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What are the best PC games where you play as the captain of a ship who manages the crew and the ship?

10

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Considered

14

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Recs.

Oct 22, 2023

Last
Updated

10 Games Considered

Best PC games where you play as the captain of a ship who manages the crew and the ship	Price	Platforms	Genre
-- FTL: Faster Than Light	$9.99	Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS	Roguelite
-- Sea of Thieves	$59.99	Xbox One, Windows	Action-Adventure, Multiplayer
-- Sunless Sea	$18.99	-	-
-- Guns of Icarus Online	$9.99	-	-
-- Star Wolves	$3.99	-	-

FTL: Faster Than Light

Top Pro

Allows for highly strategic gameplay

The rougelike game design combined with the huge amount of choices that can be made in both encounters as well as ship management makes FTL a highly strategic game as you never quite know what the game is going to throw at you. There are many decisions that can be made in the game, such as what parts of an enemy ship to target (their shields, their weapons) or where to concentrate your defensive strategies, such as powering up an ion engine to run, or powering up ones shields to stay and fight. These choices can all effect the final outcome of the game, so it is up to the player to make the best decisions at their disposal. There are also many choices of ships to use and equipment layouts for each that can be tweaked. Depending on the ship used and what equipment is used or where it is place can greatly affect how the game will play out as well as how the game will need to be played. If choosing a fast ship with low shield power, it will be best to outrun a lot of encounters. Where as if choosing a slow ship with good gun capabilities and a high shield power, a good strategy would be to go in guns blazing for each encounter. See More

Top Con

Can be pretty difficult

The amount of choices to be made (many not being good ones) and the randomization of the game makes for a situation that may be too difficult for some. This is not a game that you will beat in one play session nor 10, it takes a lot of time to get in a good run that results in winning, which some people may not have patience for. See More

Specs

Genre:Roguelite

Co-Op:Single player

Top Pro

Morality based decisions

The game works a lot like a text adventure in a roguelike wrapper. The decisions asked of the player during this adventure can affect much of the stories plot, making for an interactive story through choices such as telling aliens you are a god in order to potentially receive less trouble in your encounter with them, to abducting aliens in order to sell them for a profit. One choice may appeal to the player more than another, it also provides a way to role play as a morally bankrupt space captain. All in all though this is all up to the player, which can be really fun to see what may happen. See More

Top Con

Late game battles are long and boring

In the later parts of the game battles are very long which can make for a bit of a boring experience, especially for those that would rather be exploring than spending so much time on battles. See More

Top Pro

Has modding support

There are multiple mods available for FTL that can greatly change up the gameplay and looks of the game. This adds a lot of replayability to the title. See More

Top Con

Lackluster interface on iPad

The weapons panel often covers up vital information on ones crew health. The problem being that this panel needs to be on screen when in a battle, which is also the exact time that crew health is very important. See More

Top Pro

Stress free timely decision making

The game can be paused at any time, which allows for one to contemplate their next move in the game. This makes for a less stressful experience since one can leisurely make their decisions without it impacting the gameplay. See More

Sea of Thieves

Top Pro

The water looks absolutely incredible

Standing on the port of your ship and looking out over the water makes you feel like you're really standing on a real ship in the ocean. Utilizing the Unreal 4 engine to full capacity, the water itself looks fantastic, with great shimmering effects as waves gently roll or violently crash. Sea foam froths and the sun illuminates the water below. It's some of the best looking water in any game to date and helps immerse you in the world of pirates and ships, as the game world is largely made up of being on the water or surrounded by it. See More

Top Con

Lore can be hard to follow without outside sources

Without the lore book or comic book, characters and lore may be hard to follow. To understand the legends and characters properly, you will most likely need to read from outside sources simply due to the sheer amount of the lore the game tries to tackle. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure, Multiplayer

Top Pro

Exploring the huge open world is exciting with a lot of content

For those who enjoy exploration and games without restrictions on travel, there is a lot to see and do here. The game is mainly an open world where you are free to sail your ship around in any direction you choose and explore the various islands at your own leisure. There are reputations to grind, quests from 3 different companies, forts to conquer, shipwrecks to scavenge, and islands to plunder for their treasure. The game world itself is huge, giving you the freedom to traverse it and discover it's secrets at will. See More

Top Con

The look of outfits, ship upgrades, and weapons are cosmetic only

The various outfits, ship upgrades, and weapons require you to spend gold in-game, but they are cosmetic only. This can be a huge turn off after saving up a bunch of gold for a shiny new weapon, only to find it's purely cosmetic and doesn't add to any kind of stat pool. See More

Top Pro

A lot of unique ways to customize the look of your pirate

You can outfit your character in a variety of different costumes and outfits, including hook hands, hats, eye patches, and bandanas. While some are open to anyone with the gold or reputation, sometimes the game will put special items on a vendor just for your play style. For example, if you spend a lot of time killing other players, the game will recognize this by putting special items on vendors that you can purchase to denote you are a bloodthirsty pirate who does a lot of PvP. If you want to be the biggest, baddest looking pirate around, there's plenty of ways to unlock the look you want. See More

Top Pro

Controlling the pirate ship together provides a great co-op experience

When playing with friends, you can all control the pirate ship together. The sails need someone to control them so that the ship is able to take advantage of wind to propel itself forward. Another in the role of captain may be steering the ship as it rolls over salty ocean waves. A friend might also opt to climb up to the crow's nest to keep an eye out for other ships on the prowl. Additionally, someone will have to be making repairs on the ship with wooden planks or bailing with buckets if the deck takes on water. Working together to control the ship works well and encourages a level of team work that is very conducive to fun co-op play. See More

Top Pro

The ship battles are intense

Other players and their crews can attack you on the open waters in PvP combat, as well as AI skeletal crews with varying strengths and weaknesses, sometimes with little to no warning. This results in some pretty intense and epic battles where authentic pirate warfare comes into play. Battling involves the coordination of your entire crew as things can get extremely hectic really quickly. Someone will have to run below deck to grab the cannonballs, while another loads them in the cannons and shoots at the enemy. Others may be using buckets to bail out water after your ship takes damage and starts to sink. You'll have to manage damage to your ship while also protecting yourself from enemy attacks. You can even grab your pistol and sword and jump aboard the enemy ship, swinging and shooting your way to victory. Keep in mind, the enemy will also try to board your ship and cut you down, so you'll always have to stay alert and react on the fly. Overall, the ship battles are done incredibly well, require teamwork due to offensive and defensive aspects such as shooting cannons and bailing water, and are loaded with fast paced and intense action. See More

Top Pro

Rare and random events keep everyone on their toes

For example, your ship may be attacked by a huge Kraken. This can happen anytime or anywhere you're on the open seas. The water bubbles and turns black, the sign of a big and deadly sea monster approaching. Eventually it will be attacking your ship, attempting to drag your ship and your crew down into the depths. You'll have to fend it off and unleash all your firepower on it if you want it to release your ship so you can safely sail away. This can be especially dramatic if you're hauling back a large amount of loot to sell off. Because of the completely random nature of these events and their ability to easily sink an unprepared ship, you will have to stay alert and on your toes at all times. See More

Top Pro

Hours of content thanks to the the Voyage system

Due to the variety of the voyages and three different factions, things stay fresh and fun for quite some time resulting in quite a bit of content to play through as you sail your ship towards loot and infamy. The game centers around a quest system, called voyages, which works incredibly well to provide hours of content. Completing these voyages will allow you to build your reputation and earn gold, which in turn, will allow you embark on even more dangerous and exciting voyages, sometimes with multiple parts and their own ministory. Voyages include sailing your ship on the rough seas to your destination, and then finally following your map to the treasure. But there are a lot of variables involved. Getting attacked at sea, various enemies, islands with different layouts, traps on the treasure chests, and other obstacles are between you and your goal at all times, with each voyage being distinctly different so you'll never be doing the same thing twice. See More

Sunless Sea

RickZeeland's Experience

Now on offer on Steam for only 6,45€ See More

Guns of Icarus Online

Top Pro

Everyone has a role to fill

In this game the player is stuck with a crew of strangers in an airship and the goal is to keep it from blowing out of the sky. To avoid this, everyone has a role to fill. Someone steers the ship, someone mans the guns, and someone has to repair the ship if anything happens to it. If a player fails to do their duty, everything fails. See More

Top Con

Each class can get boring quickly

Tasks are divided into three categories (Engineering, Gunning and Navigating), they are done by engineers, gunners and the captain whose task is to fly the airship and give commands. While all of these classes are fun in their own right, the fact that they are so focused in their duty makes them a bit stale in the long-term and it's easy to go through and get bored of each of them. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Visually stunning battlefields

Battles are fought in massive open-air arenas which currently consist of a handful of different environments including post-apocalyptic debris-filled deserts, snowy mountaintops, foggy islands and ocean side views. All of these environments have one thing in common, they are absolutely stunning as far as visuals go. See More

Top Con

Narrow scope of content

The small number of maps and game modes makes the scope of this game seem pretty narrow. And even though there are varying types of objectives and game modes, they are pretty similar to one another. See More

Top Pro

Six different types of airships

There are six different types of airship that can be chosen, each with their own distinct visual design and maneuverability. See More

Top Pro

Customizable gun loadouts

Ship captains can customize the loadout of their airship and choose different gun types which range from harpoons to flamethrowers, machine guns, cannons, and rocket launchers. See More

Naval Action

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Negative

Into the Stars

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Negative

Star Trek: Bridge Commander

Diluvion

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

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