Skull and Bones is Ubisoft’s latest offering. A company which, with its ups and downs, has always shown confidence in its projects. And this game from Ubisoft Singapore is a good example, since it delayed its launch until the specified time. A tortuous path, since it was first announced in 2018 and many saw it as a “Sea of Thieves Killer”. But, ironically, in its first week, it failed to surpass the sales of the Rare game and barely exceeded one million active players.
But we are not here to talk about its performance in terms of sales or active and simultaneous players, but to tell you what we thought of this pirate life proposition that Ubisoft is recreating. An ambitious game that, although it has good elements and foundations, fails in several parts of its ship. It remains a bit in no man’s land, between two waters as the song of the Héroes del Silencio would say.
A game which has a great advantage in its premise: representing the life of pirates at the end of the 17th century. We will be the captains of our own ship, we will have adventures and we will obtain glory, honor and gold. A game more focused on the more human aspects, leaving fantasy behind like Sea of Thieves, but not without fantasy elements. It is not in vain that we have the opportunity to capture and fight mythological and giant creatures, but the most normal enemies are, like us, humans.
But we immediately put the first negative point: his story is not as such. Yes, there is a very light narrative at the beginning of the game, where we see the conflict between factions, pirates and empires, but it feels more like a tutorial to learn how to steer your ship and what you can do than to a story as such. The characters don’t engage, you don’t sympathize with them, and you don’t build tension. It’s just NPCs giving you contracts and gear, with a slight background of these faction clashes. Beyond that, we just find a common thread towards the end of the game, the real game. And, Ubisoft being, whatever it is, a creator of good stories, it is somewhat disappointing.
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Technical section
In the technical section we find one of lime and another of sand. On the one hand, Ubisoft once again creates an open world full of details and idyllic settings, demonstrating that creating stunning settings is their thing. Yes, we don’t have a big representation like in Assassin’s Creed Origins with Egypt or Mirage’s Baghdad, but we do have a large sea map with various islands to see.
All this, as well as the ships, have a good technical level, and even the NPCs which, although generic, have a good design. This, yes, His expressions and movements give a robotic impression something I haven’t seen in a big budget game in a long time.
As for the technical part, this is where we encountered the most problems. Above all, a series of bugs which, even if they are not catastrophic, interrupt your games. The blocking, the characters you have to talk to but don’t, the endless warning messages when there is no danger… All this was solved by closing the game and starting again. Deadly? No, but it is tedious and takes a lot of time.
Otherwise, Skull and Bones is a beautiful game and it works well, but it doesn’t live up to what one might expect from a game that’s only coming to next-gen consoles and PC. Recall that it was initially announced for Xbox One and PS4 and that, ultimately, these versions were canceled. Our feeling, however, is that the game could run just fine on these consoles.
Gameplay
In its playable aspect we find, once again, contradictory sensations. On the one hand, Skull and Bones does things really well and even innovates on several of them. On the other hand, it leaves us with a feeling of recycling and half-measures that we haven’t seen for a long time.
Starting with the worst, Missions and their design end up being somewhat repetitive. The tasks in the brief story and what we can do in the endgame are very similar and eventually become a little tiring. Beyond attacking ships or seeking out a type of enemy ship and sinking it, we found little variety. Even the great sea creature hunts, of which there is currently only one, offer no variety.
Additionally, although the game is primarily focused on the sea, We can go ashore. Does that bring anything? Really very little and the gameplay is very approximate. It’s almost as if it’s a discovery tour of one of the latest Assassin’s Creeds, where we can only walk around and interact with certain objects and the NPC merchants who will offer us their resources.
Another point where I’m walking on a fine line This is the system for obtaining resources. Yes, we get most of it from our battles against other ships (machines or players), but the vast majority can be obtained on the islands we visit. And this will consist of a very simple mini-game and more typical of survival games than of large MMO productions.
Last but not least, a big lack is undoubtedly the boarding system. Or rather its absence. In a pirate game like this This shouldn’t just be a cutscene that you can activate when you’ve reduced the enemy’s life some %. Especially when Ubisoft has already done something very good in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. But there’s nothing left of it, and like I said, it’s just one cutscene. Because yes, combat in Skull and Bones is limited only to ships, there is no melee combat.
What is my vessel, my treasure
But this fight is rather well done, with an aiming system more typical of shooters, but which works well. With a button we aim and, depending on which side we look at, the cannons in that sector will fire. Simple, but effective and complete, because we have different options to configure our attack. Because one of its points is the customization of our own boat. From the type of ship (we have over a dozen to choose from) to the cannons we equip, to all sorts of cosmetic items like sails, figureheads, crew, etc. So we can adjust different types of cannons that do more damage, have more range, or are great for piercing figureheads.
In addition, we can buy them from merchants at different posts, for example by collecting them as loot after defeating an enemy ship or by boarding one. And in the relationship with trading posts, this is where UBisoft Singapore makes a good argument in its favor: one can choose how to interact with them. We can enter as another ship and negotiate with each merchant or we can choose to attack it, after which a raid will begin in which we will have to defeat the defensive positions of the post and the ships that arrive as reinforcements. If we succeed, we will get some good loot.
In addition, depending on the type of boat and our expertise, It will be essential to adjust the sails, take advantage of the boat’s steering and achieve greater speed or maneuverability. Key elements of a pirate game which, although they have been simplified in Skull and Bones (with two buttons we manage all the actions of the sails) work well and are not complicated. Because unlike other games, here we manage everything: sails, steering, aiming and shooting, repair… Everything is designed to be accessible and easy to learn, but difficult to master.
Duration
Talking about the duration of a game designed as a service is always complicated. I already mentioned it in my analysis of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but at that time I could give a temporal estimate of its story. Here, as I have already mentioned, this is trivial and it is easy to put it aside to explore the open sea.
Sure, it has some unique and pretty good aspects. For example, the Command, where we will have to create our own commercial network to get reals in eight. Plus, it has hundreds of areas to explore and visit, loot and steal, destroy and sink. And while we miss things like shipwrecks, there’s no shortage of activities.
With all that, Skull and Bones is a game designed to be enjoyed for dozens of hours throughout the months. Additionally, Ubisoft has an ambitious seasonal plan in mind that will add new content, such as legendary pirates to defeat, and which could include new activities and new contracts. Contracts which, at the moment and as I mentioned previously, end up being somewhat repetitive.
conclusion
Skull and Bones had a tortuous development and at many times it seemed like it would never happen and would remain in the forgotten games drawer. However, Ubisoft did everything to make this happen, although it should be noted that in its decisions there were cuts that removed certain features.
For example, when we are not on our ship and walking on land, the gameplay is too simple, almost optionless and limited, there is not even combat. This directly influences the fact that we have no approaches and that they are only kinematic. Also, in the graphics section, although good, it does not stand out either.
But not everything is bad in Skull and Bones. It has a good playable base, focused on the ship, which we can customize in many aspects. A ship which, to begin with, we have ten different types to choose from, with different lengths, load and gun capacities, resistance and strengths.
With all this, it fails to surpass its inspiration, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, and falls well short of what one might expect. Of course, as a game as a service, it could be redeemed in a few months or years. The advantage of this style of play is that with work and attention they can take it out and improve it over time. Maybe Skull and Bones will be the new No Man’s Sky and in a few years we’ll be talking about a great game.
Today, that’s what we value, it’s a good game that does several things well and consistently. A good playable base, centered on the sea and our ship, which gives us a different proposition within MMOs and GaaS to which we can devote dozens of hours.
*Thanks to Ubisoft for providing us with the materials necessary for the review.
Javier Gutierrez Bassols
Benefits:
- Naval battles.
- The possibilities with commercial ports.
- Customization of the boat.
Against :
- Technical errors and bugs that force you to close the game.
- No hand-to-hand combat or boarding.
- Monotonous missions.
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