It is way, way too early to dignify Seven Seas: Adventures by calling it a "spiritual successor" to Sid Meier's Pirates!, widely regarded as the best pirate game ever made, but I gotta say, I toyed around with its new Steam Next Fest demo and it sure does scratch a very specific itch.
Sid Meier's Pirates is explicitly a "huge inspiration" for developer Concept Games, and although I love Sid Meier's Pirates!, I approached the Seven Seas demo with trepidation. I've always considered the 2004 Pirates remake untouchable and as close to perfect as you can get, so the idea of a follow-up hasn't made much sense to me. That said, Seven Seas isn't a sequel, remake, remaster, or in any way associated with Sid Meier's Pirates; it definitely follows a similar template, but it takes place in its own distinct world and tells a different, although similarly open-ended, story.
