Sid Meier's Pirates! vs Stronghold: Definitive Edition
Sid Meier's Pirates! is a fighting open-world game from MicroProse (1987) while Stronghold: Definitive Edition is an open-world sandbox game from Firefly Studios (2023).
What each one is
Steam files Sid Meier's Pirates! under Fighting and Open-World. In contrast, it files Stronghold: Definitive Edition under Open-World and Sandbox.
Sail the Caribbean, marauding all on the high seas or ally your ship and crew as a privateer in search of riches - the life you choose is up to you. Face dogged enemies, raid unsuspecting villages, woo fair maidens, avoid capture or dig for buried treasure. Discover what it takes to become one of the most famous pirates in history!
Greetings sire! Your stronghold awaits you. Build a castle economy, besiege unforgettable villains and return to the 'castle sim' that started it all. Experience this classic RTS with upgraded visuals, modernised gameplay, Steam multiplayer and a new campaign.
At a glance
| Sid Meier's Pirates! | Stronghold: Definitive Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.7/10 | 7.5/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (94%, 7,535) | Very Positive (87%, 10,346) |
| Critic aggregate | 88/100 | 80/100 |
| Price | $9.99 | $4.49 |
| Install size | — | 4 GB |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | playable |
| Released | 1987 | 2023 |
| Developer | MicroProse | Firefly Studios |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Sid Meier's Pirates! vs Stronghold: Definitive Edition, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Sid Meier's Pirates!Fighting open-world gameStronghold: Definitive EditionOpen-world sandbox gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Sid Meier's Pirates!Pirates, Open World, RPGStronghold: Definitive EditionCity Builder, Strategy, Real Time TacticsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Sid Meier's Pirates! ✓Score 7.7 · 94% on Steam · 88 criticStronghold: Definitive EditionScore 7.5 · 87% on Steam · 80 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Sid Meier's Pirates!7,535 reviewsStronghold: Definitive Edition10,346 reviews · 2 add-ons · 4 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Sid Meier's Pirates!$9.99Stronghold: Definitive Edition ✓$4.49Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Sid Meier's Pirates!UnsupportedStronghold: Definitive Edition ✓PlayableValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Stronghold: Definitive Edition takes 2 of the marked rounds to 1. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueSid Meier's Pirates! and Stronghold: Definitive Edition on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Nintendo
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Sid Meier's Pirates! (GamingPickz Score 7.7)
- The cheaper right now: Stronghold: Definitive Edition ($4.49)
- Better on a Steam Deck: Stronghold: Definitive Edition (playable)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
Open WorldSandboxHistoricalStrategyEconomyAtmospheric
Where they differ
PiratesRPGAdventureSingleplayerNavalSailing
City BuilderReal Time TacticsMedievalBuildingColony SimRTS
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Sid Meier's Pirates! is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Stronghold: Definitive Edition is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Sid Meier's Pirates! and 5 for Stronghold: Definitive Edition. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Sid Meier's Pirates! and Stronghold: Definitive Edition in scope?
Sid Meier's Pirates! has drawn 7,535 Steam reviews. Stronghold: Definitive Edition has drawn 10,346 Steam reviews, ships 2 add-ons and installs in 4 GB.
Is Sid Meier's Pirates! or Stronghold: Definitive Edition better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Sid Meier's Pirates! rates higher (7.7 to 7.5). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Sid Meier's Pirates! or Stronghold: Definitive Edition?
Stronghold: Definitive Edition is cheaper right now at $4.49, against $9.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.