Ubisoft’s self-proclaimed “AAAA” pirate game Skull and Bones is finally here, and while the PvP part of the game is entirely optional, high-level captains have already found a way to ruin the experience of low-level players.
25.01.2024 - 21:25 / gamerant.com / Ubisoft Singapore / Niko Balkaran / Ubisoft
Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones has released a roadmap for the title’s first year and what players can expect in the endgame. The long-awaited pirate game finally got a launch date during the Game Awards 2023 ceremony and is scheduled to launch on February 13 for players subscribed to Ubisoft+ and on February 16 for everyone else.
The game was revealed at E3 2017 with an expected fall 2018 release and was seemingly inspired by the ship battles from Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. However, Skull and Bones was postponed for several years following a rocky development cycle, including rebooting the project and even losing three creative directors, including Elisabeth Pellen, who left the Ubisoft Singapore team last September. Considering the number of delays, some fans believe that Skull and Bones must make an impact at launch if it is to survive in the long term.
With less than a month to go, Ubisoft has released a YouTube trailer detailing a content roadmap of what players can expect from the game in the first year of release. The game’s first year, titled Rise of the Kingpins, will be divided into four seasons that will last for 12 weeks. Each season, players must engage in a number of activities like Legendary Heists, world events, and takeover opportunities to build their power and carefully customize their ship in Skull and Bones to challenge a fearsome Pirate Lord and take them down. According to Ubisoft, there will be a number of items that players can earn each season, such as new ships, weapons, and cosmetics.
Ubisoft also promises a more dangerous endgame with higher stakes that involves becoming fierce rivals with once-allied Kingpins. In addition, players can form groups of three and tackle the leaderboards to earn rewards, which will reset every season. Skull and Bones will also have several time-limited events throughout the game’s first year, like a Dragon Boat race in the second season, where players will have to work with others in community events to earn loot. Ubisoft also plans to add several quality-of-life features, with two major ones being scheduled for release during the third and fourth seasons.
Last December, a beta tester revealed on Reddit that they quit playing Skull and Bones because of “sheer boredom,” which prompted others to share similar experiences. While the released and beta test versions may not be too far apart, the developer revealing this roadmap now seems to indicate that Ubisoft Singapore is determined to make Skull and Bones a fun experience for players.
Ubisoft’s self-proclaimed “AAAA” pirate game Skull and Bones is finally here, and while the PvP part of the game is entirely optional, high-level captains have already found a way to ruin the experience of low-level players.
Despite being delayed six times so far, Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot is highly confident in Skull and Bones, so much so that he is tempting fate, invoking the dreaded «AAAA» moniker. The last developer we can recall doing that was the ill-fated Striking Distance Studios with The Callisto Protocol, a game with a sad ending.
In Skull and Bones, although the Open Beta only lasted a few days, it was just enough time for some players to achieve some pretty awesome feats. Like EagleEGamer, who became a millionaire.
It’s been another cold week, and one that’s proven perfectly suited to wrapping up and playing video games. I’ve been working my way through Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, and we’ll have the review for that one on Monday. Other than that, there’s been a chunk of Suicide Squad, a heap of Naruto X Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, a spot of Granblue Fantasy Relink, a smidgen of Dave the Diver and a soupçon of Street Fighter 6 as well.
Continuing their great prank of pretending they plan to release Skull And Bones, Ubisoft today launched an open beta for their multiplayer open-world pirate boat game. The free beta will run until Sunday night, after which Ubisoft will presumably delay the game for another seventeen years while once again redesigning the whole thing. When you buy your great grandniece Skull And Bones for her 17th birthday, you'll be able to tell her you were there for the mythical open beta of '24.
During the Q&A session of a recent earnings call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot defended the decision to price upcoming pirate-themed multiplayer title Skull and Bones at $70 despite the game having live-service trappings.
After beginning development in 2013 and numerous delays later, Ubisoft Singapore’s seafaring pirate action RPG, Skull & Bones, will finally set sail next week. In the meantime, you can watch the launch trailer and even jump in early with the game’s open beta, which kicks off today.
Ubisoft's live-service pirate ship game Skull and Bones is a «quadruple-A» project, company boss Yves Guillemot has said.
Thar be no room for landlubbers here. Get ready to start a golden age pirate’s journey taking you from shipwrecked nobody to kingpin when Skull and Bones launches February 16 on PlayStation 5, with an Open Beta running from February 8-11*. The development team at Ubisoft Singapore has been hard at work ensuring that the Skull and Bones experience is as immersive as possible on PS5, thanks to features like 3D audio, adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and more.
Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot has defended the $70 price tag for Skull and Bones, calling it a “quadruple-A game”.
While the character customization at the beginning of Skull and Bones is well designed thanks to the water’s reflection and shipwreck environment, it fails to let you see your entire character. You should save your time because there’s a much better character customization waiting for you after the tutorial.
Skull and Bones is a pirate game, so people will instantly assume that it has PvP, myself included. However, the game doesn’t tackle PvP the same as many had expected, so you can’t simply attack any other crew you see. So, how does PvP work?