A PS2 Game Inspired by ‘God of War’ Is Coming out Over Two Decades Later

We’re well into the gaming era of “Actually, we want retro games back.” If you happened to be a fan of the original God of War trilogy and are feeling nostalgic, you might be in luck! Enter Captain Blood, a violent game taking inspiration from Kratos’ journey in Greece. So, before I show you this trailer, yes, it’s coming to current-gen consoles (and last-gen, too)!

How can you go wrong with the easiest pitch in the world? Captain Blood (originally titled Age of Pirates: Captain Blood) was scheduled to release in the middle of the 2000s. However, it was plagued with more than a few developmental snafus. Posted by Stanislav Costiuc, there’s a wild story attributed to the game’s history.

Akella, a Russian software company, had the idea on its mind after releasing a Pirates of the Caribbean game and another pirate-centric title, Sea Dogs. Based on a series of novels by Rafael Sabatini, Captain Blood hit immediate turbulence. Having already published multiple pirate games, the team was Yo-Ho-Ho’d out. At the end of 2003, two of Captain Blood‘s leads, Dmitry Demyanovski and Andrei Ivanchenko, left to start their own company.

‘god of war’ with pirates — ‘captain blood’s rough development

It was time to start afresh! Fun fact: an older version of Captain Blood was shown off at 2004’s E3!

But this version of the game was too… wholesome. It wasn’t quite dirty enough — and everyone knows pirates are filthy, disgusting vessels for debauchery and sin. By the end of 2004, a few of the developers decided the game needed some more grit. They presented their rugged vision to the higher-ups, and that was that. On to the scrapyard with you, Version 2! We’re running it back.

Now is around the time Captain Blood started to resemble God of War in earnest. Gruesome swordplay, high-stakes naval battles, everything you could possibly want in a pirate game! According to Costiuc, however, the project was nearly unrecognizable from its initial inspirations. “But what I think should always stay intact, regardless of how much you change things, is the spirit and substance of the source. And it was just not there in the new version,” Costiuc recounted.

Reportedly, things quickly began to spiral yet again. There were many ideas flowing, but a cohesive vision failed to take form. The project ran into its third top-to-bottom rehaul. Somewhere, a lone tear falls from the eye of Duke Nukem Forever.

a pirate’s life for… anyone?

Basically, we can one-two skip a few ahead to 2013. At that point, a vicious legal battle between Playlogic (who hopped in midway through this saga) and Akella over the rights to the Captain Blood IP was ongoing. Lots of changing hands between developers. More “refreshes.” But, hey, somehow, Captain Blood is back in 2024 (maybe — the release window is a little vague)! All’s well that ends well… I guess? I hope! I’m definitely in the mood for some hijinks on the high seas!