You probably don’t need to be reminded that Skull and Bones came out a long time ago. Announced in 2017 as something of a standalone spin-off to Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, it was meant to offer a mostly ocean-bound, combat-focused online multiplayer twist on that game’s much-loved seafaring as players battled to become the Golden Age of piracy the most scandalous pirate.
Five years and many, many delays later, Skull and Bones is on the verge of release, with a launch date now set for November 8 for Xbox, PlayStation and PC. How have things changed in all that time? Well, to be honest, after seeing a version almost in action during a recent press preview, it’s hard to say.
Although Ubisoft at one point insisted that development was restarted to accommodate a “new vision” as it was “dreaming of something bigger” for the project, Skull and Bones 2022 looks an awful lot like Skull and Bones as it was introduced in 2017 – offering just as originally pitched, a combat-focused, almost exclusively ocean-bound online multiplayer twist on Black Flag’s pirate core, albeit now with a seemingly greater emphasis on PvE. Which isn’t a bad thing, of course. Black Flag’s seafaring was thoroughly enjoyable, and a more extended version of that – even five years later – has plenty of appeal, especially if you’re a place-of-madness lover like myself.
Skull and Bones – Worldwide gameplay reveal.
There is, of course, one complication to Skull and Bones’ grip on pirate supremacy in 2022; Sea of Thieves – which, unlike Skull and Bones, actually made its scheduled 2018 launch – has now had a nearly five-year run, providing an ever-expanding blast of good old-fashioned pirate adventure. So, with Rare’s great work in mind, is there still room for Skull and Bones?
The immediate impression based on Ubisoft’s latest showing seems to be yes, with Skull and Bones appearing to settle comfortably into its own niche. Of course, Skull and Bones goes against the grain of Rare’s overarching pirate sandbox in many ways, including a “darker, grittier approach” to piracy, more traditional vertical progression, optional PvP, and laser focus on naval combat, although it takes place in an open sea map dotted with land masses.
Don’t expect to dig up buried treasure or raid long-lost tombs in Skull and Bones; instead, land excursions are limited to certain islands where, acting as a sort of base of operations and spawn point, you can purchase supplies – ship repair kits, ammo and food – to keep crew morale high and prevent mutiny – choose missions and prepare for the next adventure bout. Even the quest for ore-crafting resources—mining ore, felling trees, skinning wildlife—all seems to happen while you’re on a boat, interacting with resource nodes conveniently hanging off the island’s shores.
Skull and Bones as it appeared in 2017.
Skull and Bones promises a journey that will take players from humble beginnings as a shipwrecked survivor washed ashore on some unknown island to the scourge of the seas, commanding an entire fleet on the waves. And it’s a journey that, as presented, seems to follow a fairly straightforward cycle: you set up a base, choose a mission (more of which are promised post-launch in classic live-service style), prepare your ship, then head out to sea for a bit of a fight before returning, ideally loaded with treasure, to do it again and then again some more.
Each successful mission in the seas increases your renown (Skull and Bones’ measure of progress), which in turn means more challenging tasks from NPCs and access to new craft blueprints. As the game progresses, you’ll unlock similar types of new ships – from the humble dhow to brigantines and beyond, with specializations including cargo and navigation vessels – and an ever-expanding arsenal, including cannons, Greek fire, explosive mortars, different types of armor, even cargo bags for more loot, all of which can be mixed and matched to better suit the task at hand.
To illustrate the basic quest cycle of Skull and Bones, Ubisoft showed off a short mission during its preview event in which players are asked to steal jars of oil from a nearby island. Once the preparation is complete – ie. ships and loading bays have been chosen, provisions are on board and friends have been invited for co-op play if you wish, it’s time to head to sea. At this point, the camera switches from third-person to a perspective – and indeed an overall atmosphere – that should be instantly recognizable to anyone who’s played the oceanic parts of Black Flag.
Once you’ve set a destination point, you’ll find yourself looking across the deck at busy crew members, occasionally switching to the bird’s nest for a better view of the horizon. And as you head towards your destination, there is at least the promise of emergent encounters; players can use their binoculars to locate trade routes—perhaps pinpointing laden merchant ships accompanied by a fleet of powerful escorts—or drifting into violent storms and monstrous waves. And, of course, they’ll also encounter the two other vessels – both passive and hostile – that can either be left alone or engage in battle to steal their hard-earned loot. Ubisoft notes, by the way, that taking on ships much smaller than you will only gain you a small amount of renown if you win, and cost you dearly if you lose (this is probably also meant to introduce some of balance between better and less equipped crews in PvP).
In this case, however, the destination is a small port town nestled on the edge of an island. Combat begins almost immediately upon arrival, with shoreline defense towers showering you with cannon fire while AI ships move in to surround you on either side, calling in additional reinforcements along the way. There’s a loot bar that slowly fills up over time as you hold off the attack (rewarding better treasure the higher it goes), with some respite in the form of washed-up shipwrecks that can be quickly looted for emergency food, repair kits, even goods that can be sold back to the lair.
Sure, it’s all suitably stunning, with the chaos of battle delivered with plenty of cinematic noise, but it’s also undeniably a more traditional, game-based form of ship combat compared to the looser, more organic approach taken by Sea of Thieves. Ubisoft’s game has plenty of UI: health bars, attack targeting arrows, area-of-effect markers; enemy weak points are overlaid in red, while a yellow limit marker shows how far you can go before stopping the encounter.
It’s not particularly elegant, but overall I’d say Skull and Bones looks good, even fun, and it’s encouraging that it’s found its own pirate niche to occupy. But for a game now arriving five years later than originally planned, it’s hard to ignore how limited in scope and ambition it all seems, despite Ubisoft’s earlier promises of “something bigger.” With such a narrow focus, therefore, it all depends on the quality of the fight, and without any hands-on time it’s impossible to say how successful it will be. So the question remains, is there enough flesh on Skull and Bones to carry him? We’ll finally have an answer this November.
Add Comment