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Getting acquainted with sea water, the wind and sails is more than just super-pleasant in real life. A lot of games are perfectly able to use nautical themes, crossing the oceans aboard ships or in boats as well as even rafts. Before you is a list of the best titles where we can go wild in such a way, while waiting for the release of Skull and Bones, which was postponed again and will hit the market in March 2023. In the following, we will introduce 10 best sailing games in which you can try out different boats and ships.
10- Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition
Spiritfarer may be the game least centered on the sailing process itself of this list (just choose a point on the map and the ship will set sail on its own). In the game, however, where we assume the role of a “carrier of souls”, replacing Charon, there are some cool themes of expanding the structures aboard our water base – thus adding rooms for more guests and passengers, for example.
The entire story, without sea skirmishes, is delightfully relaxing and at the same time can be touching, turning this title into one of the best sailing games you can play right now.
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9- Assassin’s Creed Rogue Remastered
Assassin’s Creed Rogue has fallen far short of the momentum and innovation of Black Flag, yet it’s still a pretty enjoyable bundle of new challenges for fans of nautical atmospheres and sailing games. Undoubtedly, the title is a clone of the ideas, atmosphere and storylines from Black Flag, but these are still a decent chunk of fun for those who are looking for more fun under the sails and naval battles in an Ubisoft edition.
8- The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
The best thing in Wind Waker is sailing the Great Sea in a boat called The King of Red Lions. This has all the flavor of exploration, and the world of this installment of The Legend Of Zelda demands that the player adjust to changing weather conditions.
At the same time, water travel can be expedited from the HD release of the game on Wii U by obtaining a special sail. An important note, by the way: recently there have been leaks that Nintendo is going to introduce a Wind Waker remaster for Switch. That would be awesome and very well appreciated by the fans of sailing games!
7- Raft
Raft is a survival game on a raft, that after being left in the Early Access stage for many years, was released in version 1.0 and in the process made, in June 2022, a splash on Steam, not coming off the bestseller lists for weeks. Such a turn of events is hardly surprising, because this building of better and better floating platforms pulls you in with the force of a hurricane.
The adventure begins at the mercy and disfavor of the wind, but in time we will unlock, among other things, the engine that will make us freely traverse the islands of this open world, and feel like true explorers and not struggling for survival passengers of a drifting pile of broken boards. Raft is undoubtedly one of the greatest sailing games you can play in 2023.
6- Windbound
Windbound is, in the briefest of terms, a fusion of the sailing from Wind Waker with the collecting and exploration themes from Breath of the Wild. It is a highly successful fusion! Fighting is not the strongest here, but sailing is exceptionally good in Windbound – the mechanics of this activity were significantly developed compared to, for example, Wind Waker.
To catch the wind in the sail of our boat was executed in Windbound in a surprisingly convincing way. Exploring successive islands of the archipelago, where we can find raw materials needed to improve the steered boat, is also a good experience. All in all, many sailing games fans will enjoy playing this game.
5- eSail Sailing Simulator
The discussions never cease as to which game is the better modern sailboat/yacht simulator: eSail or Sailaway? For us, we are inclined to the former one. eSail features better realized cameras, which allow us to constantly check what’s going on with the sails and simultaneously presents excellent educational value, even instructing how to safely dock or anchor our boat.
Naturally, the crucial factors in this simulator are the varying weather conditions and, ultimately, the proper plotting of the course on the map. For those fans of sailing games that are looking for a perfect simulator, eSail is the best option.
4- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Trimmings, beautiful graphics, sunny Hellada! Ubisoft has actually taken the themes of ancient sea battles from Assassin’s Creed Origins and turned it up a notch, to the extent that you can boldly spend several hours just sailing across the Aegean and Ionian Seas in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, completely forgetting about fighting on foot.
What tastes so good here are sea battles with the dangerous mercenaries, and in particular the traditional ancient battle tactic of battering. Players also have at their disposal exciting options for upgrading the ship, not just with combat potential, but with great ornaments, such as figures attached to the bow of this agile fighting craft.
3- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Black Flag is centered on a pirate theme, taking place in the 18th-century Caribbean. We can confidently say that Ubisoft has delivered all the way here, doing this corsair entourage fantastically. Almost 40 percent of the fun in Black Flag is related to the themes of sailing the Jackdaw ship. These sailing may be far from finesse – the ship is behaving somewhat arcade-like, as if it were a speedboat.
Despite all this, the naval battles, boardings, upgrades of the ship and the whole atmosphere related to the era and the place of the action were so well executed in Ubisoft’s work that it’s hard to ignore them. Should you like nautical themes, shanties and the whole environment associated with pirate life, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is a “must-have” for sailing games fans.
2- Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thieves not only is a great online pirate smash, which rewards good collaboration of close-knit teams. In fact, this production features a surprisingly pleasant ship driving experience, which requires proper sail handling, anchor raising/lowering or judicious navigation in difficult conditions, such as storms. All of this is accompanied by perfect sound effects, featuring realistic creaking of ropes, rumbling of sails or wooden groans of the hull, plagued by mighty sea waves.
The developers of Sea of Thieves should be praised for their intensive development and long-term support of this pirate adventure. The game, which is available on Xbox Game Pass, has seen many great updates, exciting new locations and fresh features, including the ability to decorate the captain’s cabin with your own ideas.
1- Sid Meier’s Pirates! (2004)
The Sid Meier’s Pirates! is a classic worth playing in any edition, including the oldest. Sid Meier’s masterpiece lived to see a great remake in 2004, produced by Firaxis, which is currently the most highly recommended title for fans of sailing games. One reason is that it also fires up on new versions of Windows with no problems.
When you start this gem, a real sandbox will open before you, offering amazing freedom of action – not just merchant and battle (we get turn-based land battles and great ship skirmishes!), but even social (mini-dance game). It tastes great in Pirates! to expand your fleet and upgrade your ships with such items as stronger sails, chain cannonballs or additional spaces in cabins, which increase the size of your crew. The game has a delightfully high “replayability” at the same time, prompting multiple playthroughs.
