Here's our list of the Best Warship Games for PC

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Do you love to roam the seas in search of other ships to blow up, sink or steal? I do, but does everyone? Do even most of us? Let’s face it, the naval warfare genre isn’t for everyone. Some love it, some don’t care one way or the other… But for those few and proud Argonauts who are up for the challenge of commandeering floating vessels upon the high seas or sailing mega starships in the vacuum of space there are many great warship games to play in 2016. Whether you are fighting in a naval action against the Imperial Japanese navy in World War 2 or fighting as a scurvy pirate against the mighty British Empire in the age of exploration, you will enjoy your experience with these great warship games.

15. Steel Ocean

Fight massive online battles in Steel Ocean

Steel Ocean is a World War 2 naval action game pitting as many as 16 sea captains’ vs 16 opposing captains’. You can choose from six historically accurate classes of warships including light cruisers, heavy cruisers, destroyers, battleships, aircraft carriers and the all-powerful stealthy submarine. By earning XP in battle you can unlock and upgrade over 100 different ships from all nations that fought in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war.

This game is very fast-paced, throwing you into combat in the first few minutes of each match instead of allowing you time to coordinate with other allied warships and looking for a tactical advantage. That, mixed with the subpar graphics make this game fun, yet not the most fulfilling warship experience that we are looking for. If you enjoy quick, cheap thrills, then this is your warship game.

Full steam ahead as you fire your guns at the enemy

Prepare your carriers to launch massive torpedo assaults on the foe

14. Naval Action

Take to the seas in the age of the mighty sail and blast your enemy's ship to splinters

Naval Action is a superb ship sailing sim (say that five times fast) still in the early alpha stage of development, but it has some very interesting features that we are very excited about. This game takes us back to the age of sails in the 1700’s, which has been capitalized upon by numerous franchises recently (Assassin’s Creed, Rogue, Black Flag, Sid Meier’s Caribbean) and never disappoints.

This is the most realistic sailing sim on the PC gaming market today. But, instead of trying to explain it myself, I’ll let the director of the game, Maxim Zasof, explain it for me, “It is easy to stand on the shoulders of giants, but in our case most of the mechanics we did are innovations- they were never done this way before. Correct tacking, boxhauling, tracking shots, yard control: we made all those mechanics realistic, but fun and useful in combat. We invented them.”

The high level of graphics in this game mixed with the deep level of historical authenticity make this a must play game for the true naval aficionado’s this year. 

Line up a broadside and blow hundreds of holes in the enemy captains ship

Be careful in stormy seas, they can be very treacherous

13. Atlantic Fleet

World War 2 most likely wasn't as fun as this game is

Atlantic Fleet is a World War 2 sim in, you guessed it, the Atlantic Ocean. This game is a sequel to the previous Pacific Fleet, which had some serious flaws and played more like a Google Store game than as a serious strategy PC game. This sequel turned out quite a bit better, thank God.

Atlantic Fleet is geared just as much towards World War 2 history buffs as it is to hardcore strategy gamers because of the historical authenticity of each ship as well as the tactical combat. In this turn-based game you give movement orders to all the ships in your fleet at the beginning of each turn then aim your guns and blaze away at the enemy with each successive turn until only one of you is left standing. You can also bring aircraft carriers into battle and employ dive-bombers and torpedo bombers to bring the tactical advantage of air power to the game.

Steady your ship as you prepare to fire a massive broadside

This is what you don’t want to see happen to your ship…

12. Man O’ War: Corsair

Warhammer will never feel the same after you play this game

Man O’ War: Corsair is a naval adventure game taking place within the world of Warhammer and based upon an old Warhammer board game of the same name. In this Steam early-access game your goal is to lead a crew of seamen to become rich or famous- or infamous for those who are interested, in an open world.

Sail the seas of the Warhammer world and visit neighboring ports to trade and recruit other ship captains as allies, as well as fighting enemy ships and dodging the all-powerful sea monsters which are certain to destroy your ship if you don’t have to guts to fire broadsides at these terrifying foes. With over fifty ports and a huge map there is plenty of money to be made and Orks to be killed in this fantasy naval combat game.

Hold onto your hats as you prepare to board!

Holy Crap…. That doesn’t look good

11. Windward

Sail the seas in a quest to attain wealth and glory

In Windward you are tasked with choosing four factions, or rather four styles of gameplay: exploration, combat, diplomacy, and trading. You must lead your small fleet from port to port over a rather large oceanic map and buy/sell goods to make money or attack other ships or ports. 

The redeeming qualities of this game are the good graphics and visual effects of the procedurally generated world. From watching cannon balls rebound from fortifications to seeing the sun shimmer on the open waves this game has a very aesthetically pleasing appeal and with a little more depth to the gameplay could have been a very good game.

Surround and destroy enemy ships and lighthouses

Repair and rebuild at friendly ports

10. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada

Take your battle from the ocean's of Earth to the vacuum of space

Space… the final frontier for warship gaming. In this adaptation of a Warhammer 40K board game, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada gives us a real-time sci-fi combat game in the wide open realm of outer space. Being able to control up to 10 ships (though usually around 5) makes this game more of an epic strategy game instead of a smaller single ship tactical game as most of the games on this list are. Each ship in your fleet has a veritable array of stats to keep you up to date on their status’ in real time, including hull integrity, morale, possibility of mutiny, ability to fight off boarding enemy ships, etc… All can be viewed from a UI that is very easy to read and important to each battle. The RPG system used in this game allows you to level up your Admiral and therefore unlock many new ships and upgrades, which usually give you a tactical advantage with either much more speed or firepower for your fleet.

The playable factions in this game are familiar to most Warhammer fans: Imperial Navy, Space Marines, Chaos, Ork Pirates, Eldar Corsairs. Each faction has unique advantages and disadvantages against the other factions, as well as having unique weapons and skills.

With a long single player campaign capable of giving you 10-20 hours of solid campaign play this game satisfies those who crave a large game. With a large campaign map, you can explore and fight for as long as you feel like playing. The story of the campaign also makes you deeply invested in the well-being of your empire and fleet. If you’re a Warhammer fan, strategy fan, or sci-fi fan, this game is for you.

Take the Warship battles into space

Lead massive fleets in space in explosive battles

9. Dreadnought

Get back into space and fight epic battles with your powerful warships

Dreadnought is a sci-fi, multiplayer RPG game that takes place in space. Being in closed beta development phase this game is very raw yet has many features that give us a lot of hope for the future. As the name implies, this game is about very large spaceships capable of unleashing an intense amount of firepower into other ships. The 5 vs 5 multiplayer game modes make your team’s selection of ships very crucial to the tactical goals that you wish to achieve. Choose from and mix up your team with the massively powerful yet very slow dreadnought class, the slightly smaller, quicker and tougher destroyer class, the sniper-like long distance DPS Cruiser class, the healing Tactical Cruiser class, or the small, quick, and surprisingly high-powered gunship Corvette class. All classes are recommended on each team to achieve maximum tactical effect during battle. The handling and positioning of your ship makes all the difference between victory and defeat.  Flank attacks are crucial. 

The graphics and battle map in this game are nothing less than stunning. Explosions are very realistic and the movement of your ship feels very smooth and fluid. Using all of your ship’s abilities to achieve victory is more difficult than you would imagine going into your first battle.

This game is a very fun, if limited, type of game. The PVP aspect gives it the appeal of long playability as well as the desire to improve your ships and unlock new abilities.

Fly ships through the skies and into space to wage war

That’s a laser… This definitely doesn’t look good