As CGM’s resident ninja, you’d think I’d be the last person to review Captain Blood. Suppose you have any knowledge of the internet circa 2000 to 2010. In that case, you’ll know that ninjas were the sworn enemies of pirates, and debates about their deadliness dominated discussion day and night. However, I’m nothing if not amenable, and my interest in reviewing interesting games far outweighs my disdain for our seafaring adversaries.
Captain Blood has had quite the journey. Based on the Rafael Sabatini novels of the same name, the game initially began development back in 2003 but has effectively been trapped in Davy Jones’ locker until now. All that time in the deep freeze certainly gives the game a unique vibe, as Captain Blood really feels like a relic from the past, for better and worse.
“Captain Blood has had quite the journey.”
Captain Blood puts players in the role of the titular pirate after an attack on a British port town by Spanish forces forces him to take control of one of their vessels, whereupon he finds the captive Lord Langford. Langford tells Captain Blood how the fearsome pirate Jack Easterling attacked his ship and kidnapped his daughter, offering a handsome reward for her return. The captain sets out with his crew in the name of adventure, glory and, most importantly, riches.
It’s a pretty standard story that never really takes itself too seriously and actually unfolds in some pretty interesting ways. It’s got a charm that a lot of games from the early 2000s had—like it’s trying so hard to appear edgy that it flips around and just becomes comical, especially by today’s standards. It’s hard to explain, but if you grew up with games like God of War, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within or Timesplitter 2; it’s got a similar vibe and presentation that you’ll definitely feel nostalgic for.
Gameplay is a bit of a mixed bag, and where the aforementioned “better and worse” comes into play. At its core, it’s a fairly standard Hack & Slash, probably most similar to the original God of War, but without that game’s innovation of giving players an incredible range to take on enemies. Players run through levels, hacking away at enemies, usually culminating in a boss fight. Combat is fairly straightforward with players being able to combine standard and heavy attacks, until they’re given a prompt to utilize an execution move—with moves that can provide various bonuses like stealing enemy weapons or gaining more gold, which need to be unlocked.
Captain Blood does try to keep things interesting however, with various forms of gameplay mechanics like needing to take out ships with massive artillery guns; ship-based combat where players need to utilize cannons to destroy enemy ships and combat any pirates that make it aboard and of course, a staple of 2000s-era gameplay—cinematic Quick Time Events. At its best, the gameplay is pretty mindless, and it’s easy to get into a groove and mash away at the buttons.
However, Captain Blood definitely hasn’t implemented any gameplay advances since the early 2000s, and in some cases, can be genuinely broken. Despite being a big man with a pretty big sword, every attack feels pretty weightless and doesn’t really connect with enemies in a satisfying way. Enemies don’t really react to being hit, nor do they really stagger unless they’re hit with even bigger weapons that are taken from them, so you’ll constantly be interrupted mid combo by enemies who have no in-between frames on their attack animations.
In a way, it’s almost charming. Captain Blood has that same mindless action and the same kind of jank that early 2000s Hack & Slash games had, which creates a game where, when it’s working, it can be a lot of uncomplicated fun. But when it’s not working, it can be a frustrating mess that never really makes you so mad that you quit, but definitely disappoints you since you know it’s the game’s fault and not yours.
“There’s a part of me that really wants to love Captain Blood.”
In terms of presentation, Captain Blood is all over the place. Visually, it so unapologetically resembles a GameCube game that I couldn’t help but smile when I first saw it. Characters look like exaggerated cartoon characters brought to life, environments strike a balance between detailed and simple, and combat animations mostly look solid.
Usually, because while the standard combat animations work pretty well, executions have no guarantee that they’ll play out correctly and considering you do them so often, it becomes very noticeable, very quickly. On top of this, some cutscenes showcase a bit of the visual jank, and can even break a bit, with subtitles that appear whole minutes after characters have spoken, and absolutely horrible audio mixed where the music constantly drowns out the speech.
There’s a part of me that really wants to love Captain Blood. Like I’ve said in the past, so many games try to emulate the 80’s-era of retro games, and I’m a sucker for any game that tries to capture that era where 3D gaming was really hitting its stride. But in the year 2025, making a game that feels like a PS2 game and making one that plays like one are totally different things.
It’s the kind of game that would have made an awesome weekend rental. It’s definitely got a lot of charm and there’s fun to be had, but after a while, it does get a bit stale, so if you have nostalgia for the GameCube era of gaming, take this recommendation with a massive asterisk.
