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Be a Pirate!

Defend land and river routes, recruit your crew and track the objectives across the Crimson Expanse.

  • Released Nov 3, 2026
  • 15 Pirate Captains
  • 12 Tower Types
  • 4 Upgrade Tracks per Tower
  • 5 Damage Types
Start the Beginner Guide
Be a Pirate! gameplay screenshot
Image: Steam / Noble Rogues
Be a Pirate! Wiki gameplay screenshotWatch video ↗

Be a Pirate! Launch Trailer

Watch the official launch trailer on Steam.

Latest guides

Be a Pirate! Cap'n Drake: Port Raleigh Achievement Guide
Captains

Be a Pirate! Cap'n Drake: Port Raleigh Achievement Guide

Be a Pirate! Cap'n Drake leads the charge at Port Raleigh. Learn the Let's Find My Queen achievement requirement and prepare your land and sea defenses.

Be a Pirate! Captain's Compass Progression Reference
Captains

Be a Pirate! Captain's Compass Progression Reference

Track five Captain's Compass achievements, from your first node and 50 nodes to a Keystone and all 266 nodes. Unlock the central Helm for Take the Helm.

Be a Pirate! Raiders: Raids, Enemies, and Battle Tips
Enemies

Be a Pirate! Raiders: Raids, Enemies, and Battle Tips

Learn how Be a Pirate! raiders attack forts and villages, which raid achievements to pursue, and how to defend against Crown troops, ships, and monsters.

Be a Pirate! Swarm Rats: Rat Catcher & Rat King Guide
Enemies

Be a Pirate! Swarm Rats: Rat Catcher & Rat King Guide

Be a Pirate! Swarm Rats count toward achievements: 500 in one battle for Rat Catcher and 10,000 overall for Rat King. Plan your defenses for both goals.

Be a Pirate! Achievements: All 74 Unlock Conditions
Features

Be a Pirate! Achievements: All 74 Unlock Conditions

All 74 Be a Pirate! achievements with exact unlock conditions, grouped by progression, crew, upgrades, battles, Endless, raids and spoilers.

Be a Pirate! Steam Deck Compatibility: What to Know
Features

Be a Pirate! Steam Deck Compatibility: What to Know

Be a Pirate! Steam Deck compatibility is rated Unknown. Explore its Windows requirements, Steam Cloud support, and land-and-sea tower defense features.

What is Be a Pirate!?

Be a Pirate! is a pirate tower defense game set in the Crimson Expanse. Crownsmen approach by land while Crown Sloops follow the river, and building changes the routes available to ground troops.

Recruit pirate captains, develop towers through four battle upgrade tracks and follow the crew’s voiced campaign. Map victories, Endless survival and Steam achievements provide distinct goals to track.

Developer
Noble Rogues
Publisher
Red Raine Productions
Platform
Windows PC
Genre
Tower Defense
Release
Nov 3, 2026

Explore the game

Be a Pirate! Beginner Guide

Compare changing land routes with the fixed river, understand bridges, and distinguish battle upgrades from crew progression.

Two Fronts

Land troops and Crown Sloops attack simultaneously in every wave.

Changing Paths

Land enemies reroute as you build, while the river follows a fixed route.

Bridges

Build a Bridge to create another land lane across the water. Crown Sloops still pass underneath.

Elevation

Terrain height affects tower placement and results, with effects depending on the tower and the land's height.

Read the full guide

Be a Pirate! Towers

Build your defenses from a dozen towers with different combat roles. Get to know the Cannon, poison-focused Voodoo Cauldron, beam-focused Heliograph Battery, and nearby damage support from The Commodore's Flag.

Cannon

A straightforward offensive tower in your defensive arsenal.

Voodoo Cauldron

A poison-focused tower for bringing cursed damage into your defenses.

Heliograph Battery

A tower built around beam attacks.

The Commodore's Flag

Boosts the damage dealt by nearby towers.

Read the full guide

Be a Pirate! Captains

Recruit and equip 15 unique Pirate Captains, each bringing permanent bonuses and a personal stake in the campaign. Explore their upgrade paths and choose the active captain who rides your ship into battle.

15 Captains

Recruit and equip 15 distinct Pirate Captains.

Permanent Bonuses

Each captain provides permanent bonuses and has individual upgrade paths.

Active Captain

Your selected active captain accompanies your ship into every battle.

Rescue Your Crew

The strongholds you defend belong to your captains, tying battles to imprisoned crewmates, debts, and grudges.

Read the full guide

Be a Pirate! Tower Upgrades

Spend Doubloons during a match to develop towers across four upgrade tracks. Towers change both visually and functionally as they grow, with unique Signature abilities changing how they fight.

Offense

One of the four upgrade tracks available to each tower during a match.

Range

A dedicated upgrade track for developing a tower's range.

Specialty

A tower-specific upgrade track that develops its particular combat role.

Signature

A unique ability track that changes how the tower fights.

Read the full guide

Be a Pirate! Damage Types

Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric and Poison interact with enemy resistances and weaknesses. Compare the damage types alongside the known tower roles.

Five Damage Types

Combat includes Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, and Poison damage.

Resistances

Enemies resist particular damage types, making your choice of attack matter.

Weaknesses

Enemy weaknesses reward matching the right damage type to the target.

Boss Matchups

Bosses also have elemental matchups, resisting the wrong element and taking punishment from the right one.

Read the full guide

Be a Pirate! Enemies and Bosses

The Crown's soldiers and warships are only the start of the fight across the Crimson Expanse. Meet the undead commanders and creatures from the Deep that turn a pirate rescue campaign into something darker.

Crown Forces

Face land troops, Crown Sloops, and commanders as the Crown attacks pirate strongholds.

Drowned Lieutenant

A commander who leads the dead.

Leviathan

An ancient creature coiled around a captive crew.

Horror in the Deep

A lurking threat that vanishes when you take aim at it.

Read the full guide

Be a Pirate! Endless Mode

Track the Endless wave milestones and the challenge to survive 30 waves on all 15 maps.

Wave Milestones

The achievements cover survival thresholds of 20, 30, 40 and 55 waves.

All-Map Challenge

Survive 30 waves in Endless on each of the 15 maps for Some Ships Do Not Return.

Read the full guide

Be a Pirate! System Requirements

Check your Windows PC against the minimum and recommended specifications before setting sail. The game requires DirectX 12 and 3 GB of available storage, with English language and full audio support.

Minimum CPU and RAM

Quad-core 2.5 GHz processor, such as Intel Core i5-4460 or AMD FX-6300 or equivalent, and 8 GB RAM.

Minimum Graphics

DirectX 12-compatible GPU with 2 GB VRAM, such as NVIDIA GTX 1050 or AMD RX 560.

Recommended CPU and RAM

Quad-core 3.5 GHz processor, such as Intel Core i5-9600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600, and 16 GB RAM.

Recommended Graphics

DirectX 12-compatible GPU with 4 GB VRAM, such as NVIDIA GTX 1660 or AMD RX 5600 XT.

OS and Storage

Minimum: Windows 10 64-bit. Recommended: Windows 10/11 64-bit. Both require DirectX 12 and 3 GB available storage.

Platform and Language

Available for Windows on Steam, with English language and full audio support.

Read the full guide

Frequently asked questions

Is Be a Pirate! single-player?

Yes. The Steam version is listed as a single-player game.

Do bridges stop Crown Sloops?

No. Bridges create a land crossing, while Crown Sloops pass underneath unaffected.

How many captains can you recruit?

There are 15 pirate captains, each with permanent bonuses and individual upgrade paths.

Prepare Your Defenses

Start with the land and river rules, then choose a reference for the system you need.