Skull and Bones has reached an almost mythical status among fans due to the long-standing mystery of its development and potential release date. First teased to players almost a decade ago back in 2013, Skull and Bones has fallen in and out of the gaming discourse over the years with the lack of news.
However, with Ubisoft recently teasing a 2023 release date for Skull and Bones, gamers can perhaps gain a solid idea of when to expect to play this long awaited title. Due to the long development time, Skull and Bones has the benefit of being able to look to other similar games to better understand what is expected by fans from the open-world pirate game subgenre.
What Does Skull and Bones Have In Store?
Skull and Bones is set to be a large-scale, open-world action adventure game set in a sprawling sea. The game sees players take on the role of a customizable pirate captain aboard their own ship, sailing in search of treasure, while engaging in naval combat against rival pirates.
Players can either choose to engage in this gameplay via a single-player campaign, or as part of a five-strong crew online with friends. Being an Ubisoft title, Skull and Bones is largely based off of, and at one point was directly built off of, the acclaimed naval navigation and combat of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. That being said, presumably the passing of time has necessitated that new assets and engines be created and used instead.
The game appears to be thematically more serious and tactical than the more stylized Sea of Thieves, with players being able to build fleets, ram ships, and utilize wind positioning to ascertain more favorable positions in combat within Skull and Bones.
Lessons Learned From Sea of Thieves
One of the primary criticisms of Sea of Thieves at launch was undoubtedly its lackluster player size. With Sea of Thieves servers at launch only supporting six ships at a time, the world felt flat and lifeless. Therefore, it should be of great importance for Ubisoft to capitalize of the contemporary technology that will be used to develop Skull and Bones, to foster a higher player count per server and to create a higher risk/reward environment that feels more saturated.
Another aspect of gameplay that left a lot to be desired within Sea of Thieves is the nature of close-quarters physical combat. It is a well known criticism of the game that PvP and even AI combat feels clunky, unrefined, and repetitive, with no real variation or tactic beyond button mashing. Skull and Bones can once again use its newer Assassin's Creed framework and inspiration here to provide a higher level of focus to close-quarters combat as well as naval combat, with combat against AI allowing for especially intricate and layered potential.
Additionally, the purpose behind loot and gold in Sea of Thieves is rather one-dimensional, only really having the use of purely aesthetic upgrades to a players ship. While some may argue that this is essential to provide balance and to stop newer players facing unfair combat, the ability to purposefully upgrade your ship to become larger, faster, and stronger gives a much larger tangible importance to loot, upping the stakes of finding it and fighting off others significantly.
While this may lead to some imbalanced fights for late-comer players, many will agree that this is simply an unavoidable aspect of pirate life, necessitating stealthier approaches for newer gamers.
Skull and Bones releases in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
