A call from the past: a closed game about Captain Blood revived after 15 years
The international development team of Seawolf Studio was able to bring the video game "The Adventures of Captain Blood" (in the international version — Captain Blood) to release. The path of the long-suffering pirate project to store shelves took more than 22 years. Development started in 2003, it was curtailed in 2010, and Blood was canceled. In 2024, it became known about the revival. As a result, 15 years after the cancellation, the game was released with improvements and qualitative changes. Finally, the release took place on May 6. Izvestia was among the first to play the novelty before the release.
What is Captain Blood famous for?
The video game "The Adventures of Captain Blood" was developed by 1C — studio 1C-Seawolf. Its release was originally planned for the end of 2010, but it was not released due to problems related to publishing agreements abroad. In April 2021, a working version was leaked on the Internet, and in November 2022, the original developers released the source code under the GPLv3 license.
Since the leak, the build remained the only way to fully play the game until June 2024, when SNEG publishing announced that, together with General Arcade, it would release it on modern platforms, including consoles and personal computers. The General Arcade studio was responsible for porting, the main developer was the international Seawolf Studio team, which also includes Russians.
A shot from the game
By genre, it is a cocktail of pirate action and adventure game based on the novels by Rafael Sabatini. The protagonist is Captain Blood, a legendary pirate, former doctor, and now a formidable corsair. In 1685, he goes in search of gold and fame. Captain Blood will offer dynamic battles on land and sea, boarding fights, fencing, cannon and pistol shooting, fierce fights, acrobatic stunts and much more. Blood has a wide range of weapons to fight law—abiding enemies, from sabers and pistols to hand grenades. It is possible to upgrade the character — you will need to spend the resources found as you progress to develop your skills. Therefore, it is worth carefully exploring each location so as not to miss valuable items.
In fact, "The Adventures of Captain Blood" became the spiritual heir of the "Age of Pirates" series, which has developed a huge fan base in Russia over the years. Initially, it was called Age of Pirates: Captain Blood, but after the revival, any connection with the Corsairs was abandoned for legal reasons. The updated version was released with many improvements: localization in 17 world languages, support for ultra-wide monitors, support for gamepads and achievements on Steam. Interestingly, the voice acting is available only in two languages: Russian and English.
A shot from the game
The thorny path of the game to release has long been a separate topic of conversation. However, thanks to the efforts of the British publishing house SNEG Ltd., founded in 2020 by Russians Oleg Klapovsky and Elena Roor, the legendary project became an excellent chance for everyone interested to touch the "old school" game rendezvous — the game underwent a facelift procedure to the extent that it retains the charm of classics from the late noughties and at the same time does not look outdated. In Russia, the novelty is guaranteed to receive increased attention from gamers due to the cult status of the Corsairs and the love of Russians for Sabatini's work, whose books were published in the USSR in millions of copies.
How do the experts rate the game?
"The Adventures of Captain Blood" is, in fact, a triumphant revival of the cult Corsairs series on a qualitatively new technological level, believes Alexander Gorbachenko, director of the Intercontinental Esports League, ex-president of the Russian and Moscow Computer Sports Federations, and a leading Russian expert in the field of computer sports.
— In my opinion, this is an important event not only for fans of the legendary pirate saga, but also for the entire Russian and global gaming industry. "The Adventures of Captain Blood" is not just a remake of the original game, which at one time managed to bring many interesting original solutions to the genre of pirate RPGs, including various ways to upgrade character skills and ship characteristics, but a long—awaited reinterpretation of the iconic franchise with modern graphics, refined mechanics and a deep plot based on world classics. adventure literature," he told Izvestia.
A shot from the game
According to the expert, despite a number of difficulties, the development studio managed to preserve the main thing - the unique spirit of the original, complementing it with new technological features — lively gameplay, including dynamic hand—to-hand combat and epic naval battles with artillery duels.
— The new game is able to provide a unique experience, as it includes not only Hack and slash with a variety of historical weapons, but also large-scale naval battles, as well as exciting duels with unique boss designs and skills. Combined with the open world, all this makes the process invariant and multifaceted. And the opportunity to play not only as Captain Blood, but also as other characters adds depth and fascination to the plot and gameplay," concluded Alexander Gorbachenko.
A shot from the game
In 2021, Vasily Ovchinnikov, CEO of the Video Game Industry Development Organization, worked on the collector's edition of The Adventures of Captain Blood. The idea to release such an edition was born in a small community of collectors when a working build was leaked online.
— Then there was a complete mess with the rights to the game, and no one really knew who owned it, but a lot of people wanted to have a physical edition of Blood in the collection, even if it was a fan edition. Before that, Warcraft adventures Lord of the clans (similar to Blood fate) was already printed in the same way. The community then threw themselves into printing, coinage, and from everything that could be found online, we put together the first collector's edition. In the same year, the publishing house VG Limited was formed," Vasily Ovchinnikov told Izvestia.
And in 2023, when the RVRI organization and the publishing house had already licensed the collectible Parkan and Alien Shooter, and also for non-commercial purposes, a second version of the collector's edition of Blood appeared, in redesigned modern packaging, with updated content, for gifts to a small number of fans, for which the limited edition quickly sold out.
— This project went through a real production hell and, alas, for many years it became a symbol of unfulfilled expectations. It's all the more valuable that the game will see the light of day soon. At the RVI community, we included the game in the list of candidates for entry into the Russian Video Game Industry Hall of Fame — and it's no coincidence. I am sincerely glad that my colleagues managed to bring the project to release," added Vasily Ovchinnikov.
On May 6, the game was released on all platforms: on PC on Steam and GOG services, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch consoles. There is an official demo online, which presents the introductory part.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
