Impressions from the Skull and Bones open beta: a great pirate ship game sunk from the ground up

I didn’t follow the development Skull and bones too tight over the years; I watched the pirate game show up at a show with a new trailer or demo and then fade back into the waves with delay after delay. When Ubisoft recently released the game to the public with an open beta, I was excited to see what the almost finished product would look like. I’ve been known to enjoy piracy, and Ubisoft has the incredible Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag At least in the back catalog.

The open beta weekend was a surprising experience because I didn’t realize that there was an entire MMO-style game in addition to the pirate ship combat. The MMO stuff isn’t great either; From displaying everyone’s gamertag over their ship to poorly implemented mechanics, it feels like the boat part of Skull and bones carries around a lot of extra mechanics as luggage.

Skull and bones begins with the player engaged in combat against a British fleet and piloting a respectable pirate galleon. Unfortunately for the privateers on board, the British bring overwhelming force and sink the ship with volleys of cannon fire. The player wakes up after being washed ashore and problems begin immediately with character creation.

Image: Ubisoft Singapore/Ubisoft

The player’s pirate looks at his reflection in a body of water, which shows his face and shoulders. This means that some of the character creation categories are a mystery. For example, I can change my body type to one of four options… but I can’t see my body. The same goes for tattoos. There are options that clearly add some sort of scar or ink to my pirate’s body, but I can’t see what they look like before I confirm. Even basic things like whether a hairstyle has a ponytail is a mystery. Character creation feels hacked along with incomplete tools; I select a starting face that only has three skin tones assigned to it, and then stumble through the rest of the options.

Things don’t get any easier when I board my new ship, which is much more humble than the mighty galleon from the tutorial. I make my way to a small island and get out. Movement in the countryside is slow and laborious, and the characters I meet don’t particularly captivate me. Some of them discuss how the captain of the last galleon died, and I’m led to believe that I’m just a random chatterbox who survived the carnage. Other people relate to Me as the last captain and despise me for our defeat. It’s narratively unclear who I am and what’s at stake, but I’m soon sent back to my boat to gather supplies.

Once I get all my quests from NPCs on land, I go back to my ship – there is no combat on land for me. I was surprised to see classic MMO quests Skull and bones – especially because the game lacks some of the failsafes that other developers have long since implemented. Let’s say I’m waiting to collect supplies from the sea when a more nimble ship arrives and takes them first. That spawn is now gone and I have to look for a new one. It’s a small inconvenience, but one that adds up, especially because it’s a solved problem in games like… World of Warcraft.

There’s a lot of crap in there Skull and bones That just feels bad, especially because it’s so great to be out on the open sea. This is a game where you are the captain and don’t get your hands dirty by cutting the sails or firing the cannons. Instead, there are people who care. I used the controller to play and felt like the conductor of an orchestra with every movement.

Image: Ubisoft Singapore/Ubisoft

There are no boarding actions, but otherwise I have access to a number of options in combat: cannons, ramming, evasion. This is not a tactical strategy and positioning game; It’s more like a shooter, but instead of a gun you have a boat. I focus on leveling the boat, enabling my crew’s automatic cannon fire, and avoiding my enemies’ ideal firing angle. If necessary, I will order the ship to launch a ramming maneuver toward my enemies. The reliance on positioning and dealing easily accessible damage is familiar to me, and the combat is forgiving – no trigonometry required to find the best approach angles.

If you are looking for one Master and CommanderSince the series of exciting ship battles takes place in the style of a chess game, you may be disappointed. If you like the fantasy of being captain of a pirate ship, with all the rough parts of the story carefully fleshed out, you’ll probably have a great time on the high seas.

There is also the world itself as a dramatic backdrop. Sailing into a storm feels appropriately dangerous and cinematic, with choppy waters causing the boat to rock up and down. If you fail to sail through stormy seas your ship will be damaged, and getting through a difficult situation made me feel like a skilled captain. There’s also a decent amount of ship customization, from the ship class to the cute companion that hangs around on my ship to keep the crew company.

It’s been a long journey through development for Skull and bones, and I feel like certain parts of the game – like the land-based movement and character creation – are less carefully crafted additions that are loosely based on the mechanics that work. It’s a journey through uneven waters, riddled with strange issues and inconsistent gameplay. But if the stars align and a great ship scenario occurs, I can see the vision of it Skull and bones. These glimpses were simply too rare for me to really enjoy my time in the open beta.