirate activities, fleet growth, and naval combat, with some appreciating the option to trade or explore rather than focus on piracy. Several reviewers say it recalls classic pirate games. Others find the current experience rough or unfinished, particularly its land battles and combat systems.

Rise of Piracy focuses heavily on progression and growth. In your campaign, you will first be given a small ship and a handful of coin. Complete missions and find treasure to build your economic strength and relations with the other factions. You can also choose to fight, boarding or sinking other vessels for loot. Build up your fleet of ships and their crews to take on the most challenging tasks such as capture islands of various strength and composition. Defeating large colonial fleets in grand scale naval warfare. Hunt pirates or long lost treasures. Uncovering mysterious lands filled with dangers as you go.
Everything in Rise of Piracy is carefully hand-crafted to be a new experience and challenge, no procedural generation. Every building in is destructible, allowing you to level an island from afar via bombardment from your fleet before sending your crews as landing parties to conquer them. Talk to mayors of settlements and captains of fleets to uncover hidden lands, or find them yourself through exploration and investigation.
Piracy is optional. Choose to trade with over 200 commodities that can be found scattered around the world. Ports with specialized trading routes and dedicated merchants to trade with. Add trading ships to your fleet to maximize your transportation potential. Build relations with other factions to increase your trading effectiveness. Engaging in war, hunting bounties, or seeking hidden treasures are also viable means of building your bank.
A deep diplomacy system allows relationships to grow between all factions. Engage in diplomacy with every faction you meet. NPC factions will go to war with one another and their assets will change hands. Changing the balance of powers can impact your play-style, increasing warship activity, and blocking trade routes.
Fill your fleet with a large variety of playable ships from the 1600s - 1900s, from the light and fast Sloop to the tremendous firepower but limited maneuverability that comes with the 120 Gun ship of the Line. Taverns provide a great place to hire crewmen for your fleet. Fill your ships with specialized crew. Use them to board hostile ships, or invading and capturing islands to secure passive income. Hostile actions will have consequences amongst the factions - fleets of pirate hunters are constantly seeking bounties. Campaign difficulty will grow dynamically and remain challenging no matter how strong players get.
| Platforms | Windows |
|---|---|
| Achievements | 23 |
| Age ratings |
|
| Controller required | No |
| DRM / EULA |
|
| Website | Official website |