If you are fans of majestic ships and endless oceans, then the following online games are the right choice for you! We present to you six MMOs where sailing and ships are an important theme!
The endless sea, a proud ship, and a stiff breeze from behind, that’s all it takes to delight a salty sailor’s heart! But what to do if you can’t satisfy your maritime cravings in real life? Then you should check out the following nautical online games that are sure to please every ship fan!
ArcheAge
In the free-to-play sandbox MMORPG ArcheAge by Trion, sailing plays an important role. A vast ocean connects all landmasses. So if you want to maximize profits from trading, you must inevitably go to sea and sell your goods in distant lands.
The Ship as a Guild Project
But on the way, pirates and malicious players lurk, eager to rob and sink you. Therefore, large naval battles occur regularly. In these, you bombard each other with cannons and engage in boarding battles.
But before the great sailing and battle fun begins, a ship is needed. If you want more than just a small nutshell, you must join a guild. In teamwork, you build a dock where a proud ship is gradually created with contributions from various guild members.
Particularly coveted at the start of the game was the so-called “Black Pearl”, a kind of prestige object among guild ships. We had an interview with the guild Impact, who were the first in the West to build such a ship.
PvE & PvP in the New Ship Arena
With the Update “Maelstrom”, even more content for ship fans came into the game. In a combined PvE/PvP mode, you must slay a sea monster with a ship and four teammates as crew.
However, three other teams aim to do the same. Therefore, you fight against each other while trying to also kill the beast.
| ArcheAge | |
| Type: | Sandbox MMORPG |
| Platform | PC |
| Payment Model: | Free to Play |
| Ideal for: | Sandbox fans who want to build a big ship together as a guild |
World of Warships
In the free-to-play game World of Warships by Wargaming, it’s all about warships. Here, no one is interested in trading or peacefully exploring the seas! Instead, massive battleships from around the time of the World Wars plow through the oceans and blow each other to bits with gigantic cannons!
Sink the Bismarck! Destroy the Yamato!
World of Warships is based on the gameplay of Wargaming’s top title World of Tanks. Instead of a tank, you steer a ship here. Your team fights against an equally strong opposing team, and whoever sinks all enemies first or secures the mission objectives wins.
As a reward, you receive in-game currency and experience points. With this, you upgrade your ships and eventually unlock better models. The ships are all based on real counterparts. Therefore, famous examples like the Bismarck, the Yamato, the HMS Hood, or the USS Missouri can be found.
Additionally, there are also quirky vessels that never existed in the war because the blueprints were never realized. So, for anyone who has always wanted to see the unbuilt heavy German battleship “Großer Kurfürst” in action, World of Warships delivers.
From Destroyers to Aircraft Carriers
In the game, you have the choice between nimble destroyers, all-round cruisers, heavy battleships, or aircraft carriers. Each ship type has different roles and tasks in battle.
Since the ships – unlike the tanks in World of Tanks – almost never stand still, the battles in World of Warships are always in motion. Also, most ships can withstand quite a bit and shoot at each other over long distances. This makes the gameplay of World of Warships both dynamic and tactical.
| World of Warships | |
| Type: | Military MMO |
| Platform: | PC |
| Payment Model: | Free to Play |
| Ideal for: | Fans of historical naval battles from the world wars and large warships |
Black Desert Online
Black Desert Online by Pearl Abyss from Korea is a sandbox MMORPG in a fantasy world. A highlight of the game is the beautiful graphics and the extremely customizable character editor. Black Desert Online simply looks fantastic! This also applies to the magnificent marine areas introduced with the Margoria update.
Margoria – An Ocean Full of Possibilities
Black Desert Online is a fantasy MMO but also an economic simulation, where you, as a humble donkey driver, transport potatoes and become a trading magnate. Since the Margoria update, you can expand your business to the seas. In harbor towns, you acquire bases and send your goods across the sea for particularly high profits!
If you prefer to embark on sea voyages yourself, you can build a nice, large ship and set sail with other players. From galleys to sailing ships, anything is possible. With the ships, you can hunt sea monsters. Or you can raid other players as a pirate and plunder them. Guilds can also form fleets and engage in massive PvP naval battles.
High-Seas Fishermen and Deep-Sea Divers
At sea, you can also engage in the favorite pastime of all MMO players: fishing! The vast waters of Margoria are filled with curious and rare fish. If you prefer to search for treasures underwater, you can dive down and experience adventures beneath the waves.
| Black Desert Online | |
| Type: | Sandbox MMORPG |
| Platform: | PC |
| Payment Model: | Buy to Play |
| Ideal for: | Players who want to experience and explore beautiful marine landscapes |
War Thunder
The military MMO War Thunder from the Russian developer Gaijin Entertainment is known more for realistic aerial combat and tactical tank battles. However, there is now a closed beta test for a naval combat mode featuring ships from the World War II era. It sounds like World of Warships, but Gaijin takes a different approach.
Fast Boats instead of Battleships
The big difference from the competing product lies in the size of playable ships in War Thunder’s naval battles. While destroyers are the smallest ships in World of Warships, the “tin cans” in War Thunder represent the largest class of ships!
Other ships are significantly smaller and consist of sleek fast boats equipped with torpedoes, rockets, or flak weaponry. This design choice has a compelling reason. According to the developers, they want to keep the naval battles closely aligned with the atmosphere of land and air battles in the game. And both of them are quite dynamic and fast-paced.
Heavy battleships, on the other hand, would be sluggish and slow. It would be boring to trudge over the seas at snail’s pace, which wouldn’t be fun. Therefore, you zip around the water in War Thunder with fast boats, dodging fire, shooting down planes, and accurately directing torpedoes into the hulls of other ships.
The Airplane Must Come Along!
As usual in War Thunder, the ship mode cannot do without airplanes! The plane simply has to be there! If you have accumulated enough points in battle through hits, kills, and mission objectives, you can select a plane and perform daring aerial attacks on the enemy fleet.
Therefore, it’s always handy to have flak ships around. They quickly take out pesky aircraft. However, if you let the planes go unchecked, they can quickly bomb strong destroyers.
Currently, the naval combat mode of War Thunder is still in closed beta. If you want to participate, you have to apply for access. With a bit of luck, you may get a beta key. If you want to guarantee participation, you can buy a founder’s package that includes a special ship and immediately set sail.
| War Thunder | |
| Type: | Military MMO |
| Platform: | PC, PS4 |
| Payment Model: | Free to Play (Beta Buy to Play) |
| Ideal for: | Fans of fast-paced battles with small warships from around World War II. |
Worlds Adrift
The sandbox MMO Worlds Adrift by Bossa Studios is a somewhat different game with ships. Instead of sailing over the sea, the boats here fly through the skies! Therefore, the game is ideal for air pirates and fearless explorers with a penchant for steampunk aesthetics.
Grinding and Ship Building
In Worlds Adrift, the world consists of floating islands. These are mostly developed by players in a separate editor. So, there is seemingly an unlimited world full of possibilities. But if you want to leave your starting island, you must build an airship.
To do this, you grind for resources until you have enough experience to learn the corresponding blueprints. Then, you combine various parts in a free editor to ultimately create a ship. Your imagination only meets the limits of utility here. Because, of course, you can attach the main mast like a ram directly to the bow. However, you will never get a decent wind catch and get off the ground that way.
Your ship must indeed sail through the skies using sails that take advantage of the ever-changing winds. If you encounter headwind, you need to use advanced sailing techniques, such as tacking. Otherwise, you will barely move. Yet later on, modern engines like propellers or even jet engines will be possible.
The Ship as a Guild Base
Particularly impressive ships are created when guilds work together. The ship can then also be generously equipped with extras, such as cannons and other goodies.
The big test for your ship designs are powerful storm fronts. These deadly storms separate the beginner areas from regions for advanced players. With a flying nutshell, you won’t get far, and the relentless winds and lightning will quickly turn your vessel into burning wreckage.
Only those who can produce strong materials and technologies will get through here.
Worlds Adrift is currently in closed beta testing. Access is only available with founder packages.
| Worlds Adrift | |
| Type: | Sandbox MMORPG |
| Platform: | PC |
| Payment Model: | Buy to Play (Beta) |
| Ideal for: | All players who love airships and enjoy detailing them to the smallest detail |
Sea of Thieves
All the previously mentioned games with ships were rather serious affairs. Sea of Thieves, on the other hand, is a fun pirate MMO with comic graphics from the studio Rare. They have been working on the game since 2015, where you can unleash your inner pirate!
A Seafaring Adventure that is Fun…
In Sea of Thieves, you play a scruffy pirate in a colorful island world. Your goal: To become the scruffiest pirate of all time! To achieve this, you sail across the seas, board ships, uncover treasures, sing hearty sea shanties, and drink your loot in taverns until your pirate avatar is ready to vomit. Totally pirate-like!
The pirate fun can be played solo but rocks even more as a team. In a team, you effectively man your pirate ship and take on honorable posts, such as the wheel, the cannons, or the job of the guy with a bucket who must throw the incoming water overboard!
Living Cannonballs and Hungry Sharks
Since Sea of Thieves doesn’t take itself very seriously, you can pull off some pretty silly antics. For example, it’s perfectly possible to launch yourself as a living projectile onto the deck of an enemy ship with a cannon. Or you go deep-sea diving and collect treasures underwater. However, there are wild sharks that like to gobble you (or your buddies) up.
To progress further, you earn reputation points through quests. However, the various quest-givers can be at odds with each other, so conflicts in your tasks may arise later.
Sea of Thieves is currently still in beta and can be played with a founder package. On March 20, 2018, this pirate MMO is set to be released for Xbox One and Windows 10. Crossplay is also expected.
| Sea of Thieves | |
| Type: | Action MMO |
| Platform: | PC, Xbox One (Crossplay!) |
| Payment Model: | Buy to Play (Closed Beta) |
| Ideal for: | Pirate fans with a sense of humor and a preference for comic graphics. |
Here you can find 10 announced MMOs that we hope to hear more about in 2018.
