Black Sails: The Ghost Ship
By Neilie Johnson,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Dark, violent tale features drugs, smuggling, flawed play.

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Black Sails: The Ghost Ship
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What’s It About?
BLACK SAILS: THE GHOST SHIP is about two shipwreck victims. When their own boat goes down on the ocean, a young man and woman are miraculously saved by the appearance of a black-sailed ship. They climb aboard, hoping to find help, but discover the ship is empty except for a collection of dark, disturbing secrets. They decide to try to steer the ship back to civilization, but when one of them is hurt, it's up to the other to navigate the ship's treacherous interiors, repair its old machinery, and uncover the fate of its missing crew.
Is It Any Good?
This is an English translation of an adventure originally released in German; whether this is the reason for the horrible, artificial dialogue is uncertain. In any case, bizarre character exchanges, wooden voice acting, and sloppy presentation very nearly scuttle this ship. Fortunately, some interesting puzzles more or less keep it afloat.
Most of us know how real people talk, and that means fake dialogue is easy to recognize. Black Sails, unfortunately, is full of this. Its two main characters are strangely at odds with each another -- the man a belligerent jerk and the woman unbelievably caring -- and the voice acting is equally bad (though you have to wonder if it's the fault of the writing). Along with this, Black Sails suffers from sloppy presentation: Characters constantly reach through walls, voices cut out suddenly in the middle of scenes, and there are occasional game crashes. Though all this is annoying, the impact is lessened by interesting common-sense puzzles and an intriguing overall mystery. (Note: Things get pretty dark here, with clues regarding smugglers and the indeterminate relationship between a child and a sadistic doctor.) The start and middle of the game are truly absorbing as you explore the ship, discovering clues and seeing visions, but the end is a definite letdown. If you make it all the way through, you'll discover the promise of dialogue-directed multiple endings is utterly broken, with each ending playing out the same. Black Sails: The Ghost Ship should've been an engrossing horror adventure, but instead this vessel barely avoids sinking under the weight of its problems.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in games such as Black Sails. Is the level of violence in this game unjustified, even though you never actually see the acts committed?
Discuss the history of smuggling. Have you seen any news stories about modern-day smuggling?
Think about a past memory. Do you think your memory accurately reflects the events of that time?
Game Details
- Platform: Windows
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Deck 13 Interactive GmbH
- Release date: September 17, 2015
- Genre: Adventure
- Topics: Adventures, Pirates
- ESRB rating: NR for No Descriptions
- Last updated: February 26, 2020
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