Announced at the Ubisoft E3 2017 conference, Skull & Bones is a game that will take players back to the golden age of piracy and allow them to take the helm of their own pirate ship. Skull & Bones was to be the second of two major pirate titles to headline E3 2017, the first being Rare's Sea of Thieves. But, although initially planned to release in 2018, Skull & Bones has been delayed multiple times, and now reports claim that Ubisoft has rebooted the titles to introduce live gameplay elements. So we've rounded up everything we know about Skull & Bones so far, including details about the reported game reboot.
Come to the point
- What is it? Ubisoft's pirate adventure that spills over into the highly rated naval gameplay of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
- What can I play in? PS4, Xbox One and PC (PS5 and Xbox Series X probably)
- When can I play April 2021 at the earliest
Skull & Bones release date
Skull & Bones Trailers
E3 2018 brought us a new gameplay trailer for Skull & Bones, showing how things will play out in the game's fierce hunting grounds. However, based on reports that the game has been rebooted, we don't know how much of this gameplay (or all of the gameplay shown in trailers to date) we'll actually see in the finished product. Skull and Bones received two trailers when it debuted at E3 2017, one cinematic and the other showing off multiplayer and PvP gameplay.News and rumors about Skull & Bones
We've rounded up all the biggest Skull & Bones news and rumors below for your perusal. It should be noted that previously confirmed news and features may now be redundant, given the game reboot reports (more on that below). Reset reportsIt's been a while since we've heard about Skull & Bones, as the game was largely absent from the Ubisoft Forward event on July 12. This is because the game has apparently undergone an internal reset. Reported by VGC, Skull & Bones "struggled to carve out a unique position among Ubisoft's existing portfolio of open-world games", which includes the likes of Assassin's Creed Black Flag, causing delays as Ubisoft Singapore attempted to refine the game's concept. The report says that Ubisoft decided to completely reboot the game in 2019, instead of moving to a "live" game model similar to Fortnite: the game world is constantly updated with new stories and missions. VGC's source says that the Skull & Bones reboot will put more emphasis on collaboration and competition.
Skull & Bones has yet to be released, but it has been announced that it is being adapted for television. In a report from the Hollywood Reporter, Ubisoft is said to be working with Atlas Entertainment on the project which will be "a female-led drama set on the lawless frontier of the Indian Ocean in the late golden age of piracy in the 1700s." ". For now that's all there is to know, there's no confirmed release date or casting to speak of, but it's certainly going to be a project to watch. E3 2018 Skull & Bones got a bit of time during the Ubisoft E3 presentation. In this game, we were told, there are no heroes. Skull and Bones will take players to the Indian Ocean because piracy is now dead in the Caribbean. Players will target coin-laden merchant ships in a shared open world. Your goal is to collect enough loot and coins to become a pirate that no empire can crush and bring down. The interaction of each player in the world will matter if you choose to fight or ally. The reactive and evolving world will apparently change thanks to something called Fortune and you will need to know the world to succeed. The fortunes of the game will reveal changes in factions, weather, and trade routes. If there are favorable winds, for example, you will have more traders to fly. But that means more competition. There will be both solo and multiplayer.
It has been confirmed that Skull and Bones will have both solo and multiplayer elements. However, information on what form the solo mode will take is pretty scant at the moment because Ubisoft focused primarily on multiplayer during its E3 presentation. On the game's main website, we know that it will involve starting at the bottom as a budding pirate captain with a ship. From there you will sail to the Indian Ocean, attacking merchant ships, taking out rival pirate captains and avoiding pirate hunters. Successful robberies will mean more wealth and reputation. However, power comes at a price, and as your reputation and wealth increase, you will naturally become a target for other pirates. It is at this point in the game that it can become somewhat dangerous to sail alone and you will have to start developing a fleet of ships, as well as making and breaking alliances with other pirate captains. Multiplayer will be made up of a few different modes. The one that has gotten the most attention so far (and the one we've been lucky enough to play for ourselves) is Loot Hunt. This will pit two teams of five players against each other, with each player controlling their own ship. The object of the game is to be the team that collects the most loot, eliminating the opposing team's ships if necessary. However, winning this section is a poisoned chalice, because at the end of the mode, the pirate hunters will seem to take out the team that managed to get the most loot. The objective of the game will change and it will be up to the team to refine in a certain period of time. Only those who manage to escape the area in the allotted time will have their collection of treasure counted, so it's important to bring out your most heavily laden ships to win, even if it means sacrificing yourself. Voice chat is quite important in this multiplayer mode, because getting the most treasure will involve splitting up and moving around the map while coordinating your moves. Miscommunication will make things difficult, as we found out with our own demo team.
Inspired by traditional RPG games, Skull & Bones will have different classes of ships and you can choose the one that best suits your play style. Players will have access to many different types of ships through the game and according to a video Ubisoft official, they can switch between them during the game to take advantage of their various capabilities and strengths. Different ships will offer different tactical advantages, from large but bulky frigates, to faster and more maneuverable brigs, to long-range war bullets. We imagine the option to switch between ships will only appear once you've started building a fleet of rags, rather than being an option from the start. However, this remains to be confirmed. It will also be possible to customize your boats; Ubisoft has confirmed that players will be able to choose their faction flags, colors, and emblems. There will be realistic tactics and gameplay
As with true pirates who sail the seas and those who have played Assassin's Creed Black Flag, the wind will be a key part of Skull & Bones. Players will need to use wind and positioning to their advantage. Wind can be used offensively or defensively, but it will be a key part of the game whether you choose to fight or flee. There are actually a lot of different things that players will have to juggle. In addition to controlling weapons, observing their surroundings, and being aware of the direction and speed of the wind, players will be able to climb into their crow's nest for a wider field of view. Of course, this will put them out of action for a while, but it will be the key to spotting pirate hunters.
While players will be able to play against each other, they will all face off against pirate hunters in additional PvE gameplay. These AI ships will be there to take you down on behalf of the powers that be, and it is very difficult to take them down yourself. Your best bet with these fleets is to use the wind and escape, or make sure you have the support you need. In an interview with GameSpot, creative director Justin Farren said that these elements would intertwine and all tell the story of the game: "We wanted to create a system that would allow us to tell our story month after month, year after year, and then add the elements to it. So if you're a PVP player, you should always feel like beating the campaign If you're a PVE player, or like me, I plan a lot to sail with my daughter, I want us to be able to go through the story and become pivots together, and to be able to tell the same story of the world through those that we are building." continuous play online
It was revealed in an "everything you need to know" video posted by Ubisoft at E3 that Skull & Bones, like Sea of Thieves, will be a continuous online service game set in a shared open world. Players will be the star of their own game and are expected to create their own story in this open world. Over time, new stations, new ships, new weapons, new items, new locations, and new game modes will be introduced. We imagine there will also be active and random events in the game, given that the end of the Skull & Bones cinematic trailer sparked what appeared to be a Kraken. Loot boxes are not confirmed
In an interview with GameSpot shortly after the game was revealed in 2017, creative developer Justin Farren was unable to confirm whether or not loot boxes will appear in the game. didn't want to create a pay-to-win model, Farren said that in-game purchases of cosmetics and toiletries could appear. This is the most likely route that many games have recently stopped.