Captain Blood review - A sunken treasure that's best left forgotten

Back in 2003, a curious game called Captain Blood was revealed to the public. Developed by Russian studio Akella, who made the first movie tie-in Pirates of the Caribbean game (and were also involved with the Postal games), this title was supposed to launch in 2010. However, it never saw the light of day due to troubled development and issues involving the publisher.

Now, 15 years later, this old swashbuckling adventure has resurfaced thanks to a final launch by developer SeaWolf Studio and publisher SNEG. Unfortunately, this ship had sailed long ago, as the end product leaves much to be desired. Here is our full review of Captain Blood.

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Captain Blood is a dated relic of its era in every sense of the term

The combat is weighty despite its flaws (Image via SNEG)

The game is based on a novel from the 1920s written by author Rafael Sabatini, where the titular protagonist fights against fleets of armed forces in the 17th-century Spanish Main. The plot is straightforward, taking place across a series of linear levels, set-pieces, and boss fights.

As a hack & slash title, players would not be incorrect in calling it God of War-lite. It seems inspired by Sony's PS2 era titles starring Kratos, as Captain Blood too gleefully rampages across levels, executing hordes of foes. It's certainly nostalgic, and that's in part due to the "dated" visuals that would not be out of place on a PS3.

The gun is great at keeping enemies at bay, but foes also have their own firearms to strike back with (Image via SNEG)

Yes, Captain Blood is essentially a 2010 game released in 2025. This means that the graphics, the gameplay, and the design mantra carries over. This works more to its detriment than benefit, and its troubled development doesn't help. So what's wrong exactly?

Well, the combat is fine for the most part. The hero is armed with a cutlass used to slash through foes using a light and heavy attack (with more combos unlockable via the Upgrade Shop), a shotgun (on a cooldown), and consumable grenades. A block button negates incoming damage, and dodge allows evading, while certain objects in the environment can be picked up to be thrown at foes.

The finisher animations are gory and satisfying (Image via SNEG)

Captain Blood can also perform executions when a foe's health is low, and can enter a Rage state by filling the associated meter to increase damage. Defeated foes drop currency that can be invested in the shop to buy new moves, executions, upgrades, and more. While all of this is fine on paper, particularly the punchy combat, the execution of the concept falls apart.

Enemies are often spongy, and worse, the ones with firearms can stagger the protagonist easily, especially when surrounded. The wonky hitboxes don't help either, and the overall dated jank can be felt even in its best moments, which are unfortunately rare. Simply put, playing through Captain Blood is a test of patience.

The turret sections are simply tiresome (Image via SNEG)

If it wasn't the repetitive waves of a few handful of enemies that dull the experience, then the lousy QTEs will be sure to frustrate gamers. Popping up during cutscenes and boss fights, players must be vigilant for them, as there is a very small window to hit them. Failing to do so will kick players back to the last checkpoint, which is sparse throughout the level.

That's without touching on how boring some of the levels are to play through. The game has certain turret sections while enemies also spawn, which just makes things cumbersome. Even if players can sit through all of this, there's more to come in the form of technical issues.

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Graphics, performance, and audio

The voiceovers can be hard to hear during cutscenes due to poor audio mixing (Image via SNEG)

As previously mentioned, this is a decade-old game graphically, which isn't really an issue, as this launch is a revival of a troubled title. The upside is that there are no performance problems with pretty much anything remotely modern capable of triple-digit frame rates.

The downside is that it isn't as polished as fans could have hoped for. From a buggy shop system where the moves don't seem to work to literally broken audio mixing, it's not a good look.

The environment sounds drown out the character voice-overs during cutscenes, which further diminishes any interest in an already middling pirate plot. It is unclear if this will ever be fixed, but given that it was launched like this, I doubt it.

While Captain Blood's release on all platforms is a win for game preservation, those considering paying the asking price of $24.99 USD may want to hold off for a discount.

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In conclusion

Enemy variety is sorely lacking in the long run (Image via SNEG)

As a 2025 game, Captain Blood is a massive miss and, frankly, would have been a painfully mediocre title even back in 2010. While the nostalgic allure of a simple, straightforward hack & slash that harkens back to the PS2 and PS3 days of gaming is nice, the problems are hard to overlook.

For most people out there who aren't avid retro gamers or game collectors, this is one sunken treasure that's unfortunately best left untouched.

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Captain Blood

Our final verdict (Image via Sportskeeda/SNEG)

Reviewed On: PC (Review code provided by publisher)

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch

Developer(s): SeaWolf Studio, General Arcade

Publisher(s): SNEG

Release Date: May 6, 2025