THE WEST INDIES · JUNE 1716

Blacktide

A year after the Spanish treasure fleet went down off Florida, every cutthroat in the Caribbean has come looking for its silver. Your uncle went looking for something else. He did not come home.

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Plays in your browser. Best in desktop Chrome or Edge. Keyboard and mouse, or a controller.

The sloop Black Gull under sail off Nassau, with the ship card, helm and lit minimap

AT SEA

Your sloop, the trade winds and a deep blue sea

Sail by the windThe trades blow from the east-north-east. Beat, reach and run; make sail or furl it; drop anchor in a lagoon.
Lay the guns yourselfHold for the larboard or starboard battery, train and elevate with the mouse, and watch the broadside land.
Take prizesChase merchantmen on their trade routes, beat down their crews and board for the cargo. Navy frigates hunt you back.
Lay a course on the chartClick a port on the painted chart and your helmsman steers the channels round the reefs.

THE CHART

The Caribbean of 1716

From the Florida Keys and the Bahamas, down through Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola, along the Leeward and Windward Islands to the Spanish Main. Every port is a real settlement of the period, held by the power that held it then.

SpainBritainFranceDutchDenmarkPirate haven

49ports of the period

215islands to explore

4classes of ship

6flags at sea

The captain crosses cutlasses with a Spanish soldier on a beach at Havana

ASHORE

Row in, cutlass in hand

Land anywhereDrop anchor, lower the jolly boat and row in to the nearest beach or the town itself.
Steel, not buttonsSlash combos, a raised guard, a dodge roll and stamina to manage. Guards press you two at a time and stagger when struck.
Friends and enemiesYour crew loafs on the beach at Nassau. Spanish soldiers and British marines hold their own towns.

THE CAST

Pirates, soldiers and townsfolk

The pirate captain in a crimson frock coat and tricorn — The Captainmaster of the Black Gull

A pirate deckhand in a red bandana and striped trousers — Deckhandyour crew

A bald, bearded pirate gunner — Gunneryour crew

A Spanish colonial soldier in a white coat — Spanish soldierHavana, Cartagena

A British marine in a red coat — British marinePort Royal, Bridgetown

A Caribbean port townswoman in a headwrap — Townsfolkevery harbour

THE FLEET

From sloop to galleon

YOUR SHIP

Sloop

Fast, weatherly and shallow enough for the cays. Ten guns.

Speed

Guns

Hull

MERCHANT

Brig

The workhorse of the trade routes, deep with sugar and rum.

Speed

Guns

Hull

A three-masted ship off a fortified harbour

NAVY

Frigate

The Crown's pirate hunters. Run, or make it costly.

Speed

Guns

Hull

TREASURE

Galleon

Slow, rich and heavily armed. The prize everyone wants.

Speed

Guns

Hull

CAPTAIN'S ORDERS

Controls

At sea

A · D: Put the helm over (left stick)
W · S: Make or furl sail (d-pad)
Q · E: Hold to lay the larboard or starboard guns, release to fire (LB · RB)
M: The chart: click a port to lay a course
X · G: Drop anchor · go ashore (A · X)
B · F: Board a beaten prize · spyglass

Ashore

WASD: Move; push the stick gently to walk
Shift: Sprint (LB or click L3)
Left mouse: Slash, up to three in a chain (RB · RT)
Right mouse: Raise your guard (LT)
Space: Dodge roll (A · B)
F: Row back to the ship from the jolly boat (X)

The tide is with us

BLACKTIDE is in early development and free to play while we build it. Your account carries across every Electric Badger game.

Set sail