Ahoy!
This is Joruba, head of BlackMark Studio.
The Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates playtest is officially over — and it was big.
The game held up remarkably well. For a beta, the bug count was impressively low. Some of you logged dozens of hours, cleared most of the side quests, and hit a serious character level. That means a lot to us. Thank you! ːrespect_soldierː
Reading through the comments, it's clear that some players aren't quite sure what this game actually is — or how it's different from Caribbean Legend. If that's happening, that's on me as a publisher. Let me clear things up. ːrespect_soldierː
Why didn't you just merge AoP content into the base CL?
Age of Pirates is a remaster of City of Abandoned Ships. Caribbean Legend is a remake of a completely different game — each built by a different team, at a different time, with a different design philosophy. Both run on the Storm Engine, which still does certain things better than anything else out there — but it's also notoriously painful when it comes to cross-project development and compatibility. Moving content or mechanics from one game to the other isn't just hard. It's expensive, slow, and often simply not worth it.
CL is a story-driven adventure. AoP is an open-world sandbox. They're not two versions of the same game — they're two very different games that happen to share a universe. Believe me, I'd love to have one definitive pirate RPG that does everything. We're not there yet.
Why does CL have things that AoP doesn't?
Things like the new naval targeting system or autosaves — yes, those would be great in AoP too. If the game does well, ReCon Team will look at adding them post-launch. But some things, like the item and perk system, aren't being ported over by design. The team has their own vision for where this game goes, and I want them to build something new — not a second CL. And again, the technical barrier between these two games is real.
Why are you working on a second game before finishing the first?
We're not. Age of Pirates is developed by an entirely separate team. 90% of BlackMark Studio's resources are going into Patch 2.0 right now — we've been at it for nearly a year. Once AoP launches, there'll be a teaser trailer, and you'll see exactly what I mean.
Why is AoP so hard?
Because City of Abandoned Ships was a hard game. With CL, we pulled the difficulty back significantly — and honestly, a portion of the audience wasn't happy about that. ReCon Team will be addressing some of the rougher edges based on playtest feedback. Beyond that, it's their call — and I think that's the right approach.
Thank you to everyone who participated, played, and helped us catch bugs and rough spots. We've got plenty to work with before launch.
Release Date
March 13, 2026 — 10:00 AM PST
Price
$19.99
Special Offer
25% discount for Caribbean Legend owners
About the Game
Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates is a remaster of City of Abandoned Ships — one of the most distinctive open-world pirate RPGs ever made.
It was never an easy game. It didn't hold your hand, didn't forgive mistakes, and didn't show you everything upfront. But the players who pushed through found something rare: a living open world with real freedom, real depth, and dozens of hours of adventure that few games in the genre have matched.
Now it's ready for a new generation of players — and it has plenty to offer the old guard too. Overhauled controls, hundreds of fixes and improvements, dozens of side quests, a mountain of new content, officer patents, colony capture, a playable female character — and that's just the start.
With your support, Age of Pirates can go the same distance Caribbean Legend has — from remaster to full remake.
City of Abandoned Ships deserved a second chance. Now it's getting one.
March 13 — set sail.
What we do — we do for you.
ːjollyrː