The Pirates of Dark Water is remarkable for its eccentric setting, utilizing the source material's melding of swashbuckling adventures, sword-and-sorcery fantasy, and Road Warrior-inspired fashion aesthetics. Drawing from the cartoon's backstory, players fight rival pirates as well as fantastic creatures sent to hinder the heroes from finding the Treasure of Rule by the evil pirate-lord Bloth.
The game features the main crew of the 1990s TV show - Ren, Ioz, and Tula - searching for the Treasures of Rule in order to rid the world of Mer of the Dark Water and return Mer and Ren's homeland, Octopon, to its former glory.