Video game development times have been increasing in recent years, making new stories, characters and franchises increasingly difficult to see on the horizon, especially when they are large productions. Being in this long process or entering Development Hell, that moment when a project seems to just not move forward, can become increasingly difficult to distinguish, especially if said product is announced well in advance. This is the case of Skull & Bonesa title whose development began after the resounding success of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and its impressive use of ships that conquered the Caribbean and that since 2014 promised to bring an expanded experience of this mechanic in a totally new franchise. After several delays, generational leaps and the support of almost all of Ubisoft, it has finally arrived, but is it the game we expected?
From shipwrecked to pirate
Skull & Bones is a massively multiplayer game where you create and control your character, who after being shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean after an attack by an English fleet, manages to make his way with a wooden raft to the island of Saint Anne to begin his path to becoming a complete pirate. The open world is impressive, since it is a very wide sea, with a multitude of islands, tasks and missions to complete.
As such, Skull & Bones It is divided into two parts, the first being controlling your character, which really takes place before starting any mission, buying resources, or making some improvements, interacting with other players and NPCs, or exploring some of the points on the islands. . On the other hand, and where most of the gameplay of the game takes place will be on our ship, which could be said to be the true protagonist of the game, with which we will sail the seas, attack other ships, and explore a large part of this world. This is where the first disagreements begin.
The world as such is impressive. With Ubisoft Using a large number of studios to support this title, it is surprising the level of detail that the sea, the islands, the ships and many of the visual aspects of the game have. As such, it is a world that despite multiple years of development always sought to look pretty good and boy does it deliver. The stage is set, but what will happen to its structure?
Without a doubt, the structure of the game is one of the most shaky parts of Skull & Bones, and it’s not that it’s something terrible, but they simply show their age. Progress has that feeling of reward when you see that you have obtained your resources to assemble your own ship, or its cannons, or any of the different extras that your ship can have and that depend on one. Of course, this is after a long grinding process obtaining resources in a series of mini-games that, beyond going with the realism that the game seeks to provide, makes everything feel like a fairly simple mechanic. Added to this are the different missions that the game offers. On the one hand, there are some that are fun, there is combat, there is excitement, or it is simply trying again but first going for the resources that you lost in a previous combat. But on the other hand, there are missions that feel repetitive and are missing that bit of a random event or detail that makes the difference.
Another important element, and more so in this type of games, is the ship. On the one hand, it feels good to be able to improve your ship on your own. Making an improvement is very satisfying, however, there are elements that make the gaming experience not feel as good. The way you drive the vehicle is almost like an arcade experience. You lower the sails in parts to increase its speed, but you raise sails to stop the boat just as if you were putting on a handbrake, completely eliminating elements such as inertia, or even the wind itself that pushes your boat. On the other hand, your crew, moving and taking care of these sails, gets tired, making it seem more like your boat is the one that gets tired, sometimes leading to you having to slow down.
Fortunately, the combat is fun, and the mechanic for capturing an enemy ship is extremely fun. On the other hand, there is the cosmetics part to decorate your ship. Although the game offers a lot to decorate, little is left in the free part, there is a large part that can be obtained with in-game coins (although it will take a long time for that to happen) and on the other hand, there is premium content which is purchased with real money. These decorations range from the color of your ship, the design of the sails, the figurehead, to the clothing of your crew.
To this we must add the progress mechanics. First we have Infamy, which is your progress as a pirate, which allows us to unlock new improvement plans, essential to continue growing. This level increases as we advance in the game and carry out these acts of… infamy, such as looting fortresses or sinking ships. On the other hand, there is the level of the boat, which grows depending on the type of equipment that we add or improve. Better cannons, or even adding some type of bow defense will increase its level.
Skull & Bones is a title that, although visually impressive, is late to take a slice of the games-as-a-service pie. The game promises a lot, Ubisoft has shown us that with its great games as a service there is hope (let’s see the case of Rainbow Six Siegeeither For Honor) while it has been easier for the little ones to disconnect. A polishing of the mechanics, continuing to receive content and even a reduction in the entry price could save this ship. At the beginning of the year where AA titles have had greater weight and have made it clear that it is more about gameplay and fun than a huge production, perhaps the future of AAAA what his name was CEO Yves Guillemotis not on such a good path.
