Hands on with Skull & Bones - Preview
Pirates! As children we seem to grow up with a fascination with pirates which is weird as they are more like anti-heroes than the usual superheroes we aspire to be in our childhood years. Is it the alure of sailing the dangerous seas in search of treasure, the action-packed sword fights we see choreographed in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean or just the fact that you get to wear cool clothes and have a parrot on your shoulder as you captain a ship across the seven seas whilst engaging in frequent cannonball fueled battles and plundering riches from your opponents? I am guessing it is a combination of all of these things, and the call of being a pirate doesn’t seem to dissipate when we grow up either, not if the success of movies like the aforementioned Pirates of the Caribbean or games like Assassins Creed Black Flag and Sea of Thieves are anything to go by.
It has been a long time since any new pirate games have been released and Ubisoft hopes to fill this void with Skull and Bones, first announced back at E3 in 2017 the games original trailer released to much excitement from the gaming community, especially all of the wannabe Captain Jack Sparrows out there, little did people know just how tumultuous the development cycle of Skull and Bones would be. After suffering five total delays and numerous beta events and major changes to the originally promised gameplay, the game finally has a release date in early 2024. The hype train for Skull and Bones truly derailed a long time ago due to the many delays the game has suffered but is there still a good game to be found here? Let’s take to the seas and find out.
With Skull and Bones set to release on the 16th of February 2024 Ubisoft decided one last beta event was in order most likely to make sure that the gameplay loop and server infrastructure was ready for the influx of pirates scheduled to start sailing the seas on release. Having participated in previous betas of the game I was excited to jump back in before its official release. The game is set in the Indian Ocean between the 1650s and 1730s in what was considered the heyday of pirates. You start out as a surviving crew member from a pirate ship that was destroyed trying to plunder the British navy and end up in a dangerous world full of pirates, politics, subterfuge and violence which all exist as a roadblock to your goal of becoming one of the most notorious pirate captains sailing the seas.
Being a pirate is all about notoriety and reputation and in Skull and Bones it is no different, you start of with what I would consider to be a makeshift raft and a couple of loyal crew members and set out to find the port of Saint Anne which is rumored to be a pirate haven, it is there that you meet Captain Scurlock a notorious pirate himself who you must prove yourself to by completing missions in order to increase your reputation as a bloodthirsty pirate.
Saint Anne itself is one of the games main central hubs and it is here you will find yourself running around amongst other players much like safehouses in The Division franchise, which is a great touch as it helps the port feel alive as you watch other pirates going about their business in the settlement. The port is home to all manner of NPCs from carpenters and blacksmiths through to shipbuilders and outfitters. The port serves as a place where you can use blueprints to build new ships or upgrade your existing ships and the choices at play here are expansive from upgrading the canons on your ship through to changing the armor that protects your precious vessel. The weapon of the era is cannons but you have a variety to choose from such as short range, long range and also mortars that do damage to all the boats that you are attacking, it is up to you how you equip your boat and choose a loadout that compliments your playstyle. There are numerous options in regard to your ships armor and also furniture that you can equip on your ship that provides bonuses such as extra stamina for your crew or decreased reload time for your cannons. The more you grow your reputation the more blueprints you will have access to which will in-turn serve to upgrade your ships level once the items from the blueprints are crafted.
Once you leave the safety of port it is up to you how you wish to increase your riches and reputation, you can complete contracts and missions which mainly consist of destroying certain fleets of ships or dropping off or picking up valuable goods from other outposts, quests not only offer money as rewards but also blueprints and other useful items such as ship repair kits. You can also ignore quests and simply sail the seas exploring and plundering smaller ports for trade goods and taking on trading ships to sink them and steal their riches. Exploring is rewarding in Skull and Bones as there is a whole bunch of resources to be harvested around coastlines in the game, resources are harvested via a fun little mini game where you have to click in a certain place on an on screen meter in order to get the most resources from a particular node, you can then choose to keep these items for trade or use them to craft upgrades to your ships and weapons.
Ship to ship combat is the meat and bones of the game and I am happy to say that it is a lot of fun. If you are looking for realism then you are looking in the wrong spot, if you are looking for fun then you are in the right place. Combat whilst more arcade like than the games original vision can still be incredibly tactical at times as you try to work out the best angle to attack from in order to utilise your most effective weapons whilst also getting close enough to board your opponents ship once you cause enough damage, boarding ships gives you the added bonus of receiving more loot than if you just destroyed it. I had a blast sailing out into deep waters and using my spyglass to gain knowledge on what other ships were carrying and how much of a threat they were to me before sailing in at full speed and engaging in naval warfare.
Being a pirate is fun and the six hours I spent playing the Skull and Bones demo left me wanting more. The best way I can describe the game is a cross between The Division and Black Flag with a touch of Sea of Thieves thrown in for good measure. I love games that make you grind for resources and reputation in order to become more powerful and this type of gameplay is certainly prevalent in Skull and Bones. I cannot wait until I am able to team up with a bunch of friends in attempt to wage naval warfare and plunder to our hearts content once the game releases next year.
Skull and Bones will set sail on February 16th for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, though ordering the Premium Edition will grant you access 3 days earlier. The game will also be available in Ubisoft+ for PC, so members there need not worry about buying the game on top of their existing membership.
