Pirates are having a moment again in gaming, thanks to the survival adventure Windrose. But that’s not the only promising swashbuckler on the horizon—the survival-strategy hybrid Pirate Commander stands out in particular.

Okay, okay—now it’s official: Mainstream Outside hasn’t even been live for a month, and this digital rag is already joining the fake-news crowd. 👌 Because technically, Pirate Commander has been sitting on my wishlist since August 30, 2022. So calling this "new on my wishlist" is, strictly speaking, nonsense.

But: I’m not about to launch a whole new format called "Not New on My Wishlist" just for this and maybe a few other games. So in Pirate Commander’s case, I’m making an exception; also because games like this rarely show up on the Caribbean freebooter horizon.

And yep, it’s quite different from Salt 2: Shores of Gold (simple, but wonderful), Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii or Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates, all of which came out more recently. Anyway, how exactly is it different? That’s what the next section is for.

What’s Pirate Commander about?

The first thing that jumps out about Pirate Commander is its camera work, especially one perspective in particular. Even though the game is rendered in 3D, one of its main views is a side-on cutaway that strips the pirate crew of every last shred of privacy. You get to see the entire ship in cross-section: upper deck, lower decks, captain’s cabin—the whole tub laid bare.

Obviously, the point of this perspective isn’t to annoy criminal seafarers—it’s a strategic view. At its core, Pirate Commander is all about crew management, resource management, and ship management. In other words: exactly the kind of stuff that requires a captain to keep a close eye on their floating nutshell. And yes, that captain is you, the player. Obviously.

Trauma and micromanagement

When it comes to managing your crew, it’s not just your fellow pirates’ physical health that matters, but their mental state too. The details are still under wraps, but judging by the giant killer kraken attack in the screenshot below, I wouldn’t be shocked if even the toughest bastards needed therapy afterward. Maybe there’s a peg-legged ship’s psychologist on board? Then again... back in those days, they’d probably just hand you a bottle of rum.

Either way, you can talk to your crew members—so you might end up taking over rum’s job yourself. Their mental condition also ties into a morale system, and I’m guessing crew morale depends on more than just making sure there’s enough food to go around.

Speaking of that: along with gentle pats on the head, your crew naturally also needs food, drinking water, medicine, sleep, weapons, and ammunition. You’ll find all of that (except sleep 😉), plus other ship upgrades, in ports—and successful boarding actions should cough up useful loot too.

Yes, boarding is definitely in the game, as is manual cannon aiming (see the screenshot below) and combat between ship crews. What still isn’t clear is how much direct control you’ll have during those brawls; whether fights play out without hands-on input, or more like Sid Meier’s Pirates, for example.

Looks great, but is there a story?

Pirate Commander is also described as a sandbox game with treasure hunts, which could point to a "free mode", or to there simply not being much of a story. The only thing that seems certain right now is that you get to decide what kind of role you want to play: feared pirate or protector of the weak. No concrete main characters have been introduced so far.

Why Pirate Commander is on my wishlist

Honestly, it wasn’t Sid Meier’s Pirates that got me hooked on pirate games. That really only happened later with Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, though I sorely missed the RPG elements there. So whenever a new pirate RPG gets announced, I’m instantly up on my hind legs with excitement.

Now, Pirate Commander only has RPG elements, and I’m not exactly some strategy mastermind either—my limits are more along the lines of Black & White or Tropico. But with its presentation and all the different systems in play, this pirate thing pushed every right button for me. Just watch it in motion below. Absolutely lovely.

I am a little worried, though, because the last devlog is almost a year old. On the other hand, there was a playtest in March last year, and I’m reassuring myself with the thought that once a project has come that far, there usually aren’t that many reasons left to pull the plug. So here’s hoping for the best.