7 Sailing Games That Bring the High Seas to Your PC (2026)

The best sailing games on PC right now are Sea of Thieves, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, Windrose, Sailwind, Sailaway III, World of Sea Battle and Raft. As the viravira team, we have personally played and reviewed the best nautical and ship-themed games available on PC. Some of them are pirate adventures you play with friends, while others are proper sailing sims where you trim the sails and read the wind yourself. We’ve rebuilt this list for 2026 around what people are actually playing on Steam, and you’ll find release dates, game modes and free options in the table below.

Note: We selected the games in this guide based on international search trends and player interests, with a stronger focus on sailing games and simulators. Our Turkish guide covers a broader range of maritime, ship, and pirate-themed games, reflecting local interests. As a result, the games featured in each version may differ.

Best Sailing Games at a Glance

All details come from each game’s Steam store page.

Game	Type	Release date	How you play	Free to play	Link
Sea of Thieves	Pirate adventure	2018 (Steam: June 3, 2020)	Online, solo or with a crew	No	Steam
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced	Pirate action adventure	July 9, 2026	Single-player	No	Steam
Windrose	Pirate survival	April 14, 2026 (Early Access)	Solo or co-op	No	Steam
Sailwind	Sailing sim with survival	October 18, 2021 (Early Access)	Single-player	No	Steam
Sailaway III	Realistic sailing sim	November 1, 2024	Online, solo or with friends	No	Steam
World of Sea Battle	Age of Sail MMO	October 21, 2025 (Early Access)	Online	Yes	Steam
Raft	Ocean survival	June 20, 2022	Solo or co-op	No	Steam

1. Sea of Thieves

If you only play one game on this list, make it Sea of Thieves. Developed by Rare and published by Xbox Game Studios, it came out in 2018 and arrived on Steam in June 2020. There’s no fixed role or main quest. You and your crew pick a ship, set the sails, take turns at the wheel and head off to hunt for treasure on deserted islands.

Other crews share the same sea, and you decide whether they’re friends or targets. Krakens and Megalodons turn up too. New seasons land every three months with free content, which goes a long way to explaining why it’s still one of the most reviewed pirate games on Steam years after launch. You can sail solo, but it’s at its best when four friends are trying to keep the same ship afloat. In our experience, crews that agree on who’s steering, who’s on the sails and who’s on repairs before leaving port come out of sea battles in much better shape.

2. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

For a lot of players, the original Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag from 2013 is still the best sailing they’ve had in a game. On July 9, 2026, Ubisoft released Black Flag Resynced, a full remake. You play Edward Kenway in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy, captaining the Jackdaw, chasing down merchant ships and boarding them mid-battle.

The remake runs on Ubisoft’s current Anvil engine. Naval combat gets new alternate fire modes, and the melee and stealth systems have been rebuilt. There are also new story chapters built around Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. The 2013 original is still on sale, but if you’re new to it, start with Resynced. In our playthrough, putting early resources into the Jackdaw’s hull and cannons paid off quickly, because the tougher naval fights later on get much easier with an upgraded ship.

3. Windrose

Windrose is the pirate game of 2026. Kraken Express launched it in Early Access on Steam on April 14, and it sold a million copies in its first six days. It’s set in an alternate Age of Piracy, and you play a captain who’s decided to take on Blackbeard.

At heart it’s a survival game. You gather resources, build a base and explore islands with more than a hundred hand-made dungeons and points of interest. Out at sea, your ship grows from a nimble ketch to a brig and eventually a frigate, and you can win fights with long-range broadsides or by boarding. It works solo or in co-op, and it’s a good next step if you like Sea of Thieves but want more story and progression. When we played, we spent the first few hours building a solid base and upgrading our ship, and the game really opened up once we had a brig to sail.

4. Sailwind

Sailwind is the sailing sim that keeps coming up in YouTube videos and Reddit threads about the best sailing games. Raw Lion Workshop released it in Early Access in October 2021. The sailing physics are realistic, so you have to tack, reef in heavy weather and keep an eye on the wind to find the right angle.

There are six boats to choose from, each with its own size, sail plan and handling. You can take short trips between tropical islands or stock up on food and water and cross the ocean to distant ports. On longer voyages you navigate with instruments, the sun and the stars, and storms are a real threat. Between trips you can run cargo for money or go fishing.

5. Sailaway III

If you want the most realistic sailing simulation you can buy, it’s Sailaway III. Released on November 1, 2024, it’s made by a sailor at Orbcreation with help from a community of sailors around the world. The game world is the real one at full scale, with real weather and real wind, so a circumnavigation takes months of real time.

It ships with two boats, a 38-foot cruiser and a Nordic Folkboat, and the rest are designed and sold by other players. You can learn celestial navigation with the built-in sextant, see the airflow over your sails as you trim them, and join races run by virtual sailing clubs. It’s less of a game and more of a hobby, and that’s exactly why sailors like it.

6. World of Sea Battle

World of Sea Battle is a free-to-play MMO set in the Age of Sail, and it’s the best free option on this list. Thera Interactive launched it on Steam in Early Access on October 21, 2025. You start in a small schooner and work your way up to a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line, with more than 50 historical ships from the 16th to the 19th centuries along the way.

Wind matters in combat. You have to pick your moment for a broadside, and you can choose between round shot for the hull, bar shot for the sails and grapeshot for the crew. If that’s not enough, you can board the enemy. Outside of battle you can trade goods between regions, sell on a player-run market and join a guild fighting for territory.

7. Raft

Raft is one of the most played ocean games on Steam. You start out stranded on a tiny raft in the middle of the ocean with nothing but a plastic hook. You use it to grab floating debris, then expand your raft, fight off thirst and hunger, and keep an eye on the shark circling below.

Over time your raft turns into a floating home, and once you’ve built a sail you can steer it towards new islands and the last traces of civilisation. Redbeet Interactive launched Raft in Early Access in 2018, and the full version came out on June 20, 2022. It’s fine solo, but much more fun in co-op.

Bonus: More Sailing and Boat Games Worth a Look

Finished the seven above, or looking for something different? These are worth a look too.

Free sailing games you can play online

• VibeSail: A free 3D sailing simulator that runs in your browser on desktop or mobile, with no download. It has daily races and a sail-trim tutorial for beginners.
• Virtual Regatta: Lets you race major offshore events such as the Vendée Globe in real time, alongside hundreds of thousands of other players. You can play on a computer, phone or tablet.
• AC Sailing (April 9, 2024): The official game of the America’s Cup e-Series, made by Emirates Team New Zealand and free on Steam. You race AC40 foiling yachts in fleets of up to eight players.

Ship and boat games

• World of Warships (2015): A free naval combat game with more than 800 ships from the first half of the 20th century, from destroyers to battleships and aircraft carriers.
• Seafarer: The Ship Sim (September 24, 2026): A ship captain sim set in Northern Europe, with cargo runs, rescues and firefighting. Up to four players can crew together.
• Stormworks: Build and Rescue (September 17, 2020): Design your own boats and helicopters block by block, then use them to run a sea rescue service in rough weather.
• DREDGE (March 30, 2023): A single-player fishing adventure. By day you fish and upgrade your trawler, and by night the fog brings things you’d rather not meet.

From the Screen to the Sea

These games capture a lot of what makes sailing special, but none of them quite matches the real thing. If you’d like to feel the wind for yourself, you can charter a boat along the Mediterranean coast for a day or a full week. Take a look at our yacht charter options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

1. Steam store pages: Sea of Thieves, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, Windrose, Sailwind, Sailaway III, World of Sea Battle, Raft, AC Sailing
2. Gematsu (April 2026): Windrose Early Access sales top one million in six days
3. Vendée Globe: Virtual Regatta
4. VibeSail: Free online sailing simulator