Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix

TLDR: Retro cyberpunk mixed with 'in-game' pixel animations. Definitely different, but if you liked Cyberpunk 2077 edge Runner, you might find that you enjoy this.

I had NO idea what to expect. Not only had I never heard of Captain laserhawk, im not very familiar with Ubisoft as a whole. So it was like going in blind, with my ears covered. The opening scene made it very obvious it was going to be cyberpunkish, and about 10 minutes in, it was very obvious it was a campy cyberpunk ish with videogame elements to it. It was definitely enjoyable though. The Animation style and story telling almost makes it feel like its part of the cyberpunk 2077 universe, and thats mostly a good thing, as I really enjoyed that show. I dont really have anything bad to say about it except the really push the whole 'gilted romance' narrative. I have no issues with sexuality in general, but its a major plot point to the show when it feels like something that they are focusing more on a lovers quarrel than any other plots in the show for the first half. Almost like the rest of the story doesnt matter.

All that said, interesting show, very different. 6 episodes isnt enough.

It has its flaws Plot super fast! Characters show up, die in the next moment, twists and turns, dilema and drama, betrayl and so on. All shoved into 6 episodes each 20 minutes BUT each minute entertaining.

- It also KINDA requires you to accept what it does, for example to your favorite characters; if you can't tolerate seing rayman involved in adult themes OR a show being very out of nowhere, straight up insane and not explaining you anything then just don't watch the show, its FULL of it.

- Its pretty to look at MOST OF THE TIMES, Visuals were AMAZING, 2d animation of a big budget, many scenes where the show turns into a straight up sidescroller or dating sim. There is one cheaply made visual and it drags on for 2 episodes (EP4 and 5) You will notice it.

I watched all the six episodes of this 2023 French-American adult animated television series on Netflix (UK and Ireland) yesterday (05-04-2025). It's a good mini TV series. We know it is inspired by the 2013 video game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, while amalgamating elements and characters from several other Ubisoft franchises such as Rayman, Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, Rabbids and Rainbow Six. It may be perfect for anyone who is sick of watching The Simpsons or soppy SpongeBob Squarepants (don't worry I still like those cartoons but not the modern ones).

I think Bullfrog and Rayman are my favourite characters.

If you're a fan of Ubisoft, you'll like this.

The show has its good moments. Action and plot twists are a delight to watch.

The show has strong positives in world-building and character development. I hope the pacing will be more streamlined in the future and not a random "plug a bit of everything" as it seems in the first season. The follow-up seasons (if happen) definitely deserve a chance to be better than the first one, given the show solidifies what it wants to be.

As for the criticism: Some characters are too out of place, e.g. The leader of the Eden Army is just too comedic and it doesn't fit well into what Eden represents.

As a person who recognized probably all the Ubisoft characters in the series and did play Far Cry "Blood Dragon", I feel the addition of many was often too stretched and unnecessary. I heavily doubt this show will be made canon, so plugging Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed represented by a frog-assassin felt to be just for the sake of cheap fan-grabbing audience, and even there it's done so cheaply that it felt rather repulsive than "a nice touch". It's far more crude that "Arcane" or "Cyberpunk" adaptions of their games.

"Nice touch" was a dedsec logo. "Nice touch" was an inter-dimensional species design. Maaaaybe, a name "Pagan Min" of one of the characters. But the rest was obviously made because "we have dead/dying franchises by Ubisoft, let's add them somehow into the show. I don't care how, just do it", and it feels by the viewer.

The scenes where the animated characters were turned into humans were on the boring side. I'm not entirely sure what was the purpose of that. Actually, no, I straight up don't get why would they do it at all.

It feels like such a waste. Time and time again, Ubisoft has failed to deliver something truly memorable in their own gaming experiences due to trend surfing. Now that they have one of their best ideas to date, they (or Netflix) cut it down to mere bullet points.

Captain Laserhawk is 6 episodes long. You experience all of the twists and turns of a 2-season, 20 episode TV series in six 25-minute episodes. The show sprints through heartbreak and elation without a second to breathe. You see an entire world that could be explored, only to decide it's pointless by the next 2-3 scenes. You meet a main character, hear them say a few lines and watch them die. It was so easy to fall behind, that I had to rewind several times an episode.

I ended up not caring about any of the characters plights and achievements as a result (besides Rayman). How would I even care if they died? I have nothing to know about them beyond the fact that they're from an old game! Do I need to buy and play the videogame so I can feel sad when a character's life gets snubbed by another character from a different videogame??????

When it comes to themes, I do vibe incredibly well with the cyberpunk aesthetic. Blood Dragon the premier setting for the Ubisoft animated series. If anything, I wish the show wasn't as openly silly as Blood Dragon presented itself.

While I don't really have much to say about the animation quality, the decision of shifting animation styles to reflect a certain videogame aesthetic is cute (even though they don't usually reference Ubisoft games). I personally LOVE the show's brief use of mixed media and it's something I want to see in other animated shows and films. Seeing a real person in an animated environment with animated characters just tickles something in my ape brain.

I seriously wanted to like this project, and I do like a lot of what it has to offer. It's just so undercooked. I'm interested to see if this story goes anywhere in the future, but I can't help but expect Captain Laserhawk to be forgotten once another game publisher steps in with their own realized series.