most realistic physics
most aesthetically pleasing sea
most fun to play
most immersive (pun intended (I’ll sea myself out))
most activities available at sea
most variety of sea going vessels
Games with impressive seas that I’ve played so far:
From the Depths — it’s mind-meltingly complex, graphics are mid, and takes a few liberties with physics, but it lets you build your own warships Minecraft-style, including custom cannons, missiles, and air defense.
Gotta go with the old school here, Sid Meier’s Pirates! No water physics, graphics from 2004, etc, but so much fun that I’ve been playing it since the original came out in 1987. Hell, i was playing the 2004 remake just last week even.
If you’re super-into it, have you tried Port Royale 2, which also came out in 2004 and is kind of the same sort of game on the age-of-sail combat side?
Yeah I’ve played it, I preferred Pirates! because it’s more about the adventure than just endless combat. Honestly I rarely even shoot the cannons on my ship except to very occasionally chain-shot someone’s sail or grape-shot their crew before I go board the ship and win it via fencing, so I’m not even all that into the combat.
Holy shit that is cancer, the audio is so bad I can’t even turn the volume on like 1%. I’m gonna go ahead and say I probably missed the boat on that one, but I appreciate the suggestion.
I haven’t played it, but there’s a game called Salt 2 that I’ve been interested in for a while.
The steam page says it’s basically an infinite ocean with different islands and such. It sounds like it might be procedurally generated, but you can customize your ship and it’s basically your mobile base and all.
There’s also Atlas, which is a pirate game from a spin-off studio of the ARK devs, so a lot of those basics like taking animals and such are very similar. But in that one, you can actually build your own ship from scratch
Just nabbed Salt 2 and it’s so good already and I’ve only just started! I love how colourful everything is. Also, I made the mistake of going for a wander on the first island too late in the day without realising how DARK night times get. Fumbled my way to the nearest beach and managed to spawn my little raft and just about navigate back to camp. Thanks for the recommendation. I can see this is going to claim many, many hours of my life already 🤣
Dave the Diver has a very good early game, but eventually the grind just became needlessly tedious in my opinion. I liked going down and getting the fish etc. but the grind in mid to late game is just very time-skip heavy
Or, this might be a might more out of left field or maybe completely stupid and not at all what you had in mind, but what about coral island? You don’t get to experience the water surface except when fishing or doing other stuff on the shore. But you get to do stuff on the bottom and there’s mermaids and stuff.
Stardew valley with a tropical island vibe. So definitely fun and immersive. Definitely more adjacent than something like sea of thieves or black flag or subnautica, but I feel like it fits better than just cause 3, imo
Same, it’s a lot of fun with friends. They also added peaceful servers where you can’t PvP a while back so you can fish in peace.
Fair warning though: This game needs to be played with friends, it can be tedious with randoms that barely communicate and disconnect whenever they feel like it.
But if you don’t want the hassle of dealing with other players and still want full rewards, you could do all your questing over in that volcanic biome on the map.
At least back when I played that was the relatively safest area for me.
I like Anno 2070, a game which takes place in a world where the sea levels have risen to a barely-sustainable level. But it’s okay, because you can repopulate with the power of solarpunk machinery!
I’ve played Subnautica so much that it’s no longer a challenge, even on hardcore. I installed this mod (Deathrun Remade) to increase the difficulty and had the most fun I’ve had in a while
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From the Depths — it’s mind-meltingly complex, graphics are mid, and takes a few liberties with physics, but it lets you build your own warships Minecraft-style, including custom cannons, missiles, and air defense.
Gotta go with the old school here, Sid Meier’s Pirates! No water physics, graphics from 2004, etc, but so much fun that I’ve been playing it since the original came out in 1987. Hell, i was playing the 2004 remake just last week even.
If you’re super-into it, have you tried Port Royale 2, which also came out in 2004 and is kind of the same sort of game on the age-of-sail combat side?
Yeah I’ve played it, I preferred Pirates! because it’s more about the adventure than just endless combat. Honestly I rarely even shoot the cannons on my ship except to very occasionally chain-shot someone’s sail or grape-shot their crew before I go board the ship and win it via fencing, so I’m not even all that into the combat.
Wow… 1987! Shows that fun isn’t necessarily about high end gfx :)
When I first started playing video games they were 320x200 in 4 colors, and they weren’t even good colors, they were cyan, magenta, black, and white., so yeah, I’m not that fussed about graphics.
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you might like Jaws on the NES play it online here https://vimm.net/vault/?p=play&mediaId=426
Holy shit that is cancer, the audio is so bad I can’t even turn the volume on like 1%. I’m gonna go ahead and say I probably missed the boat on that one, but I appreciate the suggestion.
I haven’t played it, but there’s a game called Salt 2 that I’ve been interested in for a while.
The steam page says it’s basically an infinite ocean with different islands and such. It sounds like it might be procedurally generated, but you can customize your ship and it’s basically your mobile base and all.
Ooh that looks really interesting. Feels a bit like a single player Sea of Thieves maybe? Also 50% off right now on Steam… nice.
There’s also Atlas, which is a pirate game from a spin-off studio of the ARK devs, so a lot of those basics like taking animals and such are very similar. But in that one, you can actually build your own ship from scratch
Just nabbed Salt 2 and it’s so good already and I’ve only just started! I love how colourful everything is. Also, I made the mistake of going for a wander on the first island too late in the day without realising how DARK night times get. Fumbled my way to the nearest beach and managed to spawn my little raft and just about navigate back to camp. Thanks for the recommendation. I can see this is going to claim many, many hours of my life already 🤣
Ecco the Dolphin. (Genesis)
Sid Meier’s Pirates! (PC)
Subnautica (PC)
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons (SNES)
I would really like something that is a modern Uncharted Waters or Pirates! game. They are both very similar games, and both are also quite old.
Which sid meiers i play the og way back.
I just replayed Subnautica in VR. Such a great game.
I had a lot of fun with Blackwake when it first came out, haven’t played recently though.
Free on steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/420290/Blackwake/
That game was the best!
Dave the Diver!
Dave the Diver has a very good early game, but eventually the grind just became needlessly tedious in my opinion. I liked going down and getting the fish etc. but the grind in mid to late game is just very time-skip heavy
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has some of the most fun sailing physics of any ocean game I’ve ever played.
And the physics were realistic enough that you could fill out the map before you got the ability to control the winds just by tacking the boat.
Ocean theme was stuck in my head the moment I saw the question.
Pretty stoked for Bannerlord’s next expansion, War Sails.
Wow that’s exciting! Huge fan of Bannerlord anyway. Wishlisted and looking forward to June :)
Abzu? Dave the diver, maybe? Dredge?
Or, this might be a might more out of left field or maybe completely stupid and not at all what you had in mind, but what about coral island? You don’t get to experience the water surface except when fishing or doing other stuff on the shore. But you get to do stuff on the bottom and there’s mermaids and stuff.
Stardew valley with a tropical island vibe. So definitely fun and immersive. Definitely more adjacent than something like sea of thieves or black flag or subnautica, but I feel like it fits better than just cause 3, imo
Ooh Coral Island sounds interesting… Wishlisted! Thanks :)
Glad to hear it :D
not a single mention of Dave the diver! on sale now too, and even better on istherenlanydeal
I’m here for Sea of Thieves, so much fun.
Sea Of Thieves has amazing ocean effects. The fog sometimes also is very atmospheric with how it seems to occlude sounds etc.
Same, it’s a lot of fun with friends. They also added peaceful servers where you can’t PvP a while back so you can fish in peace.
Fair warning though: This game needs to be played with friends, it can be tedious with randoms that barely communicate and disconnect whenever they feel like it.
Ooh I didn’t know about the peaceful servers. Might have to revisit that soon :)
They HEAVILY reduce the amount of rewards you get though, so if you actually want gold then it’s not worth playing compared to PvP servers.
But if you don’t want the hassle of dealing with other players and still want full rewards, you could do all your questing over in that volcanic biome on the map.
At least back when I played that was the relatively safest area for me.
Breakwaters Crystal Tides. I’ve never played it but the water sim looks really good.
Also Flotsam and Raft
I like Anno 2070, a game which takes place in a world where the sea levels have risen to a barely-sustainable level. But it’s okay, because you can repopulate with the power of solarpunk machinery!
Not the best to any degree but just wanted to shout out the Pimps at Sea mod for Halo MCC that adds boats
Subnautica
I’ve played Subnautica so much that it’s no longer a challenge, even on hardcore. I installed this mod (Deathrun Remade) to increase the difficulty and had the most fun I’ve had in a while
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I’ll look into this! I also love Subnautica