Skull and Bones: Naval combat is the focus, story is secondary

After a long silence about Ubisoft’s pirate game Skull and Bones, the publisher has finally revealed a final release date for the title. In addition, Game Director Ryan Barnard shared a number of details about the gameplay focus of the game and the role story played in the development of Skull and Bones.

Infamy system is the focus of game progression

First things first: Skull and Bones (buy now ) will be released for PC, Xbox Series X/S and Playstation 5 on November 08, 2022. Barnard explained in an interview with the editors of Trueachievements that a release for the current-gen consoles is the most important thing considering the plans for the future of the game made sense. Fans can purchase the game in standard and premium editions, with the premium version including a digital artbook, the game’s soundtrack, and two additional missions.

Speaking of missions, how is Skull and Bones gameplay? Barnard also gave detailed information about this and emphasized that Skull and Bones is not a story-driven game. Rather, the focus is on the freedom of the player, the sea battles and the exploration of the game world:
“We have narrative elements – in the game you meet important NPCs, called kingpins, who have their own stories, which you learn when you develop a relationship with them by making contracts with them. There is also an underlying story, on We’re building all the lore of the game world, but that’s not the main focus. We want players to create their own stories and choose what kind of pirate they want to be.”

Instead, what drives progression in the game, according to Barnard, is the dishonor system: We increase our dishonor by accepting contracts from merchants, factions, and kingpins in the game world. On top of that, we unlock new content such as ship blueprints, build new, better ships, and equip them with weapons and upgrades.

Each ship has its own strengths and weaknesses, so players must choose the best ship for each activity in the game. In addition, each ship has its own crew, which can also mutiny if they are dissatisfied. Dynamic weather and wild animals become just as dangerous at sea as normal enemies. On land we can collect and process resources, interact with NPCs, manage our storage and customize our ship.

So there’s plenty to do when Skull and Bones launches on November 8th, 2022 for next-gen consoles and PC. Fans of sea battles from Assassin’s Creed Black Flag can definitely look forward to an interesting pirate adventure that wants to score with an extensive game world and dynamic events.

Source: true achievements