It's About Pirates Hard Difficulty: What Actually Raises the Challenge

Is There an It's About Pirates Hard Difficulty Setting?

If you opened the game looking for a difficulty slider, it is there after the first patch. Update #1, posted on November 7, 2026, added Easy, Normal, and Hard choices for every adventure, so an It's About Pirates hard difficulty setting is now documented in the developer's own changelog.

That matters because survivors-likes are usually tuned around how brutal the late waves get, and players want to know where that dial lives before they commit a run. Here the dial is a per-adventure choice, and the in-run challenge still ramps through escalating enemy waves, Endless mode, 10 captains, 6 factions, and leaderboards.

What the Official Sources Actually Confirm About Challenge

The Steam store page and the Elderwoof Games press kit for It's About Pirates describe the launch feature list, while the post-launch changelog is where the difficulty selector appears: Update #1 adds Easy, Normal, and Hard. The store's feature bullets were not rewritten to include it, so rely on the announcement for this setting.

That is a snapshot, not a permanent verdict. Elderwoof Games shipped the game on November 6, 2026 after roughly two years of development and added the difficulty selector the next day. Check the announcement feed and store page directly rather than trusting any article — including this one — about what the menu contains on the day you read it.

All entries reflect the Steam store page and the Elderwoof Games press kit as captured on November 9, 2026, plus Update #1's published changelog from November 7, 2026.

How Difficulty Ramps During a Normal Run

The Steam page calls It's About Pirates a survivors-like where you blast through relentless waves, collect loot, and upgrade your ship for naval battles. You navigate storms of cannonballs, face mythical sea monsters, and time attacks for maximum impact. The escalation is described as a property of the run itself — the longer you survive and the deeper you push, the more the game throws at you.

The launch announcement adds a concrete endpoint: each run builds toward an epic boss battle. That gives the It's About Pirates hard difficulty curve a clear shape. Early waves teach you weapon timing and positioning; the boss at the end of the run tests whether your build actually holds together. Weapons named in the store copy include flamethrowers, harpoons, and mortars, all positioned as tools for turning your ship into "an unstoppable fortress."

Escalation inside a run is framed as automatic, but the per-adventure difficulty tier is a settings choice. That is worth internalizing before you blame the game for being too easy or too punishing — you control both the build and the tier.

How to Get the Most Out of an It's About Pirates Hard Difficulty Run

Hard is the top of the three-tier selector added in Update #1. On top of choosing it, here is how to raise the pressure using only systems the store page confirms exist.

• Switch to manual aiming. The store lists "Automatic or manual aiming" as a feature. Manual input asks more of you moment to moment than letting the ship handle targeting.
• Commit to Endless mode. The feature list frames Endless as the place to "test your skill," and it is the only mode described in skill-testing terms.
• Rotate captains. With 10 captains available, moving away from your comfort pick changes your starting build and forces adaptation.
• Try unfamiliar factions. Six factions with unique abilities means six different ways your run can go sideways. Pick the one you understand least.
• Chase the leaderboard. The store lists leaderboards as a feature, which gives an It's About Pirates hard difficulty benchmark that is set by other players rather than by a menu.
• Drop the safety net of repetition. Rerunning the same adventure with the same loadout will flatten the challenge; the 30 adventures exist to be pushed through.

Where It's About Pirates Hard Difficulty Is Really Decided: Builds

The store page and press kit both emphasize buildcraft: combine deadly weapons, powerful items, and a fearless captain to create unique builds. Over 140 items shape your run, and more than 150 unique ship parts can be discovered while completing quests across different pirate realms. Whether the 150+ collectible ship-part collection affects Hard-mode combat is for reference only until verified.

A few practical implications follow from the documented design. First, loot is the engine — you collect it, then convert it into upgrades, so a hard run is really a question of how efficiently you convert drops into synergy. Second, ship skins are unlocked separately from the 150+ collectible ship-part collection; whether those parts change performance is for reference only until verified. Third, realms are the pacing mechanism for expanding that collection through quests; whether this makes late-run ships stronger is also for reference only until verified.

Player experience reports on how specific item combinations perform are still thin, since the game launched on November 6, 2026. Community build guides will mature faster than any static article, so treat early tier lists with suspicion.

Before You Push a Harder Run: Reviews, Price, and Setup

Snapshot data helps you judge whether the game is worth the practice time. The figures below are frozen observations, not live values.

System requirements are modest, which is good news if you plan long Endless sessions. Minimum specs call for Windows 10 or newer, an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600, 2 GB RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1050 with 4 GB, on 1 GB of storage. Recommended specs step up to Windows 11, an i5-10500 or Ryzen 5 3600, 4 GB RAM, and an RTX 2060 with 6 GB, on 2 GB of storage. The developers recommend a controller, and the store lists single-player, achievements, Steam Cloud, leaderboards, and Family Sharing as features.

One honest caveat about that review snapshot: 34 reviews is a small sample, and "Mixed" at 67% positive reflects a launch-week audience still learning the game. It tells you the reception exists, not that the game is easy or hard.

FAQ

Does It's About Pirates have a hard difficulty setting? Yes. Update #1, posted November 7, 2026, added Easy, Normal, and Hard choices for every adventure; Hard is the highest of the three. The store feature list still covers 30 adventures, 10 captains, 6 factions, 140+ items, Endless mode, and leaderboards without repeating the selector.

How do I make an It's About Pirates Hard difficulty run more demanding? Choose Hard for the adventure, then stack player-side pressure: play Endless mode, switch to manual aiming, and rotate through captains and factions you have not mastered.

Does the game get harder as a run goes on? Yes, per the store description, which says increasingly challenging enemies will stand in your way, and the launch announcement, which describes an epic boss battle at the end of each run. The ramp is part of the run structure.

Is Endless mode the hardest content in It's About Pirates? Endless is a separate endurance mode, not one of the three difficulty tiers. The sources do not rank modes against each other, so treat Endless as the documented skill benchmark and Hard as the top selectable tier.