Games to Play if You Love Windrose

Many people have long dreamt of sailing the high seas as an adventurous 18th century pirate, and while there have been several enthralling pirate-themed films and shows over the years, the best way for most people to experience the pirate life today is through video games.

One of the most captivating and surprising pirate games to release in years is Kraken Express' debut, early-access, survival adventure title Windrose, which has players create their very own pirate in an alternate Age of Piracy as they set off alone or with friends on a swashbuckling journey in search of treasure and glory.

Windrose has quickly become one of the most popular and fastest selling games of 2026 despite being an early-access game only available on PC currently, but there are many other similar games in terms of gameplay and world design that fans of this PvE game should strive to check out in between Windrose voyages.

10 Return to Monkey Island

A Classic Swashbuckling Tale

Pirates video games often range in quality, tone, and gameplay design, but one pirate-focused series that has remained consistently fun and hilarious for over 35 years is Monkey Island, with its most recent entry being Return to Monkey Island.

A point-and-click adventure game similar to its predecessors, Return to Monkey Island has players once again inhabit the clumsy boots of series protagonist Guybrush Threepwood as he strives to solve puzzles and discover the true secret of Monkey Island before inadvertently getting caught up in hilarious scenarios and situations with pirates.

While Return to Monkey Island doesn't play or look like Windrose at all, it's still a perfect, funny, and emotional celebration of one of the first and greatest pirate gaming franchises of all time and any gamer who is a fan of pirates should try at least one Monkey Island game in their lives.

9 Dredge

Lovecraftian Exploration

At first glance, Windrose may seem like a fairly realistic pirate game, but it actually features numerous fantastic elements primarily seen through its monstrous enemies, such as the zombie-like drowned sailors and magical ghost captains like Israel Hands.

If Windrose players wanted to explore a more supernatural sea, Dredge would be a perfect game to check out as it centers around a modern fisherman sailing around the coastal town of Greater Marrow as he investigates a mysterious fog surrounding the area.

Dredge isn't a pirate game by any means, but it's still a fantastic nautical game with fun third-person exploration aboard the fishing boat with an intriguingly dark story and increasingly dangerous aquatic horrors players will encounter as they play the game, such as phantom sharks, giant crabs, and giant angler fish.

8 LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean

Disney's Greatest Pirate Game

Fans of Windrose are likely fans of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, and while there have been several games based on the series over the years, the best one is still Traveller's Tales' LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean.

Much like TT's other older LEGO titles, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is a slapstick comedy adaptation of the first four Caribbean films in LEGO form, with people being able to play as practically every character seen in the films as they solve puzzles and take part in easy-to-understand third-person combat.

While LEGO Pirates doesn't let people control the Black Pearl or any other pirate or naval ship, it's still one of TT's most underrated LEGO games, as the use of silent, slapstick comedy works perfectly well with Jack Sparrow's mannerisms, and it features a ton of fun nods to the franchise that fans will love, such as gaining access to the original Pirates ride from Disneyland.

7 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Link's Aquatic Adventure

Some core aspects of Windrose are sailing around, discovering new islands, confronting other pirates and hostile creatures, and exploring ancient ruins, and another great game that features all of these elements is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Wind Waker is very different from most of the other Legend of Zelda games, as it not only features a more cartoonish design and follows a young Toon Link centuries after The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but has Link explore a flooded Hyrule aboard the small, living sailboat called the King of Red Lions.

Despite these differences to LOZ norms, Wind Waker remains one of the best entries in the LOZ franchise, largely thanks to how fun it is to explore and sail to each island on top of the rising hero's journey of Toon Link as he strives to defeat a revived Ganondorf and save his loved ones.

6 Sail Forth

A Cozy Seafaring Voyage

Windrose is a highly impressive early-access game, especially in regard to its visuals, gameplay, and online co-op, but if players are looking for a more cozy, laid-back pirate experience, they'll have to look no farther than Festive Vector's Sail Forth.

A single-player, third-person, action-adventure game, Sail Forth has players take the role of a shipwrecked captain who sets off to explore 12 aquatic regions and build a fleet of ships with distinct crew members which can be used to fight pirates and giant sea monster bosses such as the hydra-like Magma Leviathan.

Sail Forth doesn't allow players to go ashore and explore islands on foot, but it more than makes up for it by featuring a ton of other mechanics, such as collecting land items with hooks, fishing, ship customization and upgrading, and mastering the sailing gameplay itself.

5 Valheim

Windrose's Closest Counterpart

Most of Windrose's marketing is centered around ship battles, boarding actions, and fighting other pirates, but a large chunk of the game is actually centered around survival mechanics such as gathering materials to upgrade ships and outposts, and hunting local wildlife.

In fact, there's such a heavy emphasis on survival gameplay that Windrose is more akin to its fellow early-access game Valheim, which is a third-person survival game set in the titular Norse afterlife realm that follows slain Vikings as they strive to reach Valhalla.

Being a Norse Viking game, there are no 18th century pirates to be found in Valheim, but both games do feature fairly robust seafaring mechanics, a wide range of mythical creatures to fight, and engaging crafting mechanics, making Valheim a perfect game for Windrose players who want to travel back further in time.

4 Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Yakuza's Most Bizarre Entry

The Yakuza series is best known for featuring some of the best crime drama in open world games, which made the initial reveal of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii in 2024 all the more perplexing and intriguing.

Unlike most Yakuza games, Hawaii is centered around sword and naval combat, with amnesiac yakuza Goro Majima getting caught up in a spiraling conflict with people dressing up as 18th century pirates and using sailboats to harass island locals and find legendary treasure.

As bizarre as that might sound, Hawaii actually has some of the best naval combat in video games since 2013, and its story is just so delightfully weird that it will grab drama and pirate fans alike instantaneously, just trying to figure out why there are people using swords, flintlocks, and sailboats in the modern day.

3 Skull and Bones

Ubisoft's Ambitious Pirate Multiplayer Game

Following the monumental success of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Ubisoft sought to make a brand-new game based entirely on Black Flag's naval combat and exploration and, after years of delays and reconstruction, this eventually resulted in Skull and Bones.

Set in the late 17th century in the Indian Ocean, Skull and Bones is a primarily multiplayer exploration game following players embodying pirate captains as they set out to hunt aquatic wildlife, take down merchant ships, rival pirates, forts, bosses, and hostile players.

Similar to Sail Forth, Skull and Bones only allows players to go ashore at Sainte-Anne and select islands and ports, with players not able to fight others in sword combat, but the naval combat and exploration of Skull and Bones is great to play and a beautiful time to take part in, especially with friends.

2 Sea of Thieves

Rare's Comical Pirate Journey

Skull and Bones and Windrose are great pirate multiplayer games in their own way, but for a long period of time, Rare's Sea of Thieves reigned supreme as the best pirate multiplayer game ever.

Here, players can sail solo or with up to three other players as they strive to explore islands with treasure maps, fight gigantic sea monsters, take part in seasonal events, or fight opposing players to steal their loot.

While Sea of Thieves does routinely feature expansive updates with its own distinct new ways to play, such as the Sunken Kingdom, it's core gameplay loop of traveling to islands with treasure maps, battling rival ships or monsters, and struggling to repair ships mid-battle is incredibly addictive and a joy to play with friends.

1 Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

The Greatest Pirate Game of All Time

Windrose seems to be on the road to becoming an admirable pirate game and very well may dethrone Sea of Thieves as the best pirate multiplayer game, but it may not be able to dethrone Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag to become the greatest pirate game of all time.

Set in the early 18th century in the West Indies, Black Flag follows Welsh privateer Edward Kenway, Connor's grandfather, as he becomes a pirate captain of a brig called the Jackdaw, forming alliances with other famous pirates, including Black Beard, before inevitably getting caught up in the millennium-long conflict between the Assassins and the Templars.

Black Flag's naval combat drastically improved upon the foundation of Assassin's Creed III, allowing for faster combat and more ways to upgrade and customize the Jackdaw while additionally introducing new mechanics such as whaling, boarding, and exploring underwater shipwrecks with a diving bell, making Black Flag a true pirate's dream.