What I Am Looking For in Captain Blood

Captain Blood is one of those games that have been in development hell for ages. It popped up for the first time in the early 2000s, only to bob in and out of the popular zeitgeist for the next two decades and change. Now, under developers Seawolf Studio and General Arcade, it seems this swashbuckling adventure may yet get to set its sail! But what does it need to do to make it in the market, and what features could it bring from the bygone ages of gaming? Knowing little to nothing of this adventure on the high seas, here are some things I hope to see once they finally hoist the colours.

Being in development for decades is often considered a very bad sign, but it’s not all grey skies and shipwrecks either; as in any form of media, videogames tend to go through phases that, at least to me, tend to last way too long. Who here remembers the epidemic of chest-high walls or the open-world sandstorm, for example? Due to this prevalence of certain game mechanics, a game from the early 2000s has the potential to stand out from the crowd with features and mechanics we’ve since forgotten or now view with fond nostalgia.

If I were able to decide, I’d like to see Captain Blood indulge in its piratey name and bring with it some fun, fast-paced hack-and-slash combat with lots of colourful combos, bombastic moves, and varied enemies to punch, stab, and fling insults at. Since we already have blood in the title, we could go down the God of War (2005) route, with spectacular fights against hordes of enemies. Of course, we could also revisit the cover shooter era of games, which was kicked off by 2006’s Gears of War, but I’d rather not see that, to be honest. I like my swashbuckling up close and personal.

Now, every time the words “pirate” and “game” are uttered in a sentence, most minds usually go straight to one feature: ship-to-ship combat. We can’t help it! Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag gave us a taste of nautical adventure, and we’ve been seeking that high ever since! However, ship combat is a hard one to get right, as the balance between realism and fun is tough to achieve.

I want to be at the helm, spinning the wheel like I’m on Wheel of Fortune and fighting the waves, but I don’t want it to take an hour to turn starboard. Since Captain Blood is from a different time, however, I’d probably accept a more arcadey flair to the combat. Maybe something like Overboard! on the PlayStation.

As an aside, upgrading and customising both our ship and a possible pirate haven are also on my list since they always add a fun side-activity to work on while roaming the seas. I also think it adds a nice incentive for seeking out combat. Do you like the look of that fancy figurehead on a foreign vessel? Take it, as pirates should!

I realise I’m focusing a lot on combat in this little thought experiment, but I think continuous violence and chaos are simply what we imagine whenever the prowling wolves of the sea are mentioned! But let’s consider the other side of the equation: pirate diplomacy. The romanticised version we know and love depicts swarthy men flooding the decks of a merchant vessel after filling the decks with holes, but the reality is a bit different.

If Captain Blood wants to break away from the stereotypes of Hollywood, it could focus more on the “diplomatic” aspects of piracy. Instead of having bloody battles, we could chase down ships and simply hop aboard and ask for their cargo manifest! Sure, we’d have to kill a few here or there to keep our status, but hey, it’s not like we slaughtered the whole crew! Just get some goods to either consume or sell, and we’ll be off to plunder anew! Having Monkey Island–esque debates with enemy captains is always a good time.

So that we don’t completely ignore tradition, however, I will add that I want bar fights. Any pirate-themed experience is incomplete without an all-out brawl set in a dingy, wooden tavern. Bonus points are awarded for any table-hopping shenanigans, mercurial alliances, and flintlock standoffs.

Finally, I’m very interested to see how the titular Captain Blood (if that is the main character) moves. Being a seafaring rapscallion, I’d like to see the required dexterity present in the characters’ movements. Let them dodge and twirl through a crowd, climb a wall in seconds, and handle the throwing off or swinging on any rope with the grace of a professional trapeze artist!

I’d also like our crimson captain to employ this same nimbleness in combat, using quick thinking and reflexes to find victory rather than brute strength. Some of my favourite combat mechanics have been in Prince of Persia, for example, where the titular Prince used walls, barrels, and other people as the base for many acrobatic attacks and dodges. More of that, please!

I have a lot of weird wishes for Captain Blood. While I’m under no illusions that all or any of these will come to fruition, it is a fun idea to contemplate! Will the game keep any of the original ideas in the finished product, will it be a cookie-cutter modern title with the same mechanics and features we’re already sick of, or will it surprise us all? Let us know what you think, hope, or fear for the upcoming pirate adventure down in the comments.