Choose Puzzle Pirates
Choose Puzzle Pirates if you want the Online Co-op and Co-op side of the pairing. On Steam, it carries the stronger Steam consensus at 80.4% positive across 1,860 reviews.
Puzzle Pirates vs Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas
Puzzle Pirates and Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas both land in Strategy, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both share Strategy, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer on Steam. Puzzle Pirates (2011) is 7 years older than Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas (2018). Puzzle Pirates scores higher on Steam reviews (80.4% positive) than Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas (73.6% positive). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas
Choose Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas if you want an Indie and RPG experience. On Steam, it's the newer release (2018) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas launched in 2018.
Both Puzzle Pirates and Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas sit in Strategy, Adventure, and Massively Multiplayer on Steam and both list Multi-player, MMO, and Online PvP, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Use the side-by-side table for the feature view, or follow the "Games like" links below to see ranked alternatives for either title.
Side-by-side comparison
 Puzzle Pirates |  Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2011 | 2018 |
| Genres | Strategy, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer, Free To Play, Casual | Strategy, Indie, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer, RPG, Free To Play, Casual |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS |
| Steam Deck | Deck Unsupported | Unrated |
| Price | Free to play | Free to play |
| Steam reviews | 80.4% positive (1,860 reviews) | 73.6% positive (443 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Multi-player, Online Co-op, Co-op | Multi-player |
| Developers | Grey Havens | Grey Havens |
Side by side
- Both share Strategy, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer on Steam.
- Puzzle Pirates (2011) is 7 years older than Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas (2018).
- Puzzle Pirates scores higher on Steam reviews (80.4% positive) than Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas (73.6% positive).
- Both are free to play.
- Puzzle Pirates has co-op; Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas does not.
- Puzzle Pirates is Deck Unsupported on Steam Deck; Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas has no Deck rating yet.
Puzzle Pirates vs Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas — FAQ
- Which is better, Puzzle Pirates or Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas?
- On Steam reviews Puzzle Pirates scores higher (80.4% positive) than Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas (73.6% positive). Both have enough reviews to trust the signal, so for players using reviews alone, Puzzle Pirates is the safer pick. Genre fit still matters — check the side-by-side table for the categories each game lands in.
- Should I play Puzzle Pirates or Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas first?
- If you want chronology, Puzzle Pirates (2011) came out before Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas (2018). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Puzzle Pirates and Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas similar?
- They overlap on Strategy, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.