It's About Pirates Normal Difficulty: What a Standard Run Really Looks Like

Does It's About Pirates Have a Normal Difficulty Setting?

If you searched for an It's About Pirates normal difficulty toggle and came up empty, the setting arrived just after launch. Update #1, posted on November 7, 2026, added Easy, Normal, and Hard choices for every adventure. Normal is therefore the middle tier: the baseline run the game was tuned around before the selector existed.

That matters because the game is a survivors-like, a genre where difficulty is usually expressed through escalating waves, build quality, and how far you push a run as well as through a menu. Understanding the standard experience is the fastest way to know whether your first voyages are going badly or going normally.

This guide sticks to what the official Steam listing, the launch press release, and the post-launch changelog actually document. Where a detail is not supported, it is left out rather than guessed at.

The Baseline Run: What a Standard Voyage Contains

The clearest picture of It's About Pirates normal difficulty comes from the content breadth the developer advertises. A standard session is built from a fixed set of component parts, and your results depend on how you combine them.

According to the Steam store page, the game includes:

• 30 adventures to sail through
• 10 distinct captains with different starting identities
• 6 factions, each with unique abilities
• Over 140 items to shape a build
• Over 150 unique ship parts discovered during play
• Endless mode for players testing their skill ceiling
• Steam Leaderboards and a score-attack framing for competitive runs

The launch press release from Elderwoof Games describes the loop simply: collect loot, upgrade your ship, survive storms of cannonballs, face mythical sea monsters, and "prepare for an epic boss battle at the end of each run." That boss gate is important context for the difficulty conversation — a run has a defined finish line, and failing to prepare for it is the most common way a standard voyage ends.

Because the developers recommend a controller on the store page, it is also fair to say the intended input feel is gamepad-first, even though the game supports Xbox and PlayStation controllers alongside keyboard play.

Where the Challenge Actually Comes From

On top of the Normal tier, It's About Pirates pressure comes from three points the official material names directly.

Escalating enemy waves

The Steam description states plainly that "increasingly challenging enemies will stand in your way." In practice, this means the threat curve is baked into run length. A build that comfortably clears early encounters can stall once enemy density climbs, which is why veterans of the genre treat the first few minutes as a shopping trip rather than a victory lap.

Build quality and weapon synergy

The game hands you flamethrowers, harpoons, mortars, and a "vast arsenal of deadly upgrades." The store text emphasizes strategically combining weapons and items to craft powerful builds. Community reports from survivors-like players suggest the same pattern that governs the genre: stacking a small number of upgraded synergies outperforms spreading picks thin. That is a genre-wide observation, not a documented It's About Pirates rule.

The end-of-run boss

Both the Steam page and the press release point to a boss confrontation closing out a run. Treat the fight as a build check. If your damage output cannot clear adds while chipping a large health pool, the run ends there regardless of how clean the earlier adventures felt.

Endless mode as the real difficulty dial

Players who want more challenge can raise the tier to Hard or use Endless mode, which is separate from the three-level selector. Endless is framed as a skill test and pairs with Steam Leaderboards for players who want a measurable benchmark: same rules, longer horizon, leaderboard feedback.

Practical Tips for Standard Runs

These recommendations follow from the documented systems and assume you are starting on Normal.

• Start with manual aiming if you can tolerate it. The store page lists automatic or manual aiming as a feature, which means the choice exists — auto-aim trades precision for attention, and manual rewards it.
• Commit to one faction's identity. With 6 factions offering unique abilities, mixing identities early tends to produce a ship that does nothing especially well.
• Chase ship parts between runs, not during them. Over 150 parts are found across adventures and quests in different pirate realms, so collection is a long-term progression track rather than a single-run power spike.
• Learn the captain roster gradually. Ten captains is a large pool for a launch build; rotating through all of them immediately makes it hard to tell whether a loss came from the captain or from your build.
• Use loot for skins last. The store page separates loot collection from skin unlocks, so cosmetics are a reward layer, not a power layer. Do not treat them as build investment.

Dated Snapshot: Price, Reviews, and Compatibility

The figures below come from the Steam store page as captured on 2026-11-09. They are frozen observations, not live values, and the review and price numbers should be read with their scope attached.

Two caveats on that table. First, 34 total reviews is a very small sample, so the "Mixed" label is a launch-week signal rather than a verdict on the game's long-term reception. Second, the discount price was observed inside a promotional window that the page said would close on November 16 — do not assume it is still available at that figure.

The developer context is worth noting too: Elderwoof Games is an independent studio based in Graz, Austria, and It's About Pirates is its Steam debut after roughly two years of development, per the launch press release dated November 6, 2026.

System Requirements for Smoother Runs

Frame drops are their own kind of difficulty modifier. The Steam listing separates minimum and recommended specs, and the gap between them is meaningful:

• Minimum: Windows 10, Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600, 2 GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1050 4GB, 1 GB storage
• Recommended: Windows 11, Intel Core i5-10500 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 4 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 2060 6GB, 2 GB storage

Both profiles require a 64-bit processor and operating system and DirectX 11. If your machine sits at the minimum, expect the bullet-hell density that defines the genre's later waves to be the first thing that suffers.

FAQ

Is there a normal difficulty option in It's About Pirates? Yes. Update #1, posted November 7, 2026, added Easy, Normal, and Hard choices for every adventure, with Normal as the middle tier. Endless mode remains a separate escalation path for a longer test.

How long does a standard run take? The supplied sources do not specify run length. The Steam page confirms 30 adventures and an end-of-run boss, but no duration figure is published — check the store page or the community hub for player-reported times.

What should I upgrade first when I'm struggling? Focus on weapon synergy rather than raw spread. The store page highlights combining flamethrowers, harpoons, mortars, and upgrade items into a coherent build, and notes that enemies scale up as a run progresses, so a concentrated build ages better than a broad one.

Can I compare my It's About Pirates normal difficulty results with other players? Steam Leaderboards are listed as a feature, and the game is tagged for score attack. Endless mode plus leaderboards is the documented way to benchmark a run against the wider player base.

Does the game support controllers? Yes. The store page lists Xbox and PlayStation controller support and notes that the developers recommend playing with a controller.

For the most accurate, up-to-date details on pricing, patches, and any difficulty options added after launch, check the official It's About Pirates Steam page directly.