Ubisoft Finally Unveils Skull And Bones Gameplay Footage And Release Date
It’s been five years since Ubisoft first announced Skull and Bones and now we can finally get our first look at actual gameplay footage of the long-delayed pirate MMO. The studio unveiled the new gameplay trailer at today’s Ubisoft Forward pre-event showcase along with a release date of November 8th.
Skull and Bones is set during the Golden Age of Piracy towards the end of the 17th century. Players start out as an outcast in a small pirate outpost in the Indian Ocean where they’ll set out to make a name for themselves and rise to infamy by taking on contracts from various vendors, factions, and kingpins. As they’re reputation grows, they’ll gain access to more resources, better gear, and new ships to expand their fleet in their quest to become a pirate legend.
The game features visceral, fast-paced, and rewarding PvE combat specifically designed for co-op play although solo play is still possible for those who’d rather live a solitary pirate life. PvP is also entirely optional. Up to 20 players will be able to play with each other in one server where they can either team up, go their separate ways, or fight each other as they plunder outposts, attack other ships, and do whatever is needed to grow their infamy.
Skull and Bones initially started off as an expansion for 2013’s Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and unfortunately it shows in the game’s underwhelming visuals, especially when compared to Rare’s Sea of Thieves. Never mind that Ubisoft reportedly spent over $200 million on its development. Plundering is also a bit anti-climactic since it only requires players to navigate their ships to a certain area and wait for the progress bar to fill up. Player crews are also noticeably absent and ships are controlled by just one player with NPCs doing the grunt work.
Of course, this is all entirely based on a few minutes of gameplay footage and the game might look and play better when it comes out later this year. In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait for the flood of previews that’s bound to come our way over the next few months.
Skull and Bones will exclusively be available on Epic Game Store and Ubisoft Store on PC as well as on Stadia, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S with both cross-play and cross-progression support.
