Any effort in preserving a piece of art is a worthwhile one, thrice as much in the realm of video games, a medium that’s not exactly held in the same high regard as visual arts, literature, music and movies – so kudos to developer SeaWolf Studio, as well as porting house and co-development studio General Arcade, the people of which have “revived” forgotten cult gems like Blade of Darkness. SeaWolf’s latest resurrection is Captain Blood, a title formerly known as Age of Pirates: Captain Blood, and one which was stuck in development – and legal – hell for over 10 years. The result is something that will bring nostalgic tears to those who grew up with the various hack ‘n’ slashers of the 2000s, as it feels like it came straight from that period. It sadly carries with it the same bunch of flaws that plagued these back in the day, no attempt has been made to shake up the formula, and plenty of bugs have been left intact.
Captain Blood follows the titular character as he is interrupted mid-swashbuckling in the 17th-century seas, where he is employed by a high-ranking Englishman to save his kidnapped daughter. Yes, her bouncing cleavage is enough reason alone to do the deed. This is a b-movie-esque pirate-themed adventure, after all, and it is fittingly corny, with its hyper-confident main protagonist looking like a blend of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Fabio, and a ‘90s porn star, just a lot more macho and battle ready. It’s a silly cartoon. In fact, it’s a missed opportunity to let go and be even more silly, as this would really benefit from leaning more into its cheesy and comedic side, which only occasionally makes an appearance, with the overall presentation feeling a bit…flat, with somewhat forgettable characters, dialogue, and other aspects.
If experienced with any similar title, learning the ropes won’t take more than 10 minutes. Mr. Blo… Sorry, Captain Blood quickly swings his sword with one button, while the other one swings it slowly but also more ferociously. The extra moves on his hands? A grenade, a shoot-from-the-hip pistol ability that recharges over time and, finally, a rage energy meter that can activate a very brief period where Captain macho over here can do more damage and feel less pain. After he fills a foe with enough bruises, he can grab him and use a finisher that adds energy to the rage meter, and as more finishers are purchased, these can provide more gold, steal the enemy’s weapon, or raise rage even more.
Combat never becomes too complex or tactical, and that, for the most part, is a good thing. It’s all about learning how to approach each of the five or so types of enemies, as some attacks must be blocked, some goons force el Capitano to roll away from their powerful blows, and others have ranged weaponry of their own. Mix them all together in an arena, and battles manage to be quite entertaining – and surprisingly violent despite the cartoony look, with chopped heads flying around, and plenty of splashing blood. It helps that the controls are smooth and easy to learn, and action is generally appropriately fast. The hero also receives gold at a somewhat steady pace, ensuring that he’ll be able to unlock at least one new combo within each of the many chapters.
Sadly, the fact that this pays tribute to a certain genre and era is both a blessing and a curse. Clearly, in the process of resurrecting Captain Blood, the developer didn’t really try to bring it to the current age. Repetition kicks in after a couple of hours as it’s mostly about running on the one path available, fighting wave after wave of enemies, with little to no variation in terms of combat scenarios. Even when the level design tries to be a bit more creative, the gameplay remains the same. Blood is fighting the same opponents over and over, and while it’s fun, that’s not enough. As an important side note, not all combos are made equal, which means that most will stick to one or two, further increasing the monotony.
There are a couple of attempts to spice things up a bit. A few chapters see Blood defend his galleon from other ships in naval battles that simply have him run around the deck, where enemies occasionally come on board for some typical fighting, while the Captain tries to use the various cannons…or wait for them to cooldown, while the opponent’s armada keeps bombarding you. The worst attempt at “spicing things up” is the implementation of QTEs, which are a mechanic that has almost disappeared from the industry – and for good reason. Here they add nothing to the experience, and can be extremely annoying as many of them are almost unfairly demanding in terms of speed, with failure leading to death, which in turn leads to rewatching a small cut-scene.
Generally, while the gameplay itself is far from bad, this is a sloppy job. There are no modern quality-of-life systems whatsoever, with one example being that to replay a chapter one must restart the whole freaking game. There are a couple of game-breaking bugs, like the character getting stuck in the scenery, or auto-save not working every now and then. The sound is quite buggy too, with voices disappearing altogether or being drowned under the much stronger music, or even the sound of gunshots and punches. Captain Blood’s main problem, though, is that it’s a relic of a bygone era. Combat is fun but also repetitive, and while the whole thing is refreshingly “retro”, if that makes any sense, it could do with a couple of the features that make current action titles better than those that came before them.
