The player can select destinations on the map, participate in ship battles, defeat foes, collect valuables, and improve their crew with various abilities.

[1][2][3][4] The single-player game combines elements of role-playing, particularly the roguelike subgenre, platformer, simulation, and strategy genres.

[1][12] The game controls the actual sailing, but the ship will stop for a battle if its route crosses an occupied map node.

[1][10] Ship battles are determined by acquired stats, such as health, morale, and supply level, and by choices the player can make.

Winning battles earns the player points and equipment, which they can use to improve the crew's size and abilities, such as swimming, cleaning, cooking, and fishing.

Re-Logic actively contributed to the development of Pixel Piracy, assisting with quality assurance and design.

[20][21][22] Poysky said that the early access system on Steam allowed the team to grow in momentum and fund the game.

[16] Pixel Piracy remained in early access until it was fully released on Steam on July 31, 2014, for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux.

[23][24] The game features a custom soundtrack composed by Kole Hiks, including sea shanties inspired by Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

The Enhanced Edition supported more languages and improved items, abilities, and artificial intelligence (AI).

[31] The game's first piece of downloadable content, Pixel Piracy – Shrimp Legacy, was released a month later.

[1][8] Craig Pearson of PC Gamer described it as a "fine example of a cute Early Access title".

[1] After its console release, Francesco Serino of Everyeye.it  [it] wrote, "the final result is so modest and unconvincing that it leaves one speechless".

[36] Reviewers criticised the gameplay and its mechanics, describing the controls as complicated,[12][34] and the combat system as perplexing.

[9][15][37] Writing for Gamekult, Thomas Mangot mentioned that it had bugs upon full release and that the game's artificial intelligence was "chaotic".

[d] Pearson observed that its graphics and soundtrack contrasted with the difficulty of the gameplay, whilst Craft said that "Pixel Piracy's rather vibrant aesthetic lends itself well to the subject".

[1][4] Lawton, on the other hand, disliked that the sprites did not integrate with the backgrounds that she saw as dry, while Roberto Turrini of The Games Machine found the pixel graphics confusing at times.

[6] Quadro Delta also worked with Re-Logic on a tactical role-playing game named Pixel Privateers, which was released in 2017.

[39][40] The game adopted elements of Pixel Piracy and Terraria while also featuring an online cooperative mode.