The story of Captain Blood’s laborious development is far more engaging than the game itself. First announced in 2003, Captain Blood sought to ride the wave of successful hack-and-slashers dominating the market. You can still see the inspiration of titles like Devil May Cry, and later God of War, in the final product. After years of troubled development, the game finally sailed towards a 2010 release date, before a sudden bankruptcy left Captain Blood dead in the water. Fourteen years later, a “re-reveal” dropped out of nowhere, finally promising a new release date.

I have to commend publisher SNEG for its focus on game preservation. This industry sees far too many exciting projects tragically cancelled, so to recover one of these projects and finish development is nothing short of incredible. I hope more forgotten games receive second chances in the future, especially titles that feel more deserving. If Captain Blood had been released in the early 2000s, it would’ve been a neat hack-and-slash adventure that didn’t particularly stand out. Had it come out in 2010, it would’ve felt outdated and behind its contemporaries. In 2025, Captain Blood is an absolute slog with very few redeeming qualities. No amount of modern polish could save its abysmal core, not that there’s much polish to begin with.

This is only worth playing if you yearn for the era of PS2 action, but aren’t willing to revisit the bottomless well of incredible games from that time. The franchises that once inspired Captain Blood have evolved across two decades to become far more complex and engaging. Meanwhile, titles like “En Garde!” and “Hi-Fi Rush” provide new takes on action conventions, and are filled with swashbuckling fun

While Captain Blood does capture a small fraction of the charm from that era of gaming, it simply isn’t able to compete with the greats of yesteryear or the new kids of today. Even outside of comparison, it fails to be enjoyable, due to lethargic repetitive gameplay, a swarm of technical issues and perhaps most insultingly, a dull adaptation of piracy.

Hack and slash, then hack and slash some more!

Taking control of the titular Peter Blood, the game thrusts players into a pirate adventure. Motivated by Blood’s simplistic love of gold and treasure, your adventure will consist of: killing Spaniards, rescuing damsels, murdering Spaniards, sinking Spaniard ships, plundering gold, and if there’s time, killing some more Spaniards.

Yes, it’s in the foundations of a hack-and-slash to feature endless waves of foes, but there’s barely a hint of variation here. From beginning to end, Captain Blood is nothing but an endless series of hallways filled with far too many samey enemies. A new foe will be thrown in every couple of missions, but all that really changes is what weapon they carry. Everybody just runs in Blood’s face to spam attacks with no substance or strategy. The only exception is gun users, but their ranged attacks are a constant frustration instead of a welcome change.

Combat may fare better if Peter Blood had a more exciting set of skills, but his toolkit is horrifically dull. The player has access to light & heavy attacks which combo together, as well as a pistol and grenades. It’s a very limited selection that stagnates across the entire campaign. Sure, you can unlock new combos, but they don’t feel distinct and are all weightless. You could solve every encounter using the same string of buttons if you so desire. And you’ll be seeing these combos many times, too, thanks to the aggravatingly tanky health bars on every foe.

Even the best action games typically break up their excellent gameplay for pacing purposes. That can consist of puzzles, fun platforming, exciting cutscenes or ambient empty levels. You won’t find a trace of that in Captain Blood, which is only interested in non-stop subpar action. The best you’ll get are occasional, tedious, awkwardly controlling minigames required to progress. There are quick time events too, but even as an avid QTE defender, I can’t endorse these. Keep your controller ready on every cutscene, as their appearances are sudden and lack any cohesive sense of timing.

The only interesting idea Captain Blood toys with is its ship battles. But a smart idea doesn’t necessarily equate to a fun one, especially when poorly executed. In these missions, Blood runs up and down the deck, clicking on every cannon individually to shoot nearby ships. You have no control over your ship’s movement, and simply have to partake in this shooting gallery while avoiding even more waves of relentless foes. There are only a few instances of ship battles, but they were always a grating experience.

It’s not a very functional game either, I experienced a large number of glitches that affected gameplay. The game kept randomly refunding my acquired upgrades, and sometimes gold was completely deleted from my inventory. There’s also a slow motion filter, which I think is meant to trigger when brutally killing an enemy? But this was happening constantly at random intervals. Too many enemies on screen could trigger slow-motion, suggesting poor performance. But it also tended to happen every couple of minutes, no matter what I was doing.

“Ultimately, there’s just so much going wrong in Captain Blood that the game flow is constantly disrupted.”

Despite everything, there are moments where Captain Blood’s combat does achieve a decent sense of flow. The best mechanic in the game is stealing weaponry from enemies. These weapons can turn the tide of battle, especially the powerful dual pistols. There are times where combos, stolen weapons, careful dodges and a well-placed gunshot or grenade do emulate a satisfying action experience.

But ultimately, there’s just so much going wrong in Captain Blood that the game flow is constantly disrupted. Blood’s pistol has an annoying auto-aim that makes it almost always shoot in the wrong direction. His grenades suffer a similar problem, and his rage ability is extremely unsatisfying to use. Even if the abilities were tuned up, it doesn’t change the fact that the levels are just hours and hours of hallways with the same dull encounters.

Cartoony vibes, both a blessing and a curse

You wouldn’t expect much depth from an action story, but you might at least expect something entertaining. Unfortunately, Peter Blood is one of the most boring protagonists I’ve had the displeasure of controlling. He’s a stern and confident everyman; he always knows the right plan of action and gets everything he wants without a hint of trouble. His brilliance doesn’t have any notable layers to it, nor is it particularly enjoyable to watch. He’s just the best, deal with it.

He’s barely a pirate, too! Blood spends most of the adventure taking orders from the British, tasked with killing Spaniards to expand England’s goals of colonisation. Piracy is, without a doubt, my favourite romanticised historical period, and we still suffer from a drastic lack of pirate-themed video games. A pirate adventure should embrace freedom and anarchy, not privateer service to an empire. The game’s glitchiness infects its story quite heavily, too. Although high frame rates are supported, I had to limit my game to 60fps to avoid character models constantly jittering. Dialogue is horrendously mixed; most lines were close to inaudible, no matter what I did with sound settings. According to subtitles, there were a few lines that simply didn’t play at all.

I cannot get a feel for the game’s tone either. Mechanics like the cannonball miniguns and the cartoonish art style imply a wackier tone, but every cutscene is played very seriously. One thing I can be confident about is the game’s mild but weirdly sexist undertones.

The journey only features two female characters, who only share a notable lack of agency and hilariously exaggerated boob windows. Despite being the inciting incident for Blood’s adventure, Lorain has minimal dialogue and vanishes entirely after her second main appearance. Matilda gets a more exciting role as an antagonist, but she is also the only named foe who does not receive a boss battle, and is promptly humiliated in a cutscene instead.

Given Captain Blood’s history, it’s not surprising that it looks a little dated, but the graphics actually hold up ok. They’ve opted for this cartoony, rubbery look, which works pretty well for environments. Lush islands and stone fortresses pop thanks to this vibrant style. The same can’t be said for character models, which lack detail and move rather stiffly in cutscenes. Faces, in particular, are quite poorly animated. In many instances, they just move their heads around a bunch instead of replicating any real human expression.

Animations are a mixed bag in general. Peter’s combat animations are simple but effective, his attacks flowing into each other naturally. The visual effects on his swords during combos are a nice touch, if a tad too distracting. I quite enjoy the spectacle of the differing enemy executions, which are delightfully over the top.

Enemies aren’t as fortunate, often moving rather rigidly and awkwardly shifting into place when attacking. They’re not very readable, and with all the on-screen carnage, attacks can feel quite sudden. The game tells you that unblockable abilities will have a special shine to them. But this is a very inconsistent visual that’s typically difficult to spot. Overall, Captain Blood does fare better in its visual execution, but graphics can only get you so far. With such lacklustre gameplay and unenjoyable storytelling, there’s nothing on offer here that’s really worth anyone’s time.

3

Bad

Positive:

Occasional bursts of satisfying swashbuckling action
Cartoonish & vibrant environments make for visually engaging levels

Negative:

Extremely unenjoyable and unresponsive combat
Very repetitive, uninspired level design
Glitches & presentation issues across the entire game
A really bland usage of pirate visuals & themes

While Captain Blood’s development is an engaging tale, the same cannot be said for any aspect of the final product. The game fails to capture what made other hack-and-slashers so fun, nor does it provide any notable innovations. Even as just nostalgia bait, Captain Blood always ends up undermining itself thanks to lacklustre combat, a lifeless world and general glitchiness that pollutes the whole experience.