Cancelled God Of War style game is back with a free demo after 14 years

If you’re after a throwback to the Xbox 360 era, a cancelled pirate game is now playable after it was last shown over a decade ago.

While we’re in the age of reviving old games through remakes and remasters, the idea of a cancelled project making a comeback is practically unheard of.

Cancelled projects do sometimes emerge via small gameplay snippets, like the TimeSplitters reboot, but an official release is usually out of the question. That’s exactly what’s happened, however, with the case of Captain Blood.

Originally revealed at E3 2004, Captain Blood was stuck in development hell for years before it gradually morphed into an action title inspired by the early God Of War games. It was later revealed in another trailer in 2010 and was set to come out on Xbox 360 and PC in 2011, but it never materialised.

While any hope for Captain Blood seemed dead, the game was re-revealed 14 years later in June 2024 by developers Seawolf Studio and General Arcade. Now, 20 years after it was first announced, it is now playable through a free demo.

The demo is available on PC as part of Steam Next Fest, which runs until October 21 and sees thousands of indie games release early looks at their titles.

As you can tell from the trailer, Captain Blood is a hack ‘n’ slash pirate-themed action game which looks directly pulled from the Xbox 360 era, complete with sword, pistol, and ship combat with cannons.

While it remains to be seen whether it is actually any good, it’s a fascinating oddity regardless. There’s a documentary on the game’s long development by YouTuber PCGI, which traces its origins back to the Sea Dogs franchise in 2000.

Captain Blood is scheduled to be released at some point in 2024 on Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch, with a specific date yet to be announced.