Many video games with seemingly endless development cycles come out eventually, but titles likeDuke Nukem ForeverandFinal Fantasy 15have gone down in infamy due to their delays and public shifts in development. Ubisoft has a couple of these projects to its name, includingBeyond Good & Evil 2andAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which has existed for longer than most people realize. Sitting in between these two isSkull and Bones, a ship-sailing action game that started its life as a multiplayer expansion forAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. While that seems like a simple origin,Skull and Bones’ story quickly becomes more complicated.
Development for the game began in 2013, headed up by Ubisoft Singapore. This studio is known for working in a support role on multiple games, as well as having created thefree-to-play shooterGhost Recon Phantoms. As the game expanded in scope and budget,Skull and Bonesbecame Ubisoft Singapore’s largest project ever, but it lacked a clear creative vision. An expose released by Kotaku in 2021 delves into the seafaring title’s ongoing struggles, and apparently the core premise of the game has shifted so much that it changed genre several times.
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Skull and Bones was Presented as a Tactical Pirate MMO
Skull and Boneswent through a lot of prototypes that saw what was initially a simple live-service multiplayer mode turn into a fantastical adventure with a base-building element. What was eventually presented to the world at E3 2017 was a mostly grounded pirate adventure game with instanced multiplayer similar toRainbow Six: Siege.Assassin’s Creed 4was already lauded forexpanding onAC3’s naval explorationin fun ways, and the idea of a game focusing on just this mechanic caught players’ attention. By this point, Microsoft and Rare’s pirate simulatorSea of Thieveshad been known about for a few years, so it seemed the two games may be getting ready to compete.
Real-time tactical naval combat formed the core ofSkull and Bones, often taking place against enemy ships, but some larger sea creatures were also teased. A wide variety of vessels were available, supposedly ranging from a raft to larger ships such as sloops-of-war, frigates, and brigantines. There were also different weapons that have tactically distinct purposes, such as mortars, broadside cannons, and rockets, with boarding vessels also being an option. In addition to core third-person shooter combat, there was also an adventure element toSkull and Bonesthat saw players exploring the Indian Ocean for treasure. The E3 2018 showing ofSkull and Bonesalso included a mode similar toThe Division’s Dark Zones, in which multiple players had full freedom to loot, cooperate, and compete to their hearts’ content in a shared world.
Land-Based Survival and Crafting
All of that sounds like a well-defined game, but nothing was coming together behind the scenes, and the list of internal questions grew as creative staff rotated out. The biggest example was in 2019, at which point the seafaring direction shown at E3s prior was scrapped. Instead,Skull and Boneswas now emulatingsurvival games likeRustandArk: Survival Evolved. The old tenets of sailing, fighting, and looting were still present, but there would now also be resource management elements like crafting and trading. Harsher stakes were implemented for death, which added a roguelite portion to the growing pile of genres.
This direction was also scrapped, and the current state ofSkull and Bonesis unclear. Supposedly it could come out before March 2023, but it sounds like Ubisoft is taking another crack at the 2016 direction with added crafting elements. Neither fans nor developers seem to know what’s happening withSkull and Bones, but they will eventually if Ubisoft’s alleged deal with the Singaporean government to produce new IPs is accurate. In the meantime,pirate fans still haveSea of Thievesand other titles likeKingdom Hearts 3’sAssassin’s Creed-inspiredPirates of the Caribbeanworld.
Skull and Bonesis in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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