It’s official, pirates will never get old. Be it movies about them, games, Halloween costumes or rides at Disneyland, pirates are still one of the most fertile grounds for tales of adventure and intrigue. I’m not sure if it’s the puffy shirts, the eye patches or the proclivity for rum consumption, but it seems like everyone has entertained the notion of being a pirate at least once in their lives.

Russian video game publisher 1C, along with developer Sea Wolf knows this very well and has created not only an action packed swashbuckling adventure set during the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, but one with a very unique visual style. They definitely have some very talented artists working for them, that’s for sure. But another cool thing about the game is that it encapsulates two entirely different archetypes of pirate games.



First is the on-foot action. In Captain Blood you play, well, Captain Blood, a dashing and quite buff pirate captain who’s as good with his saber as he is sailing the high seas. As you make your way through wretched and debaucherous port towns, you’ll fight alongside your faithful friend Pitt in what can only be described as being inspired by classic hack n’ slash games. Switching between the Captain and Pitt on the fly, you’ll have melee weapons like swords and clubs at your disposal, as well as your trusty pistol and the occasional bomb. There will be environmental weapons at your disposal, like hanging barrels that can be dropped on enemies.





We got a chance to actually play this mode a little bit, and it definitely has that classic brawler feel. Simple attacks can be chained together for combos, and yes, they have fatalities in the game. Because I know you were wondering. The game still has a way to go development-wise, but we had the kind of fun we expected to have playing through.

What we didn’t get to play, unfortunately, was the sea battle mode. You will take control of entire fleets of ships in Captain Blood, and engage in large scale battles, both with your cannons and also with your men as you board and capture enemy vessels. These vessels then join your fleet, giving you even more power at sea. It remains to be seen if the “at sea” sections take on a full scale Privateer-style of play, but what we saw of the sea battles looked like they actually employed somewhat realistic tactics. Completing levels of each kind will allow you to build your characters skills up, giving the game an rpg-like sheen. We don’t expect that element to run too deeply though. That’s ok, Captain Blood looks more like silly fun than a true “pirate sim”, whatever that might be. No sight of a ballroom dancing minigame either, thank god.

What really stands out about Captain Blood is the art style. The highly realized look wouldn’t look out of place on the drafting table of a top Disney artist, and Sea Wolf is to be commended for it. The hero is sufficiently buffed out (I wouldn’t put it past a pirate to be on “the juice”) and the bad guys comically twisted. We can say one thing for sure, the game is a visual treat.

Captain Blood is still a ways off development-wise, but it will be releasing this year. We’re just hoping to get our hands on the ship battling aspect of the game soon. As soon as we do, we’ll be sure to let you know all about it.