When oh-so-edgy pirate RPG Raven’s Cry [official site] came out in January, it was buggy, silly, boring and… well, rubbish. But bless ’em, developers Reality Pump and publishers TopWare love their gamebaby enough to be, er, actually properly finishing it.

A big old update is coming soon-ish, and will see Raven’s Cry relaunch under the new name Vendetta: Curse of Raven’s Cry. This’ll be Raven’s Cry “as it was meant to be seen and played,” Reality Pump say. It’s a shame TopWare have been charging £40 for a game they knew wasn’t really finished, then.

Reality Pump say in today’s announcement:

“After an almost seven year-long cursed development, we are finally ready to unleash Vendetta: Curse of Raven’s Cry as it was meant to be seen and played. Development for Vendetta began way back in 2008, and has seen every game pitfall imaginable. Even Christopher himself, actor Mark Strohman had an infection that traveled into his brain, almost landing in Davy Jones’ Locker himself during MoCap shootings. It’s been a long and wired journey, but after all the time and all the setbacks, we are proud to say that the game is close to be finished and we launch the new website today!”

No firm word yet on when Vendetta will launch, but it’ll be a free update for folks who own Raven’s Cry and add Linux support along with this load of fixes and changes:

Rewards for quest completion have been enhanced.

Christopher’s fighting skills have been enhanced and improved.

Numerous new quests have been added and existing quests have been enhanced.

Faster sailing: sailing has been tweaked to be more dynamic, with a speed-up option that accelerates time.

Enhanced and upgraded trading system.

An upgraded skill system with new skills to unlock.

Quest indicators for easy, medium and difficult quests have been added, in addition to an improved hint system.

In-game achievements with progress indicators have been added where applicable.

A robust Alchemy system has been added, allowing players to collect various herbs and alcohols to brew potent potions and tinctures with a variety of effects.

Use a variety of historically accurate flags to trick your enemies, disguise your intentions, and improve the appearance of your vessel.

Free-sailing mode allows players to sail without restrictions.

New videos and cut-scenes.

Completely re-recorded English voice acting.

Improved fighting system with new combos, slow motion finishing moves and weapons.

I’m sure my considerable charm, friendly authoritative tone, and throbbing guns can persuade John to return to the Caribbean for another look.