For Windows PC

Age of Sail · Naval Combat · Caribbean 1750

Pirate Broadside

Raise your colours. Run out the guns. No quarter.

In development for Windows PC

Fire a broadside

The Caribbean, 1750

The wind is yours to read.
The broadside is yours to time.

Pirate Broadside is a battle of wooden warships. Fight ship against ship, and soon squadron against squadron, on a stretch of sea between the islands. Trim the sails, bring her about, hold your fire as the swell lifts the hull. When the enemy's side fills your gun ports, let fly with everything you have.

No arcade shortcuts: shot flies on real ballistic arcs, a ball through the stern windows rakes the whole gun deck, holed planking lets the sea in, and the pumps can only do so much. Win by gunnery, seamanship and nerve.

The gilded lion figurehead of the frigate, the sun low over the islands
The frigate's lion, looking for a fight.

Try it yourself

Run out the guns

Every gun on the side fires on its own match, rippling down the hull. Press Q, E or Space, or click the button to give them a broadside.

A warship fires her broadside, smoke and spray bursting from the gun ports

Port battery · 18-pounders

What waits beyond the horizon

Built for the broadside

  • Real naval gunnery

    Port and starboard batteries, bow and stern chasers, three calibres of shot on true ballistic arcs. Hold the key to see where the side will land, release to fire. Aim high to cut the enemy’s rigging.

  • Timber, canvas and blood

    Shot splinters planking, tears sails and brings down spars. Rake her from the stern for double damage. Holed below the waterline she floods, slows and settles until she goes down.

  • A living ocean

    An FFT and Gerstner sea with foam, spray, refraction and swell that lifts and rolls every hull. The sea state is part of the rules: in a blow, the lower gun ports of a big two-decker must stay shut.

  • Weather that fights back

    Dawn, golden hour, clear afternoons, grey overcast, fog and full Caribbean squalls with rain curtains and lightning. Wind shifts, visibility drops, and the battle changes with it.

  • Islands, shoals and the chart

    Fight among volcanic islands, reefs and a lonely watchtower. Open the hand-inked 18th-century sea chart to plot your approach and track the enemy’s last known position.

  • From duels to fleet battles

    Host a battle on your local network, join a friend by address over the internet, or sharpen your gunnery against the bot. Fleet actions of up to five against five are in development.

Dynamic weather & time of day

Same sea.
Never the same battle.

Ship's log · 18:05Moderate breeze · 4 BftGlare to the west

Backlit canvas and a sea of molten gold. Keep the sun behind you and the enemy squinting into it.

Choose your ship

From brig to ship of the line

Every class sails, turns and fights differently. Pick the one that fits the way you command.

Playable

Frigate (44)

A 1745 Establishment two-decker. Wins the broadside exchange, but she is slow to turn and her lower ports must shut in a seaway.

Guns
44
Main battery
18- & 9-pounders
Chase guns
2 bow · 2 stern
Reload
9 s
Length
39 m
Gun decks
2
  • Firepower
  • Hull strength
  • Speed
  • Handling

On the horizon

More than a battle. A whole Caribbean.

The broadside is only the beginning. Pirate Broadside is growing into a larger world. Here is what is being built right now.

  • In development

    Fleet battles

    From a duel of two ships to squadrons of up to five a side: hold the line, cross the enemy’s T and fight as a fleet with your friends.

  • Coming

    Island ports & trade

    Put in at the islands, buy low, sell high and turn cargo into guns, crew and bigger ships.

  • Coming

    Quests & adventure

    Take on work in port and find out what waits beyond the next headland. Every voyage a reason to raise the anchor.

Built from the keel up

Crafted like a ship of the line

No off-the-shelf engine. Pirate Broadside runs on its own renderer, physics and audio, tuned so the water, the wood and the weather feel as real as the fight.

  1. 01

    Own engine

    A lean custom C++ engine on Direct3D 12 and Vulkan, written for one job: ships, sea and sky.

  2. 02

    Ocean

    Clipmapped FFT + Gerstner waves, refraction and absorption, sun glitter, crest scattering and foam.

  3. 03

    Powder smoke

    Six-way lit, self-shadowing smoke that rolls out of every single gun port and drifts downwind.

  4. 04

    Sound that travels

    3D audio with the speed of sound: see the distant flash, then hear the boom roll across the water.

  5. 05

    Period detail

    Hulls, rigging and colours researched from sources dating to the 1740s through the 1760s. Flags fly from the gaff, as they did then.

  6. 06

    Authoritative netcode

    A deterministic simulation with prediction and reconnect, so every hit is the same hit for every captain.

Orders of the day

Easy to take the helm

A handful of keys. A lifetime to master the timing.

  • WSSet or take in sail
  • ADPut the helm over
  • QEFire port / starboard (hold to aim)
  • SpaceFire the side facing the enemy
  • ShiftAim high into the rigging
  • RFBow and stern chasers
  • MOpen the sea chart
  • CChange camera

Original score

Music for the open sea

An original soundtrack that follows the voyage: calm passages between the islands, driving battle themes, and the dark swell of the storm. Put it on and read the rest with the wind in your ears.

SailingCalm Voyage
0:000:00

Questions from the fo'c'sle

Frequently asked

Which platform is the game being developed for?

Pirate Broadside is in development for Windows PC.

Is it multiplayer?

Yes. Today it is ship against ship: on your local network, or over the internet by joining your friend’s address, and you can practise against a bot. Fleet battles of up to five against five are in development.

What do I need to run it?

Windows 10/11 (64-bit) · DirectX 12 or Vulkan. The game has graphics presets from Low to Ultra and dynamic resolution, so modest GPUs can still put to sea.

What comes after the battles?

The islands. Ports for trading, quests to take on, and more reasons to leave harbour are on the way. See “On the horizon” above.

Is it an arcade game or a simulation?

Somewhere proud in between. The controls are simple, but wind, swell, ballistics, raking fire and flooding are all simulated. Seamanship wins battles.

Are the screenshots real?

Every cinematic image starts from a capture of the game itself, with the same ships, sea and islands. Lighting and atmosphere are enhanced.

Pirate Broadside key art: two ships trade fire at sunset beneath the gold title

Muster the crew

Beat to quarters, captain.

Pirate Broadside is in development for Windows PC.