You usually start the game choosing a character (some games only have one, others have multiple), a starting class (which defines your stats and initial gear) and a nation (England, France, Spain or Holland). You'll then have to complete a starting tutorial, which ranges from short and skippable in some games to somewhat longer story-based intros in others. After that, you set sail – the entire Caribbean now open to you.

You can sail in third- or first-person view, travel the world-map in a overhead travel mode and explore towns, forts and jungles on foot, talking to NPCs for quests and rumours. You'll trade, fight and generally blunder your way across the Caribbean and, if you wander enough, run into special quests that can reward you with considerable wealth and rare ships.

Your character's skills improve the more you use them, and you can buy perks that add key benefits to your playstyle. You can also hire ship officers and fighters to cover whatever skill deficiencies you have.

Fighting on land or while boarding involves two key parameters: health and stamina. You die when you run out of health, and you can't swat even a fly without stamina. You and your opponents play by the same rules, and while one-on-one combat is easy, getting swarmed in a group can be anything from challenging to tedious, depending on how well-stocked you are with potions. You also have the emergency option of firing a pistol, which, while handy in a pinch, takes long enough to reload that swordplay remains the chief means of fighting.

The first games have a button-mashing combat, but the swordplay was upgraded after Caribbean Tales, offering six moves: a light swing, a lunge, a heavy overhand blow, a counter attack, a parry and a huge swing that cuts at everyone in front of you. You can also block attacks, and sidestep or dodge backwards.