“What if we made Prospero but for blood instead of energy?” - Someone at some point, probably
“Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower,
But be the serpent under ‘t.”- Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5 (Macbeth)
Lady Macbeth is a captain best known for her ruthless ambition. In order for her to survive her accession, she needs to slowly collect blood while remaining undetected. Then, when the moment is right, she can reveal herself and claim the victory.
On the surface, she might just seem like some kind of bloody Prospero. And, to be fair, that was basically her original design pitch. But while these two captains share some notable similarities, they also have one key difference: context.
See, every captain in the game is designed to appear similar to at least a few other captains. Hamlet and Portia, for example, are both stalking assassins waiting for the right moment to strike. Cordelia & Brutus represent two very different takes of what it means to be “loyal.” Finally, Prospero & Richard show us what happens if you let players collect too much energy.
Lady Macbeth, alongside Iago and Titus, represent the different sides of the blood mechanic. Whenever you spot a player amassing a lot of blood, you can usually assume they are one of these three captains. But while all three of them collect blood, they each do it for very different reasons. Iago mostly wants alliances, Titus mostly wants death, and Lady Macbeth mostly wants…well, both. This makes her a very flexible captain to play as. Will you cut down your foes on your path to the throne, or will you surround yourself with allies to protect your rise to power? The choice is ultimately yours.
In terms of gameplay changes, Lady Macbeth’s objective has remained basically unchanged throughout development. The character herself, however, has shuffled around a bit. Originally, Lady Macbeth had Iago’s win condition, and Richard had Lady Macbeth’s win condition. But since we sorted that out, she’s remained a stable cornerstone of the Captain’s Gambit experience.
Her character design didn’t change much as we shifted from MS Paint to Pixels to finally Bo’s incredible art. Her main inspiration was Mother Brain from Metroid, which should be pretty obvious if you’ve ever played those games. We loved the scheming brain-in-a-jar vibe and thought it was a perfect sci-fi reinterpretation of the iconic Shakespearean character.
That’s the story of Lady Macbeth. Though originally a Prospero clone, she’s since evolved into a force to be reckoned with. When her plans are finally set in motion, nothing can stop the Rising Chariot!