Trending
A decade or so ago, we witnessed a notable turn in the Assassin's Creed series when Ubisoft decided to show us something a little different with their sixth instalment, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, choosing the notorious pirate Edward Kenway as the main character, who, truth be told, was as much an assassin as I am a football player.
Numerous avid fans of the franchise quickly voiced their concerns that Assassin's Creed had deviated from its roots, complaining that it was no longer the familiar game they knew. Paradoxically, however, they later embraced and hailed it as one of the finest entries in the Assassin's Creed series. The reason behind this paradox can be attributed to the intriguing theme of pirates. Black Flag introduced naval gameplay that not only captivated but also won over the gaming community.
The overwhelming enthusiasm for the naval gameplay in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag led Ubisoft to embark on the development of an entirely new intellectual property named Skull and Bones. Drawing inspiration from the mechanics of Black Flag, Skull and Bones aimed for a distinct storyline and new characters to expand Ubisoft's portfolio of quality IPs. The game's creation spanned an entire decade, marked by numerous delays and shifts in the studios handling its development. Now that the final product is available, we invite you to read our review to determine if Skull and Bones lives up to expectations and whether the prolonged wait was justified.
Story
While there are numerous aspects in which Skull and Bones falters, the story stands out as a major letdown. I'd go so far as to label it almost non-existent, possessing such minimal relevance that it leaves no lasting impression whatsoever.
The core storyline bears a striking resemblance to that of Black Flag, featuring an assault on the ship your character is sailing on by the French. Following the shipwreck, you are presented with the opportunity to shape a character by mirroring it in a puddle after awakening on a deserted island.
Having created yet another nameless and mute character, you are joined by the survivors of your ship. Without any apparent reason, they appoint you captain. Subsequently, you locate a small boat and set sail for the notorious pirate port of Sainte-Anne, marking the beginning of your pirate adventure in which you aim to become a pirate kingpin.
After this point in the story, everything else that unfolds is utterly inconsequential and lacks any semblance of interest. You'll encounter numerous characters assigning mundane and unimaginative tasks, leaving you with such a lacklustre experience that you won't remember any of them or their respective assignments.
Skull and Bones attempts to convey its narrative through quests, akin to the style of a sandbox game. However, all these quests follow a repetitive pattern: go to a location, sink ships, attack a port, gather materials, and transport them elsewhere. The quests, even those labelled as main, lack the ability to captivate your interest, and the story fails to provide any compelling motivation to continue playing the game.
While Skull and Bones prioritises gameplay over a compelling story, it still represents a missed opportunity. The pirate backdrop offers vast potential for a captivating narrative, but the game falls short in this regard. The story in Skull and Bones isn't something that lingers in your memory post-game; rather, it fades away soon after completing the quests.
Gameplay: Build, upgrade, sail, pillage, repeat...
Despite being quite disappointing, and I express this sentiment with regret as I had high expectations for the game, it's essential to acknowledge the positive aspects. Skull and Bones deserves credit for its solid gameplay, particularly when it comes to naval battles.
When first engaged in the game, the combat might appear overly straightforward, and one could argue that, at first glance, it seems somewhat inferior to earlier Ubisoft games with a similar theme. However, upon delving deeper into its systems, one begins to appreciate how this apparent simplicity is, in fact, a significant advantage and an improvement over its predecessors.
Your ability to equip various types of cannons on the ships you control—available in three sizes: small, large, and medium—depends on the ship's size. These cannons can be installed on the left and right broadsides, as well as on the front and rear sides. The choice of which cannons to use is determined by the ship's position relative to the target, allowing for the use of broadside or cut-off cannons accordingly.
The combat in Skull and Bones is swift and highly gratifying. The effectiveness of your ship is determined by a dedicated ship level, separate from the main character's level. Having a higher or equivalent ship level ensures success in battles, whereas being under-levelled typically leads to a swift demise.
To level up your ship, you can construct offensive and defensive components acquired from specific vendors, along with special furniture providing buffs to specific statistics. Alongside these modifications, there are also visual or cosmetic alterations, which are, in a sense, a hallmark of these games, though we'll delve into that aspect later.
Constructing offensive and defensive components of ships involves gathering materials and acquiring blueprints, which can be purchased, looted, or obtained as rewards for completed quests. Beyond these upgrades, there are vendors specialising in crafting new ships, black market vendors, and various others. The build and upgrade systems are impeccably executed, with no discernible faults in this segment.
Notably, there is no notoriety system in the game, a commendable choice given the pirate theme. While engaged in combat, if factions you're avoiding notice you, or if you transport cargo attracting mercenaries, a temporary wanted level arises. However, this wanted level resets as soon as you escape from sight.
Speaking of factions, there are several diverse ones in the game, ranging from native tribes and French colonisers to other pirates and mercenaries. They coexist but are also in conflict with each other. Personally, I found the dynamics of this conflict and the overall structure of the game to be somewhat unclear.
Having commended one aspect of the gameplay, it's now time to criticise the second segment, which is a complete failure—the on-foot experience. The character you create isn't limited to steering the ship; you have full control and interaction with them. In my humble opinion, it might have been better if the developers had entirely removed this segment from the game rather than implemented it poorly.
I aim to minimise comparisons with Assassin's Creed in this review because they are distinct games. However, when you consider the range of actions you could perform with Edward in a game from a decade ago, it evokes a sense of remorse, questioning why the current game falls short in certain aspects.
The gameplay involving your character in Skull and Bones is remarkably restricted. Firstly, the character's movements are entirely unresponsive and peculiar. Secondly, don't anticipate any intricate traversal options, as the character is limited to walking and lacks the ability to swim—a rather odd characteristic for a pirate.
Fortunately, you won't endure too much on-foot gameplay, sparing you from the evident limitations. It seems the primary objective behind this concept was purely cosmetic. Despite your character lacking combat abilities such as wielding cutlasses or pistols, you do have the opportunity to dress them in top-notch pirate fashion.
This leads us to the central aspect of the gameplay, namely the renowned live service. While I personally have nothing against this system, there's a discernible sense that everything in Skull and Bones is tailored to this framework. It's worth noting, however, that Ubisoft has been equitable in this regard, emphasising that every piece of equipment for both the ship and the character is entirely optional and purely cosmetic.
Given this concept, the game boasts an abundance of cosmetic content, allowing players to showcase their character and ship builds in a visually striking manner.
Certainly, the game features a distinctive multiplayer system where direct competition with other players is not the focal point. Instead, other players coexist in the game, and sporadically, they can call upon you for assistance or vice versa. Cooperative gameplay is also possible, either with friends or by inviting other players you encounter while sailing.
In addition to the mentioned quests, there are a variety of activities available in the game. These include hunting aquatic animals, which requires small ships and spears, treasure maps, engaging in resource-gathering mini-games for various materials like wood and ore, participating in escort missions, looting ports, conquering forts, and many other diverse activities. Although it all seems very interesting on paper, in reality, it is all very boring and repetitive.
The map, following the style of other expansive Ubisoft games, is genuinely vast and segmented into four areas with varying difficulty levels. Moving between these areas to fulfil tasks can become somewhat tedious. Although there is a fast-travel system, it is not particularly well implemented for a game like Skull and Bones. Specifically, fast travel is limited to ports, and it requires the expenditure of in-game currency.
Although paying for fast travel is not a novel concept, its execution in Skull and Bones leaves much to be desired. For instance, within a single region, the cost of fast travel can amount to as much as 500 pieces of silver, while the reward for completing a mission is only 300. Opting for fast travel in both directions results in a significant loss, prompting players to prefer sailing despite the potentially exhausting distances. This serves as just one small illustration of how certain elements in this game aren't optimally executed.
The gameplay can be genuinely enjoyable, particularly when you set aside the main story and simply sail through the waters of the Indian Ocean, engaging in naval pirate warfare by attacking and looting everything in your path. However, the initial thrill wears off quickly, leaving behind a sense of repetitive and somewhat pointless gameplay that unfortunately becomes monotonous rather swiftly—at least that was my experience.
Graphics, Sounds, and Performance
Slowly but surely, we come to the segment of the game that undeniably serves as its strongest asset—the visual and sound presentation. The depiction of the Indian Ocean and the tropical islands, referred to as the East Indies at the time, is truly captivating and something to behold.
Certainly, we anticipated nothing less from Ubisoft, given their history of delivering visual masterpieces. Nevertheless, Skull and Bones stands out as a genuinely beautiful game, undoubtedly ranking among their most visually stunning creations to date.
The level of detail in every aspect, from the ships to the characters and the islands you can explore, is truly remarkable. This is particularly evident in the loading screen, where the intricacies of the ship's steering wheel design become apparent. Every costume, sail, and cosmetic accessory on both ships and characters is meticulously crafted, highlighting the game's attention to detail, which deserves acknowledgement and praise.
I want to specifically emphasise the appearance and physics of the water, which look mesmerisingly beautiful. Whether navigating through the shallows between islands or sailing in the open ocean, the water is simply stunning. The beauty of the water display is particularly pronounced during sea storms, where you can genuinely feel the power of the wild ocean beneath your fragile boat.
The effects of the wind hitting or against the sails of your ship are equally impressive. The visual representation effectively conveys the sensation of the wind's force, complemented by fantastic sound design that elevates the overall presentation to a top-tier level.
When it comes to sound, Ubisoft deserves considerable praise. Every aspect, from the sounds of cannon fire to the screams of your crew, the warnings of impending danger or opportunity, and even the crackling of wood and ropes on board, is well crafted.
Certainly, the inevitable sea shanties make their appearance in Skull and Bones, as is customary in pirate games. Many of the familiar shanties from Black Flag are retained, invoking a sense of nostalgia, and some from Assassin's Creed Odyssey are included along with a few new compositions. Sea shanties, a delightful pirate tradition, are seamlessly integrated into the gameplay experience, providing a fantastic distraction reminiscent of pirate life.
Regarding performance, my experience with the game was on the PlayStation 5, and as is customary, it offers two modes: performance and fidelity. Opting for the performance mode, the game both looks and runs fantastic. However, recurrent issues arise due to server-related problems. Periodically, in the midst of a mission, the game would unexpectedly eject me with a message stating that the host had kicked me out. While progress is not lost, these occurrences can be quite irritating.
In conclusion of this segment of the review, it is evident that if we solely evaluated Skull and Bones based on its graphics and sound, the game would undeniably stand as a true masterpiece. However, the game comprises numerous elements, and it's essential to recognise that excellence in one aspect alone does not make a game.
Conclusion
It deeply distresses me that a game with the potential to be a true masterpiece ultimately turned out to be a complete letdown. I won't say that Skull and Bones is outright garbage; it does offer moments of enjoyable gameplay and visual delight. However, the primary grievance with this game lies in its failure to deliver where it should have excelled: providing a compelling story and an immersive pirate experience.
If Skull and Bones focused solely on simulating naval battles in the age of pirates, neglecting the on-foot segment entirely, there could be a discussion about its quality. However, when a ten-year-old Assassin's Creed game proves to be a superior pirate experience compared to an actual pirate game, it raises questions about the true nature of the latter.
The Good
Stunning visuals, detailed ship designs, and beautiful water physics- Engaging naval battles
- Customization for ships and characters.
The Bad
Weak, almost inexistent story- Repetitive gameplay and quests
- Limited on-foot gameplay
- The luck of a true pirate experience
