''Captain Blood'', formerly known as ''Age of Pirates: Captain Blood'' (), is a 2025

action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action ...

developed by russian studio 1С: Морской волк (SeaWolf Studio) and published by russian publisher SNEG. It is based on the novel of the same name by

Rafael Sabatini Rafael Sabatini (29 April 1875 – 13 February 1950) was an Italian people, Italian-born British writer of novels, writer of romance novel, romance and adventure novel, adventure novels. He is best known for his worldwide bestsellers: ''The Sea ...

about the titular Captain Blood. The player assumes the role of the Captain, following his adventures in 1685

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the Spanish Main was the collective term used by English speakers for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of ...

. The game is notable for being in

development hell Development hell, also known as development purgatory or development limbo, is media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic ...

for 10 years before being abandoned due to legal issues. ''Captain Blood'' had been rated by the

PEGI PEGI ( ), short for Pan-European Game Information, is a European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content ...

rating board and was to be released by 1C before a lawsuit resulted in the project being shelved and considered

vaporware In the computer industry, vaporware (or vapourware) is a product, typically computer Computer hardware, hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late, never actually manufactured, or officially canceled. Use of the w ...

. A J2ME version was released in Russia in 2006. A re-reveal of the game was announced in June 2024, and was released on May 6, 2025 for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...

and

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

Gameplay

''Captain Blood'' is a pirate-themed

hack and slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

action game that featured a mission-based structure, allowing players to fight on both land and sea against hordes of enemies, with ship-to-ship battles and sword fights to gain control of invaded ships. Players gain special points as they defeat enemies, acquiring new fighting techniques and gold for weapons and equipment.

Development and release

In 2003, it was announced that

Akella Akella () was a Russian software company specialising in the development, publishing and distribution of video games and multimedia products. The founders met in 1993 and decided to start a company together and in 1995 formed Akella. The comp ...

, developer of '' Sea Dogs'' and ''

Pirates of the Caribbean ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with Wa ...

'', would make a game based on the Sabatini novels. Development on the game was restarted at the end of the year when new project leads took over. The game was featured at E3 2004 as part of publisher

1C Company 1C Company (, ) is a Russian software developer, distributor and publisher based in Moscow. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, related services and video games. In Russia, 1C develops and sells the business ...

's lineup of titles. However, by the end of the year, the project was restarted again, taking on a more mature tone. The development team was split into a SeaDogs team ('' Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales'') and a SeaWolf team (''Captain Blood'').

Playlogic Entertainment Playlogic Entertainment was a company active in mobile gambling and console publishing, founded in 2002 by Rogier Smit. History Playlogic Entertainment, Inc. was listed on the 'OTCBB' in New York, (ticker symbol: PLGC) in June 2005 and compl ...

signed on in 2005 to be the game's publisher in Europe and the United States, and development was once again restarted in 2006. By 2008, Akella sold its internal SeaWolves team to Russian publisher 1C following a legal battle with Playlogic over rights to the series; development was then further delayed. The game was set to be released in 2006 on

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

, but was subsequently moved to the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

. In June 2008, a trailer was released and media outlets were able to play the game. A website launched in July 2010. Around the same time, Playlogic declared bankruptcy and underwent restructuring, effectively canceling the game in all but name. In 2020, Akella alumnus Oleg Klapovskiy and 1C Company alumnus Artem Shchuiko founded SNEG in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. After being acquainted during previous stints developing for GOG.com, they decided to come forward to negotiate a revival of the game and obtain the rights to the game from its owners. Actual development was outsourced to

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

-based General Arcade due to their experience and enthusiasm working with custom engines. After 10 years of inactivity, the full 1.0 version of the game was leaked online and made available on torrent sites. Source code of the game engine was released on

GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...

under

GPLv3 The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

on November 28, 2022. On 17 June 2024, a new trailer for the game was released. It was later announced that the game would be delayed into 2025 to allow for more development time, but a new release date was revealed in January. ''Captain Blood'' would later be released on May 6, 2025 for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

References

External links

* (archived)
''Age of Pirates: Captain Blood''
at

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Age Of Pirates: Captain Blood 1C Company games 2025 video games Action-adventure games Captain Blood Cancelled Xbox games Cancelled Xbox 360 games Hack and slash games macOS games Nintendo Switch games Open-source video games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Sea Dogs Single-player video games Video games about pirates Video games based on novels Video games developed in Malaysia Video games developed in Russia Video games set in the Caribbean Windows games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games