# Sid Meier's Pirates!

61 Hacker News commenters recommended Sid Meier's Pirates! and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its immersive world, music and replayability, and many remember it fondly from childhood. Critics note the dark visuals, aged graphics and repetitive mini-games.

## Why people recommend it

- Fond childhood and Amiga memories (8 comments): "planning our expeditions on the C64, drawing paper maps and marking clues, treasures" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49386566)) "my kid has 50+ hours in sid meier's pirates and told me they stare at the world map" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48514043)) "I remember fondly playing pirates as a kid" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48508958))
- Many hours of play (8 comments): "my kid has 50+ hours in sid meier's pirates and told me they stare at the world map" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48514043)) "I loved Pirates! and spend so many hours as a teenager playing it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49386453)) "I've sunk countless hours into the 2004 Sid Meiers games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48544594))
- Immersive world, music and voice (5 comments): "Sid Meier's games were always a step above, and so immersive feeling for their day." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48509543)) "I thought it was amazing with the voice acting for the gods and music and gameplay." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49386892)) "genuinely great gameplay loop and felt very immersive at the time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47273058))
- Feels new on every replay (3 comments): "It is one of the games that are timeless as they work for different generations." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49386045)) "What really develops if you play the game multiple times is optimising routes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49389106)) "Each time I played it with my oldest, it felt like a brand new game." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47265370))

## What people warn about

- Dark visuals and low contrast (3 comments): "far too much contrast: dark areas (including the characters) are pitch black" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49885735)) "You just can’t see the bullets because they are tiny black dots on a dark blue background." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48507469)) "hard to see the cannons flying due to low contrast" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48510448))
- Repetitive questions and mini-games (2 comments): "fun yesterday, but today there's 3 screens of answering the same questions with ever replay?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48519606)) "Definitely a series of mini-games in a trenchcoat, wrapped in a story." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49389847))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Grim Fandango](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grim-fandango.md): 41 recommend
- [Myst](https://hackerapproved.com/p/myst.md): 31 recommend
- [Monkey Island](https://hackerapproved.com/p/monkey-island.md): 29 recommend
- [Doki Doki Literature Club](https://hackerapproved.com/p/doki-doki-literature-club.md): 25 recommend
- [Thimbleweed Park](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thimbleweed-park.md): 20 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Sid Meier's Pirates!", https://hackerapproved.com/p/sid-meier-s-pirates/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).