Indie Caribbean Legend - Classic Pirate RPG Sea Dogs: To Each His Own Remake/Remaster

[Infinitron]

Released:



https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2230980/view/4042612637297270003

Caribbean Legend - Out Now!
The next big discount will only be available in October.

Ahoy!

There is not much to say - buy it now on Steam while it's 25% off. Limited time offer—only two weeks and
the next big discount will only be available in October.

Now that we are done with salesmanship, what is Caribbean Legend? First of all, it is more than a game, it is a unique genre.

If you have played any of Sea Dogs games before
, you probably already know everything about Caribbean Legend. Read this open letter, explaining our vision and our mission, and you are good to go for your pirate raid.

If you have never played any of the Sea Dogs games before
, then I must inform you that they are known for being hard, clunky, and outdated. We've improved on each of these aspects, but they still exist and they can still ruin your day. If you manage to get through them... well, welcome to the best pirate game out there. It's true; how many games do you know which have all these mechanics?

• Combat at sea.
• Land combat.
• Exploration on land.
• Global map.
• RPG system.
• Dialogues.
• Companions and love interests.
• Linear and generated quests.
• A deep narrative with choices and consequences.
• Loot, collectibles, and crafting.
• Building and management.

That's right, not too many. Give Caribbean Legend a try, but be careful - if it clicks with you, you'll find yourself lost in the Golden Age of Caribbean piracy for several hundred hours.

 

[Sibylla]

I'm playing the free version and its fun with generic quests only, slowly capturing better ships and having to sink the old one everytime because crew gets absolutely slaughtered. Enemies dont engage suicide fights with forts anymore. There doesnt seem to be direct sailing like without using world map.

Lack of rpg mechanics: you pick premade character attributes and cant change them so why bother having it? Skills are increase by use which i also dont like. Cant even choose officers' perks i guess.

Anyway blackmark is based so they will release scripts of the game after a while then you can modify whatever.
compared to this https://cmdrhammie.itch.io/beyond-new-horizons, the biggest not-russian mod where they added everything they fancied with no thought of consequences, i find this game more reasonable.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

the "go to jail script have being broken" arghhhh away my frens.

 

[Sarkile]

Is this worth it if I already have To Each His Own? I've never played through it because the French are fags and I hate having to play as one, but I generally like Sea Dogs.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

well if u own TEHO you can get a 50% off the game, but overall it's just the same game with slight improved graphics, some improvements and making some quests easy.

 

[Sweeper]

>Develop pirate game
>I pirate it
Yar har and shit.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I wish they at least added controller support (something Sea Dogs 1/Pirates of the Caribbean on Xbox had) or the ability to jump or even step down off a fucking 5" high sidewalk. So, to paraphrase the late Jon Pertwee about the daleks (old style), "They can't even go up or down a couple of steps so they're screwed if they're chasing you!" Does this remaster have all the DLC of the original game? As for controller support, I created an Xpadder profile for these old Storm games back when I played (or tried to anyway) New Horizons that works well.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

all the dlc included

 

[cyborgboy95]

First DLC and Patch 1.2 - release date!
Ahoy!

A quick update to let you know that production of Patch 1.2 is on schedule and will be released on June 27th. The final scope of changes and new content is yet to be determined, but this patch will definitely be as big as 1.1 and 1.1.1 combined.

Here is a little sneak peek of the upcoming changes.

Ships' hulls are real in-game quality. The sea, sails and rigging are rendered separately.

You can find more in the recent Dev Diary.

In addition, the first DLC will be released on the same date, featuring a new freeplay quest with the most powerful loot in the game so far.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Dev Diary IV

Ahoy!

Aye, let's get straight to the point. Patch 1.3 will be released on September 11th. On the same day, the second DLC, Black Mark Pack, will also be available.

Development Status
If I still had any lingering doubts about the game’s prospects and development, the recent news has finally cleared them up. But let’s start from the beginning.

You know our plan:

• Version 1.3 — uplift the early game and adapt it for new players.
• Version 1.5 — complete the Story Mode and refine the Sandbox Mode.
• Version 2.0 — a major quantity/quality leap, setting the benchmark for a game on the Storm Engine, paving the way for a full-fledged sequel.

To make all of this a reality, the game needs commercial success. But how do you measure that success, and what does it even mean?

Fortunately, Steam has specific metrics: you need to reach a certain gross sales figure within the first six months after release.

Only 3% of all released games achieve this goal. If you’re among these three percent, Steam considers your game “successful” and starts actively promoting it. If not, the game dies, and usually, so does the team.

Even though we hit the required number not in six months, but in just the first month of sales, and Steam started promoting us long before the release, it was important for me to get official confirmation from Valve.

And a couple of weeks ago, I got it. On September 11th, we will return to the store’s main page!

The main business goal of the first post-release year is completed ahead of schedule, which means that all doubts are now gone. We’re working on version 1.5, then 2.0, and aiming to go from the top 3% to the top 1%.

This achievement is primarily yours. You are the best community in the world. Thank you.

DLC

Our policy on paid add-ons is very simple and, in my opinion, quite fair:

• A new DLC is released with each major patch.
• DLCs are developed last — after the main work on the free content is completed.
• 80% of new content is free, 20% is paid.
• DLC sales fund the studio’s work and create a financial safety net.

The Black Mark Pack DLC is essentially a developer support pack. Such packs are not uncommon: they usually cost as much as a full game and offer a bit of cosmetic content as a reward. I don’t like this approach, so our pack will be filled with treasures:

• Five new items, including new armor.
• A quest available in both story and freeplay modes.
• A unique officer — a musketeer.
• Three Steam achievements.
• Probably a new ship. Probably.

By purchasing this pack, you not only ensure the future development of the game, but you also get a ton of cool content that will really enrich the beginning of the game. Make sure to wishlist!

And now for the sad part. We planned to include a new ship in this DLC, and what a ship it is! A brilliant idea, really, thanks to our Lead Writer, Vagrant. And that’s why I’m genuinely upset that we’ve recently had problems with the ship production. More about this below.

Patch 1.3
Ships
Since we started talking about ships, let’s just continue. The planned list for 1.3 looked like this:

• the Meifeng
• the Valkyrie
• War Schooner
• Fluyt
• DLC Ship

And what do you think? There are two and a half weeks left before version 1.3 is released, and all we have ready is... the Valkyrie.

And an unfinished war schooner.

I won’t go into details about how this happened; I’ll just say that the problem with a small team and a unique engine is that if even one person drops out of the process, work stops abruptly in several areas at once. I haven’t figured out how to fix this vulnerability yet, but I can immediately say that in addition to ships, the new boarding scenes are now also at risk.

Boarding Scenes

Again, according to the plan for version 1.3, everything looked very promising:

• Lugger vs. Barque.
• Lugger vs. Sloop.
• Military Schooner vs. Brigantine.
• Brigantine vs. Fluyt.

Do you see the idea? If we extend it to all other ship ranks and stick to the most popular ship choices, the boarding scenes will reflect the actual ships of the opponents most of the time. Looks very fresh and plays very fun too!

However, the delay with the ships means we have more or less finished only the first two scenes, the third is in question, and the fourth is not ready at all. There’s no one to blame here; c’est la vie as it is.

But I’m still optimistic, so in the worst case, the ships and boarded scenes will be released in version 1.3.1, as it always happens with the stuff that didn't make it into the big one.

Animations
Do you like our sword combat system? I don’t. It's really all about energy war and dealing tiny damage numbers. Sooner or later, we’ll have to make it completely new system, but for now, we have to use quick methods.

We added 7 new death and dying animations, giving them context — depending on the type of weapon or ammunition that dealt the fatal blow. It turned out great; sometimes, there are some very juicy and brutal scenes happening.

As for town animations, new ones have been added for churchgoers and drunks on the streets. Slowly but surely, the cities are coming to life. If we have time, we’ll also update the animations of tavern visitors, including female ones.

In addition to town and combat animations, version 1.3 introduces a new direction — quest animations that are created exclusively for story cutscenes. This is an experiment, so whether we continue in this direction is up to you. Play the new Longway quest and let us know. Speaking of which...

Longway
The real star of version 1.3. The most expensive (production wise) and most variable storyline we have ever created. The first quest that directly changes the game’s plot since 1.0, offering an alternative way to eliminate François Levasseur and new scenes with Mary and Helen.

The rewards include a unique sword, a super useful ward, and accelerated leveling of Longway to suit any playstyle. By the way, our Chinese friend can now use a musket. So, if you become a proud owner of the Black Mark Pack DLC, you can assemble a squad of four musketeers. There is a Steam achievement for that now.

I don't want to spoil it — you’ll see everything yourself.

Miscellaneous
I suppose you’re already tired of my writing, so let’s wrap up this diary with a visual list of the most significant remaining changes of the upcoming patch 1.3.

The new notification system. Character's drunk? Overloaded? Failed skill check? Gained exp.? The game is properly interfacing with the player now and there are about a hundred cases for that.

Helen McArthur has been added to the list of playable captains for freeplay mode. Currently, more like an early access version, but we’ll polish her gameplay by 1.5.

More tutorial windows. They can now be disabled in the settings or directly when they appear.

A true next-gen feature — direction markers in certain situations. This will be useful for those who constantly got lost in the jungles of Martinique.

Indication of available skill points for officers. Useful if you have a ton of them.

And a whole lot of other cool stuff, half of which will traditionally be rolled over to version 1.3.1: unlimited key remapping, even more Steam achievements, improved locations and textures, interface tweaks, and bug and balance fixes.

That’s all for today. If you are wondering how you could help us and the game, add the Black Mark Pack to your wishlist and leave reviews as blue as the Caribbean Sea.

See you on September 11th.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Patch 1.3 and Black Mark DLC
Ahoy!

First, the important stuff:

• Patch 1.3 is available. We've never done anything like this before as a studio.
• Starting NG is not required. We recommend loading version 1.2.1 saves made while on land.
• Today marks the game's second 'release'—Steam will be actively promoting it for two weeks.
• To celebrate, we've set a historic low price—50% off.
• Now's the perfect moment to start playing if you’ve been holding off for any reason.
• Black Mark DLC is out now.

What's New:
Ships

One of the goals of Patch 1.3 was not only to rework the remaining player-favorite early-game ships but also to lay the groundwork for the planned boarding scenes. The ships turned out great.

New ships:

• The Valkyrie
• The Meifeng
• Fluyt
• War Schooner
• The Principio (DLC)
• Improved sail and rigging quality for all ships in the game.

In total, ~30% of the entire game fleet has been revamped by 1.3 - just as planned.
Quests
Extinguished Star
We’ve never created a quest this complex, non-linear, and intricate before. It has everything: new content with Mary and Helen, direct impact on the main storyline, cutscenes, crazy flashbacks, and valuable loot. The quest starts at the end of "The Dutch Gambit" and continues through to "Turtle Soup." No spoilers—see it for yourself.

Black Mark
A non-linear quest, designed for the early stages of the game, offering valuable rewards and nods to veterans of the "Sea Dogs" series. Available in both Story and Sandbox modes. Part of the "Black Mark" DLC.

Rewards include: a duelling double-barreled pistol, an Italian rapier, an Army broadsword, a Black Spot ward, armor, as well as a new officer—Tommy Irons, and the legendary Pink of Nicholas Sharp, the Principio. The Pink is stunning, but the true star of the DLC is Irons. He's got killer jokes.

Locations
No new locations in this patch, aside from a few scenes for the Longway quest. The boarding decks took up almost all of our time and will continue to do so. All four decks will be included in either Patch 1.3.1 or 1.5.

However, we did update several old locations, especially those that significantly lagged behind the newer ones in quality.

Locations update:

• Locations and scenes for the "Extinguished Star" quest
• The Old Lighthouse
• Port Royal Lighthouse
• Several beaches
• Indian village
• Improved ground textures in towns.

Animations

We continue the challenging journey of bringing quests, battles, and cities life to life. The minimum program has already been fulfilled, and with Patch 1.5, we aim for something even more ambitious. Next-gen is just around the corner.

New animations:

• Unique animations for the "Extinguished Star" quest
• 7 new contextual death battle animations
• 2 prayer animations in churches
• 2 animations for drunks in towns
• Tavern musicians no longer drown out the game’s music
• Fishermen, blacksmiths, and musicians now work according to the time of day

New Hero

Due to popular demand, Helen McArthur is now a fully-fledged character in Sandbox mode. She is compatible with the "Vile Little God" and "Black Mark" DLCs. She has unique dialogues in her hometown Blueweld, unique achievements, loot, and starts her pirate career on a war schooner.

For now, she doesn’t carry a musket or visible armor, and there may be some "gender errors"

in the dialogues. Her development will continue in Patch 1.5, along with other Sandbox characters.

Notification System
Traditionally, games in this series have never been known for being player-friendly or transparent, often requiring guides. What happened to my character? Why did I fail a dialogue check? What reward did I just receive? Any game needs to communicate with the player—and now Caribbean Legend does. I consider this the key feature of Patch 1.3.

New notifications:

• Over 100 new format notifications on sea, land, and in dialogues
• Combat statuses—from poisonings to critical damage
• Loot markers—so far, only for plants in the jungle, but this is just the start
• Quest navigation—so far, only for the beginning of the game
• More quest markers over characters and on the global map
• New tutorial videos for core game mechanics

Interface
Let’s be honest, we have the best interface. But somehow, the list of fixes for it has already stretched to three pages.

The first half of the first page finally made it into Patch 1.3.

UI update:

• Unlimited key remapping—adjust the controls to your liking
• Control hints in loot, trade, and exchange windows
• Highlighting new entries in the ship’s log and documents
• Highlighting available skill points for characters
• Keeping the selected character when switching tabs between inventory and skills
• Displaying character roles in officer assignment windows
• Improved interaction with items in the inventory
• Added a DLC button in the menu—if all are purchased, it will be inactive

Miscellaneous

• 13 achievements
• New ward
• New sword
• Automatic crash reports sending - let's see how bad it really is out there
• Longway can now carry muskets
• New dialogue camera
• Missing textures restored for some objects in the "Flying the Jolly Roger" quests
• Claude Durand now reliably triggers his loyalty event after a set time
• Obtaining a patent removes pirates from the crew
• Reputation no longer drops if the player exits "Flying the Jolly Roger" questline before Cartagena
• Fewer soldiers in towns, and they stop the player less often
• Chance to deceive the guards can no longer exceed 90%
• Governors no longer ask you to infiltrate friendly towns
• Passengers no longer ask to be taken to hostile towns
• "Iron Will" perk no longer allows intimidating officers
• Missing item descriptions—skill bonuses, etc.—have been added
• Additional optimization of the tutorial on Martinique
• Spelling and grammar corrections - thanks to all reports you have been sharing on Discord
• Numerous bug fixes
• Improved overall game stability

1.5
That’s all for now! Over the past six months, we’ve done an incredible amount of work together. We’ve done everything possible and even more. Except for the Story mode epilogue, of course.

We could have done it already, but it would have been too... simple? I want to create something special and worthy of Charles de Maure's story—call it a "director’s cut" of his storyline, if you will. Plus, the game has long needed list of truly new mechanics, fixes for old ones, a complete rebalance, a new loot category, and a proper uplift of Sandbox mode. Not to mention improved controls, gamepad support, Steam Deck experience.

Patch 1.5 will take at least six months, and it will definitely require starting the new game. So for now, we’ll take a short break, rest, and then get back to work.

Leave reviews

as blue as the Caribbean Sea, download the patch, buy the DLC—and if you’ve been putting off playing the game for any reason, now’s the perfect moment to start!

 

[moleman]

Playing this right now. I'm still in the tutorial. Liking it so far.

Also, this game has the most based writing I have ever seen:

Spoiler

Had a quest to get the store owner some assistants and he told me "not to bring some lazy gypsies".

Another quest from the store owner:
help his friend to rescue his daughter from indians.
He tells you that two other guys had disappeared too and he believes that they were taken by the "savages" as well. Gouvenor did't want to help because he thinks that his daughter had run off with some lover and the other guys disappeared for other reasons.

You have then two options:
Help him attack the indians.
Tell him: "Maybe we should checkout the other reasons for the missing folk."

Well, in other games you would know that second option is the "good one" and the first option is the "evil one".

Nope, not here. Second option will end the quest and first option is the correct one. Kill all Indians. Turns out they actually did take the towns folk. Oh and they are cannibals, too .

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Is it moddable yet and am I still stuck playing as a frog?

 

[moleman]

You are only stuck playing as a frog if you want to play the story mode.

Sandbox-mode has a Spaniard and a Brit.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Dev Diary V
Ahoy!

This dev diary won’t feature any sales pitches, sneak peeks, or triumphant reports. Put away your maps, cutlasses, and pistols — we’re having a serious conversation today. It’s your turn to speak and share your thoughts.

Today's Items:

• Patch 1.4
• Plans for the future
• The Big Question
• FAQ

Patch 1.4
Eight months ago, we launched the game. Back in February, we decided to focus on two key things: lowering the entry barrier for new players (tutorials, notifications) and rapidly filling the game with as much content as possible — animations, quests, locations, ships, and more — for veteran players.

This focus allowed us to triple the size of our team, streamline our processes, and discover what we do best. However, it also created a significant amount of technical debt and exposed the game’s biggest problem — outdated controls and camera mechanics. Bugs frustrate veteran players, and the controls confuse new ones.

That’s why I decided not to rush straight into patch 1.5, but instead, release an intermediate patch — 1.4. In this patch, we’ll focus on fixing bugs and creating a new control and camera system.

The bugs are straightforward to fix, but the camera and control issues are more nuanced. The problem is that most new players rely solely on WASD, without actively using the mouse. This results in "tank controls". As for the the camera is too close to the player, doesn’t respond to character movement, spins sharply, and often keeps enemies out of view.

In other words, the game doesn’t fully support gamepads, which leads to a lot of frustration for new players who want to enjoy the game but can't. It took us some time and R&D to fully understand the root of the problem because, after so many years of development, our vision of certain things had become a bit blurred.

Without fixing this technical debt and addressing the controls, there’s no point in moving forward.

• Hire new team members.
• Quickly add new content to the game.
• Lower the entry barrier for new players.
• Begin research to improve graphics, the engine, and controls.
• Understand what we do best.
  [You are here]
• Understand what players want most.
• Resolve the technical debt.
• Fix tank controls and janky camera.
• Write the design document for version 1.5.
• Make a significant leap forward with version 1.5.
• Resolve technical debt again.
• Release version 2.0 and [redacted].
• Resolve the technical debt one last time.
• [redacted]
• Caribbean Legend 2

New boarding scenes and muskets as proper secondary weapons

The Future
While the technical part of the team will be suffering from stabilizing the game and fixing the controls, the creative side will be enjoying themselves with quests and designing version 1.5.

If the first stage of development (1.0–1.4) was about exploring the game, the dev team, and the players, then the second (patch 1.5) and third (patch 2.0) milestones will mark significant changes and leaps forward. The future of Sea Dogs series and all that.

Caribbean Legend is a massive game with over 200 hours of gameplay, countless mechanics, and hundreds of content pieces. Games like Sea Dogs, Mount & Blade, and Kenshi are rare. But no matter how strong the ideas from the 2000s may be, the game needs to evolve; otherwise, it’ll become stale and sink into the oblivion. We can’t rely on old gameplay forever. If we want to preserve this genre, which still has no real competition in terms of depth, we must keep moving forward — like how Mound & Blade: Warband transitioned to Bannerlord.

And no, it’s not just about aimlessly adding new quests, perks, ships, or updating graphics and throwing in mechanics for the sake of numbers. We need to make ship plundering and trading fun again. Rebuild the combat system. Recapture the sense of novelty and exploration that makes great new games so captivating.

Port Royal in its glory

Patch 1.5 will be the first step in that direction. Right now, we’re gathering data to prioritize correctly. Prioritize incorrectly, and we risk breaking the entire project. We already have player metrics, feedback notes, our own vision, and a well-established development process. We're also working on the design document for version 1.3 — dissecting the current game to fully understand how it works now.

Almost everything is ready, but to start writing the design document for 1.5, we need just one thing — your opinion. Every one of you has your own vision of what the game should be, and it’s up to you to answer the Big Question.

Freeplay or Story?
No, this isn’t about choosing a game mode from the main menu. This is about what you want to spend most of your game time. It’s about what truly matters to you and what you consider fun.

If you choose freeplay, we’ll focus on things like trade, high seas piracy, colony raids, career progression, wealth accumulation, and restoring that sense of novelty and exploration. The benefit of freeplay is that it also enhances the story mode. The downside? Lots of unknowns, because game design is pure alchemy and randomness.

Possible Freeplay features:

• Boarding parties and their upgrades.
• Weapon mods and sharpening.
• Personal pirate treasures, more physical appearance of money and loot.
• Plantations and factories.
• Reactive world: live factions and new bounty hunters system.

If you choose story, we’ll focus on the epilogue and adding more quests. The plus side? Our tasks are clear, and we already have hundreds of pages of content ready to code. The downside? Story is subjective — some are already tired of Charles de Maure, while others may never have cared about his story in the first place. And, of course, any story can be written either poorly or well. That’s a bit of alchemy too, I suppose.

Possible Story features:

• Epilogue.
• Rework of the "Happily Ever After" questline.
• A proper pirate path and a career of Charlie Prince.
• Targeted improvements to quests and cutscenes.

Personally, I lean toward Freeplay. Raiding ships and hoarding doubloons — isn’t that why we play this game? And based on current stats, only 10% of players will ever see the epilogue. Maybe we should focus on increasing that percentage first?

Survey
We’ve prepared a survey[forms.gle] that will be open for a week. It’s short, and the best responses will receive a unique DLC with three in-game items.

Beyond the epic showdown between "freeplay vs story", there’s another important point in the survey. Patch 1.4 will include a refactoring — we need to go through the code and fix long-standing issues that have been bothering the community (WHEN WILL YOU FINALLY FIX THIS?!).

We really need a list of these issues. Without it, we’ll have to go through the entire code line by line, which is highly inefficient. If you’ve been playing for a while, you probably have a list of these kinds of issues. Please share them with us.

This won’t be the last survey, but after this one, we’ll be able to start writing the design document for patch 1.5 with confidence. And patch 1.4, with fixes and new controls, will likely be released in December.

To sum up:

• Together, we’ll make the strategical choice between freeplay and story.
• We’ll stabilize the game and introduce modern controls — for both veteran and new players.
• We’ll focus on what matters most and take the game to the next level with patch 1.5.

Visible armor for everyone

FAQ
For fun, try loading the Russian version of this blog post.

The FAQ is 10 times bigger, and the reason for that is explained in the first item below.

What's up with all the negative Russian reviews?
Simply put, the game has a long history and deep ties with the Russian modding community. While this community was, and still is, crucial to the existence of the genre, it also brings a fair amount of toxicity. Plus, I’m not the best community manager.

Tank controls. When will you fix them?
Hopefully in Patch 1.4. The game was originally designed with extensive mouse camera control in mind. Everything is built around it, including combat and level design. Not to mention the several hundred animations we’ll need to create to make the switch.

In short, our goal is to create controls that can fully support a gamepad with a reactive camera. This involves more movement axes, animation blending, etc.

Pressing A or D will make the character strafe. W/A or W/D will make the character run in circles until the player stops pressing A/D, at which point the locomotion will continue in the chosen direction. If the player turns the character far enough, the camera will gradually and smoothly match the direction. That’s the gist of it.

I hate the wind on the Global Map. Is it rigged to ruin my day?
It’s random. The trouble with randomness is that we tend to only remember when it works against us. We plan to adjust this in Patch 1.4, making wind much less of a factor in Global Map travel.

Sailing is too slow. Any plans to fix that?
Aye, we’ll make sailing super fast and easy in non-combat mode to eliminate this unnecessary drag.
The energy system is boring. It drags down land combat and makes it less fun. What about that?
Oh yes, the energy war. Eventually, we’re going to scrap this relic entirely, but that will require us to overhaul the entire RPG system. For now, how about a compromise? We could turn off energy consumption for basic attacks while increasing it for special, heavy, and group attacks. This could be interesting and would definitely speed things up.

Will you ever fix the crashes?
According to our automatic crash reporting system, only 1% of players experience crashes. The most recent spike in crashes was caused by patch 1.3, which introduced a lot of new ships, preventing older sea-based saves from loading. That’s on us — we should have made it clearer by adding in-game notifications. Most of the other crash causes are hardware-related. The game still doesn’t get along well with AMD, and we’re working hard to fix that.

When will proper modding become available?
As soon as the game no longer requires regular tech support, and once we finish active development. Ideally, we’ll also implement a proper module system for modding.

Will you add support for more languages?
I believe that German and Spanish localizations are almost done at this point. French should be in progress too. They all need centralized dev support and coordination. Stay tuned for future updates.

How is the state of the English localization at the moment?
It’s improving with every patch. I might be overly optimistic, but I think we’ve finally fixed most of the major issues. Big thanks to all the players who posted English bugs and errors in the dedicated Discord channel.

Anything I can do to help?
Filling out the survey [forms.gle]would be a massive help, really. Also, if you know any senior C++ devs who would be interested in a paid job working through 20 years of legacy code — please DM me. Especially if they have experience with custom game engines and DirectX rendering. Lastly, if you think the game deserves it, please leave a blue review. I know it’s lame to ask for reviews, but seeing those 500+ hour red reviews with “devs are bad” is surprisingly demotivating.

That’s all for today, folks. Brace yourselves for 1.3.1 and 1.4. Things are about to get very interesting, very soon.

Good hunting.

 

[cyborgboy95]

The Crew Has Spoken
Ahoy!

In short:

• Our first survey is complete! Results are below.
• The team, as usual, is hard at work on tech support and has already released 6 mini-fixes.
• Patch 1.4 is in the works — updated controls with strafing, camera improvements, stability, and yes, new content!
  

Survey Results

With over 1,100 players participating, we've got plenty of data to make informed decisions. For those who enjoy diving into the numbers or

don’t fully trust us, here are the full results for both the Russian[docs.google.com] and English[docs.google.com] surveys.

Contest winners are highlighted in the table. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sending out keys for an exclusive DLC to the emails provided in the survey. Thanks for all your fantastic responses and your love for the game!

Is it even good?

This one’s straightforward — almost 90% of players rated the game positively, though the Russian survey showed a slightly higher score. There were no restrictions, and everyone could vote, so the takeaway is simple: we’re thrilled you’re enjoying the game — and we’re committed to making it even better.

Freeplay or Story?

Freeplay took the win.
Does this mean Charles de Maure's storyline is complete and that next year will be all about core mechanics?

Not quite. The preference split isn’t wide enough to make such a dramatic call. So, version 1.5 will definitely include Mary and Tichingitu’s quests, and if we can manage it, we’ll rework "Happily Ever After" into a true epilogue. Beyond that, we’ll leave the storyline as is and focus on expanding the key features that make this genre so engaging. Piracy, trading, career, ownership and leadership.

Instead of an epilogue...

We still have some processing to do with the survey results, but here are the key takeaways so far:

• Crashes affect only a small portion of players, but as long as it's over 1%, it’s still a problem.
• Players love the game for its roleplay, freedom and large-scale battles, leading their own crew.
• Common criticisms include pacing and limited activities beyond the main story — especially noticeable in the later game. That’s likely why there’s a big demand for colony management.
• Few major bugs or recurring issues exist, but conflicts between NPCs spawns (in taverns, at piers, or coves) break the game very often.
• The most of quest timers complaints may be caused by how the wind on the global map works.
• Controls have faced plenty of criticism — and deservedly so. Our top priority from now on.
• None of these issues are unfixable.
• And everything you already love about the game can still be improved.

Beyond this, we received lots of kind words and well-wishes. It means a lot to us — especially in these challenging times.

That’s all for now — see you next month!

 

[cyborgboy95]

DLC and 1.3.5 Beta - COMING SOON

Ahoy!
We absolutely cannot leave our pirate community without regular content updates. Let's bid farewell to 2024 properly — keeping the Caribbean bustling until the next release.

Holiday Schedule:

December 27 - Ships Pack: Part One DLC release — more details below.

Same day - 1.3.5 Beta launch. Also covered below.

December 29 - First dev blog from our game designer. Topic: future ship balance.

December 31 - Season's greetings and my personal year in review.

---

Ships Pack
This is the first part of a five-DLC series releasing throughout the next year. Initially, we wanted to simply enhance free roam with optional super-bosses on the global map — creating incredibly beautiful ships, each with its own mission and place in the game world.
But you know how it goes: ideas multiply, and now we're adding unique mechanics to the ships that encourage different playstyles and amulet combinations. And the stories of these ships and their captains are weaving into a single sinister... detective story? Horror? Manifesto?

...There shall be five. Five ships, five captains – each will become a pillar of the new world. Each will purify their part of these waters. And when their madness reaches its peak – the New World shall be reborn, cleansed by their obsession.

When the fifth and final Ships Pack releases — all pieces will fall into place.

Begin your adventure with the Royal Galleon "Santa Misericordia" — add it to your wishlist now!

---

1.3.5 Beta
Looking at the changelog, this update deserves to be called 1.4, but I'm saving that number for the new character controls system. We'll share the full list of changes at release, but I can already tell you — it includes a good portion of what was planned for 1.5. You'll see new boarding decks, story improvements, and even several small but impressive graphical enhancements.

Don't let the "Beta" label concern you — in our view, this is a very stable version that significantly surpasses the current one. We simply wanted to treat you to a new portion of content for the New Year!

 

[Jinn]

As someone who owns To Each His Own, does anyone know if is this worth getting as a replacement in terms of gameplay?

 

[cyborgboy95]

DLC AND 1.3.5 BETA — OUT NOW

Ahoy!
What a day! Today we have three releases: a regular update, a beta update and a new DLC. A new game isn't required, but we strongly recommend disabling mods and verifying game files just in case.

We've slightly adjusted our plans: on the 31st, we'll release the game designer's article about ship rebalancing plans, which will also include a brief annotation with my year-end review.

---

Ships Pack: Part I
This is the first part of a five-DLC series releasing throughout the next year. Initially, we wanted to simply enhance free roam with optional super-bosses on the global map — creating incredibly beautiful ships, each with its own mission and place in the game world.
But you know how it goes: ideas multiply, and now we're adding unique mechanics to the ships that encourage different playstyles and amulet combinations. And the stories of these ships and their captains are weaving into a single sinister... detective story? Horror? Manifesto?

...There shall be five. Five ships, five captains – each will become a pillar of the new world. Each will purify their part of these waters. And when their madness reaches its peak – the New World shall be reborn, cleansed by their obsession.

When the fifth and final Ships Pack releases — all pieces will fall into place.

Dare to challenge the Royal Galleon — buy now!

---

1.3.5 Beta
Looking at the changelog, this update deserves to be called 1.4, but I'm saving that number for the new character controls system. We'll share the full list of changes at release, but I can already tell you — it includes a good portion of what was planned for 1.5.

Don't let the "Beta" label concern you — in our view, this is a very stable version that significantly surpasses the current one.

How to download:

What's new:

Engine

• Added native support for anisotropic filtering. Makes the graphics a lot more cleaner.
• Fixed an old issue with graphical artifacts on loading screens.
• New blood effects on surfaces.
• Dynamic lighting on ship decks in sea mode.
• Reworked water behavior - it no longer floods ships and interiors.
• Fixed fast attack issues in confined spaces.

Content

• New galleon model
• New pinnace model
• New unique ship (DLC)
• Improved corvette model
• Boarding deck Rate 4: schooner vs. flute
• Boarding deck Rate 3: corvette vs. galleon
• Boss fight boarding deck for the DLC
• New sounds for 3, 6 and 12 pounders.

Quests

• Added journal entries for "The Regatta", Tichingitu, Deluc, and Durand
• (FTJR) Marcus waits indefinitely before any quest
• (Amber Rush) Fast travel to amber barques is now available
• (Amber Rush) Tutorial window explains amber collection from barques
• (Amber Rush) Journal entry for collecting all amber appears earlier
• (Silk Road) The Flying Fish spawns immediately at Negril Point
• (Silk Road) Marcus accepts silk without requiring location reload
• (Pirate Trading for Dummies) Auto-teleport to Gonaïves after talking with Jean at gates after Marcus robbery
• (Hot Sun of Maracaibo) Added profitable option to ransom Picard from plantation for characters with high trade skills
• (Hot Sun of Maracaibo) Added more ways to gather goods and infiltrate plantation
• (Stones of Blood and Forest) More options for dealing with the guide
• (Stones of Blood and Forest) Enhanced Mérida scene and combat - a turning point for the hero
• (Stones of Blood and Forest) Option to refuse working for Marcus right after Mérida
• (Corrida) The Torero appears on global map even after delay at Tirax
• (Corrida) Can leave ship in port after capturing Torero and even repair
• (Corrida) Torero only has optimal crew during battle
• (Nemesis) No longer need to find flint for barrel explosions
• (Nemesis) Logical explanation for Charles entering dungeons alone
• (Nemesis) Alternative ending available with Tonzag in crew
• (Nemesis) Enhanced standard storyline ending
• (Nemesis) Removed some geysers from corridors except highest difficulty
• (Caleuche) Dialogues and journal account for unsold skull scenario
• (Saga) Fast travel to "Bald Maggie" and executioner's barque
• (Saga) Donovan is now a tougher opponent
• (Saga) Increased difficulty for Centurion, her captain, Cyclops and Chad
• (Saga) Auto-teleport to ship after mine assault
• (Saga) Daniel offers girl companionship. Maroon Town feels like home!
• (Saga) Journal entries and Jan dialogue reflect actual lawyer costs
• (Saga) Character automatically drinks potion when teleporting to Dominica
• (A Long Road to the Gallows) Doctor approaches automatically on first floor of Gino's house
• (A Long Road to the Gallows) Can actually return next day to check patient - time skip allowed
• (A Long Road to the Gallows) Smoother land battle difficulty progression
• (False Trail) Hero no longer goes to Rainer's stash alone
• (False Trail) Can safely loot galleon's cabin after captain duel
• (Price of Discretion) Pinnette ambush starts automatically
• (Isla Mona) Removed non-existent stockade references
• (Hero of the Nation) Resolved conflict with "More than Gold" quest
• (A Long Road to the Gallows) Quest properly closes if Portuguese left in prison
• (The Dead Man) Shows notifications when officers die during boarding
• (The Dead Man) Tougher mercenary commander
• (The Dead Man) Improved cabin scene
• (The Dead Man) Improved church massacre scene
• (Prison Break) Dutch now reward with silk alongside unique license
• (Indian Chief) Principio can attack Spanish
• (Indian Chief) Restored two-schooner battle on difficulties 3-5
• (City of Blood Harvest) Double peso reward for Cartagena raid

Balance

• Improved gameplay design of previously added boarding decks
• Better and more fluent doubloons generation at banks. Depends on character level and Trade skill.
• At a certain perk, player and officers can shoot muskets without hitting allies/neutrals
• Prosper now misses less often
• Ritual Knife from "Slave Trader" quest is now a ward giving 10% melee damage
• "Son of Jaguar" adds 3% firearm crit chance
• Governors pay double for their quests
• Taíno Ward increases carry weight for hero and officers
• Reduced Adelina's starting purchase cost to 10,000
• "Adelina" gets average stats, loses all upgrade bonuses except cargo
• Other protagonist ships in sandbox lose all upgrade bonuses
• Helen's starting ship no longer damaged
• Sandbox heroes lose all amulets, wards and trade license
• Antidote added to mixture recipe
• Lute added to "Minstrel" recipe
• Isla Mona factory gives double ironwood, rum/wine directly from cabin
• Gypsies always sell arsenic with "Trustworthy" perk
• Pirates return to global map - numbers increase with hero rank
• Reduced navigation skill for bonus officer in Deluc mini-quest
• Parade cuirass no longer guaranteed at moneylender
• Treasure value based on Luck skill rather than rank
• Ships lose speed more gradually at low/medium sail damage
• Panama only accepts deposits under specific conditions

Miscellaneous

• Significantly increased global map speed
• New dialogue display: lines better highlighted, number key selection added
• Side quest givers wait for player initiation and don't disappear if missed
• Bounty hunters don't attack in cities (temporary fix)
• Romantic partners don't suggest intimacy at inappropriate times
• Fast travel available to enemy ships in governor/port authority quests

Fixes

• Enabled hints no longer break dialogues
• Fixed traders inventory reset issue
• NPCs no longer randomly attack each other outside combat
• NPCs no longer levitate or dissapear from their working places
• Fixed about 10 exploits
• Charles no longer writes letters in mid-air during The Gambit questline.
• Zikomo no longer levitates
• Fixed stealth ship capture bug in "Guardian of Truth" quest
• Fixed glowing textures in various locations
• Reduced rowboat size and improved its placement
• Fixed many spelling errors
• Various other bug fixes and improvements

You are more than welcome to leave feedback and/or reports in a separate 1.3.5 thread.

---

1.3.3
We have also updated the public version to 1.3.3 — besides adding DLC-related resources, we have also improved gameplay experience for previously updated boarding decks, added a new standard galleon model, and fixed the issue of levitating/disappearing NPCs.

---

And... that's all for today. Grab the DLC, post reviews as blue as the Caribbean Sea, enjoy the beta and see you on December 31st!

Happy holidays!

 

[cyborgboy95]

GD Notes #1. Ships.
Happy New Year!

---

Ahoy! I could write a whole scroll about this year's results: discuss the number of copies sold, deliberate on the future of unlocking the code and modding support, share our global roadmap that already partially covers not just 2025, but 2026 and 2027 as well.

But that probably wouldn't interest anyone.

So instead, I simply want to wish us all not just a happy new year, but also that despite all the crazy things happening in the real world, we still find the strength to play and enjoy good games. BlackMark Studio will sincerely do its best to ensure there are more such games in the world.

We're fortunate to have already accomplished our main goal for 2024: we've assembled an amazing team of professionals, each knowing their role and expertise perfectly. Armed with your feedback, a clear vision for the future, and supported by excellent sales figures, we're ready to grow further and achieve even more next year.

Modern control system. Localizations. Engine and graphics improvements. Less RNG and frustration — more fun and meaningful choices. Tons of new content.

And today, our new team member, Game Designer Kirill Gaidar, will share our vision for ship balance — this will be the first piece in a large series of design notes we're preparing for you.

Happy New Year! Kirill, break a leg!
-Joruba, BlackMark Studio Game Director

---

Don't mind the frog. It has a crucial lore behind it and has earned every right to be here.

Hoist the topsails! Setting course for the Gulf of Creativity!

In today's debut chapter of the game designer's notes, we'll discuss the most controversial and dangerous topic - ship rebalancing.

I kindly ask all fans of overpowered quest ships to step away from their screens - there will be no mercy.

Let's begin with a brief intro.

The ship balance system, which is meant to create excitement for exploration and necessitate decision-making through complex trade-offs, currently falls short of its goals. All non-quest ships lack character and are largely useless, while quest ships are excessively powerful, making it pointless to use anything else in story mode.

Players face no meaningful compromises or interesting choices - they simply progress from one quest ship to another in search of the most unbalanced option, depriving themselves of the pleasure of choice and discovery.

This also impacts mechanics surrounding ships - for example, upgrades using strategic resources are only needed a couple of times throughout the entire game.

The ship rebalance is designed to address or mitigate these issues and restore interest in capturing new vessels and changing flagships, while also rewarding players for using ships according to their intended game purpose and/or historical role. Let's break it down step by step.

Ship Subclasses
Every vessel sailing the Caribbean has its historical prototype and intended purpose. Some ships are more versatile, while others were built strictly for a single purpose - bombarding fortifications, transporting goods, or carrying correspondence.

All images in this article are test variations currently in development. The specific visuals, descriptions, figures, and layout of elements may change significantly.

The game will reflect this through both characteristics and traits (more on these below), dividing ships into 4 groups:

• Non-Specialized Ships.
  Good at everything but excel at nothing, the most "average" representatives of their class. No traits or special infographics. compensate for their lack of identity with good overall characteristics and multi-purpose capabilities
  Example: Snow
  
  
• Traders
  Sacrifice caliber, speed, and gun count for large cargo holds.
  Can carry decent crew sizes to speed up loading/unloading operations, some variants have decent armament but still prefer avoiding combat
  Example:Fleut
  
  
• Raiders
  They sacrifice hold capacity and hull strength for speed, while maintaining a respectable caliber of armaments. They favor hit-and-run tactics and swift raids followed by boarding.
  Example: Corvette.
  
  
• Warriors
  Sacrificing speed in exchange for large caliber and crew, possessing a spacious hold for storing gunpowder and bombs to keep the cannonade relentless. They prefer to crush the enemy with sustained fire, clearing the horizon of foes with tons of shot, bombs, and grapeshot. The best choice for large battles and fort bombardments.
  Example: Galleons and Heavy Frigates.

Of course, ship traits and subclasses can be obeserved in any ship-related window.

Ships have been redistributed according to these specializations, with some changing class based on broadside gun count, while others have been completely rebalanced.

These changes include a fair amount of game convention because we still want the game to be fun.

More examples:

• The Galleon has received an impressive broadside battery, increasing to 11 guns per side, due to its reclassification as a Military vessel
• The Brig, a pirate favorite, has been moved to class 3 with reworked gun counts and speed to match its sail plan
• The Barquentine has been moved to class 5 to address the lack of trade ships in that tier
• Xebecs have been moved to class 4 with rebalanced stats to better reflect their historical role in coastal operations

Global Balance
Beyond individual adjustments, there are several universal changes affecting all ships:

• Average ship speed has been reduced across almost all classes, especially in classes 1 and 2. This slowdown varies by specialization and will be least noticeable on Raiders. Overall combat dynamics shouldn't suffer; they'll just become more logical, especially with adjustments reducing speed loss from sail damage.
• Crew sizes have increased, most notably in classes 3, 2, and 1. Now there's clear progression between classes not just in guns but in required crew for operation. To calm any concerns - the tavern crew calculation mechanic will be adjusted accordingly (to be detailed in future dev diaries).
• Cargo holds have increased by roughly 20-30% across all ships (most significantly for Trade ships), without changing cargo weight. This is a gameplay convenience to reduce tedious micromanagement and account for new crew sizes, without significantly impacting balance.

The Complete Balance Sheet
You can view every stat, number and change here.[docs.google.com]

Ship Traits
Every specialized ship sailing the Caribbean will have a random unique trait corresponding to its subclass. These traits encourage and enhance the use of each specialization's strengths.

Here are some examples (specific numbers and mechanics may change significantly)::

Traders

• Current Chart: Increases global map speed by 5%
• Quality Packing: Cargo load has less impact on speed
• Guild Mark: Improves nation relations from successful trades, reduces sale penalties in friendly colonies
• Emergency Sails: Speed increases by 20% when hull integrity is below 40%
• False Documents: Better chances of deception when sailing under false flags, reduced risk of detection in contraband deals

Raiders

• Hit and Run: Each fired broadside temporarily increases ship speed
• Plunder: Sinking ships by boarding restores hull and sail integrity (masts excluded)
• The Quick And The Dead: Reduces impact of piracy on nation relations
• Incendiary Shot: Stern and bow guns cause periodic damage on hit

Warriors

• Pivoting Carriages: Firing arc increased by 7 degrees
• Recoil System: Each consecutive broadside from the same side increases damage and reload speed by 6% up to 35%
• Fort Breaker: 15% fewer guns need to be destroyed to initiate fort assault
• War Paint: Increases ransom prices, quantity and quality of loot from colony raids, extortion, and captain prisoners

A detailed description of the mechanics will be available upon hint.

Now you will be able to select a ship that more accurately aligns with your play style and is suitable for your specific tasks. These traits work only on the flagship, making it both interesting and beneficial to maintain a diverse fleet of ships for all occasions. Initially, it is planned to create 4-5 traits for each specialization, excluding universal ships. This will serve as a foundation for a large and engaging mechanic that can be enriched with content in the future.

As for the unique ships, I plan to continue the practice of fixing characteristics for them, so traits will also be fixed for unique ships.

Quest Ships
Each quest ship has its own issues requiring individual attention. Some are underpowered, others overpowered, but quest ships still generally outperform most ships in their class - players invest much more effort to obtain them compared to generated ships.

However, while quest ships previously excelled in all aspects, the new logic is different - any specialized ship has multiple compromises, while quest ships have fewer. This means that even when using quest ships, you'll always have a chance to find a generated ship that's better suited to your playstyle.

Let's examine each quest ship in detail:
Pink "Principio"

Problem:

Offers little value beyond being an interesting reference. Obtaining it requires considerable skill, even when completing the quest early, and players usually get it when it's no longer relevant.

Solution:



Mayfeng, Mirage, Valkyrie

Problem:

Excessive stats, especially speed, and oversized crews make these Dutch Gambit rewards overpowered and bland - they lack weaknesses and outperform everything in their rate.

Solution:





Chimera

Problem:

Severely overpowered, overshadowing all rate 4 and 3 ships. Community considers it the only worthwhile reward for completing the English Gambit.

Solution:



Torero

Problem:

Relevance issues were addressed with extremely inflated characteristics, especially crew and sailing qualities.

Solution:



Griffondor

Problem:

Despite high stats, it's functionally useless due to late acquisition.

Solution:



El Cazador

Problem:

Unrealistic speed for its armament and size; cargo capacity exceeding higher-rate traders.

Solution:






Fortune

Problem:

Extremely inflated stats, especially crew size, to maintain relevance.

Solution:



Caleuche(Flying Heart)

Problem:

Requires excessive navigation skills relative to its stats, making it practically useless without exploits.

Solution:


Eclyaton

Problem:

Unrealistic sailing qualities for its size, armament, and crew.

Solution:



This rebalance aims to create more meaningful choices while preserving the special nature of quest ships. Each vessel now has its own role and trade-offs, encouraging players to maintain diverse fleets and adapt their strategy based on their current objectives.

And... that's all for today! Happy new year and I will see you soon - we have a lot to show you in the coming year!
:jollyr: