Ubisoft Announces Skull and Bones, a new Pirate Game

[Armada]

At their E3 press conference earlier today, Ubisoft announced a new pirate game titled Skull and Bones. The game is being developed by Ubisoft Singapore, the studio behind the naval systems in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, which seems to have been a major influence on the design of Skull and Bones. It takes place in the Indian Ocean in 1721, where you take command of your own ship and can sail around an open, connected world by yourself or as part of a "gang" of pirates with other players, fighting and looting other ships as you go.

A preview of multiplayer gameplay was shown at the conference, which you can watch below:

Here's a behind-the-scenes video from the development team explaining more about the game:

The game is scheduled to launch in late 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
You can find out more about it here: Skull and Bones

It looks like Ubisoft finally heard the fans' cries for a dedicated pirate game. What do you think of Skull and Bones?

 

[superkid]

I dont know... too much black flag and although i loved that game i'd like something a bit less arcade-y
Or something along the lines of potc/coas with a newer engine.
Cause i get the feeling it will be quite swallow in terms of trading, relations, quests etc...

 

[Merciless Mark]

Well to be fair, more realistic sailing games are rather "niche" and I imagine something like this would have a lot more "mass appeal", which is what a big company like Ubisoft is all about.
I do believe they mentioned that wind and positioning play a much more important role than it did in Black Flag, and I also saw some screen grabs from the video presentation that seemed to indicate they are simulating currents too.
One reviewer from E3 mentioned speeds of 10kts with the wind at his back, with only 2-3kts speed trying to sail directly into it, and he talked about some frustration trying to regroup with his team because of it.
Sounds quite promising to me all in all, and hopefully they will strike a fun balance of arcade and realism.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Well to be fair, more realistic sailing games are rather "niche" and I imagine something like this would have a lot more "mass appeal", which is what a big company like Ubisoft is all about.
I do believe they mentioned that wind and positioning play a much more important role than it did in Black Flag, and I also saw some screen grabs from the video presentation that seemed to indicate they are simulating currents too.
One reviewer from E3 mentioned speeds of 10kts with the wind at his back, with only 2-3kts speed trying to sail directly into it, and he talked about some frustration trying to regroup with his team because of it.
Sounds quite promising to me all in all, and hopefully they will strike a fun balance of arcade and realism.

We did a similar test with our last build of Tides of War and you would have thought we were drowning puppies with all of the backlash against that kind of playstyle.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

We did a similar test with our last build of Tides of War and you would have thought we were drowning puppies with all of the backlash against that kind of playstyle.

You're saying that "realistic equals drowning puppies" or that "arcade equals drowning puppies"? You lost me a bit there...
If it is the latter, perhaps you failed to inform the "arcade audience" that they should try your game.

 

[Captain Murphy]

We originally had it fully realistic with the different riggings only able to sail around 1-2 points into the wind better than the real world models. When we moved to an arcadish style where going into the wind had tiny headway it was met with pretty heavy resistance. Even though the battles became much more intense and fun, it was sacrilege!

The problem is it was too real for arcade players, and too arcade for real players. So it seemed to be shunned by both sections, unfortunately.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

We originally had it fully realistic with the different riggings only able to sail around 1-2 points into the wind better than the real world models. When we moved to an arcadish style where going into the wind had tiny headway it was met with pretty heavy resistance. Even though the battles became much more intense and fun, it was sacrilege!

The problem is it was too real for arcade players, and too arcade for real players. So it seemed to be shunned by both sections, unfortunately.

Maybe you can take a leaf out of New Horizon's book and have different levels of realism?
One being full-blown arcade, one image realism and a third in between.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Maybe you can take a leaf out of New Horizon's book and have different levels of realism?
One being full-blown arcade, one image realism and a third in between.

Unfortunately, that would introduce a ton of confusion for players joining games unless it was made very clear well before the game started. It also would divide the player base into separate groups for 'real' vs 'arcade' play that we were trying to avoid. As it stands the whole point is moot as Tides of War is getting fully rewrite to the new code base, so the new system has not been fully ironed out yet.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Unfortunately, that would introduce a ton of confusion for players joining games unless it was made very clear well before the game started. It also would divide the player base into separate groups for 'real' vs 'arcade' play that we were trying to avoid. As it stands the whole point is moot as Tides of War is getting fully rewrite to the new code base, so the new system has not been fully ironed out yet.

Ah yes, multiplayer doesn't make that any simpler.
You'd indeed end up with three different groups, though I imagine people could swap groups whenever they want.
I do still think it might be a great way of educating people; to show that the higher realism levels aren't necessarily less fun.

 

[Homo eructus]

There's so much wrong with the ship designs that I can't take it seriously (again with the stupid ugly rams!). What good does graphical fidelity do when potc ship models still look more like actual ships? I only wish Ubisoft would put the same amount of detail and documentation effort in the ships as they do when they recreate a city..

 

[pirateking]

Oh cool. I hobe it will also be single Player Game?

On me New Homepage I will make a extra Club Thread.

 

[Carl]

Speedboats with sails? And a ram? I don´t know, I prefer games with at least a minimum of realistic gameplay. A minimum...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Speedboats with sails? And a ram? I don´t know, I prefer games with at least a minimum of realistic gameplay. A minimum...

Didn't watch the video yet. Is it that again?
If so, it really is AC4 all over.

 

[Carl]

It´s unbelievable... The ships are really like speed boats, so this is definately no game for me. I´ll stay with PotC and Sea Dogs.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Didn't watch the video yet. Is it that again?
If so, it really is AC4 all over.

Actually it IS AC4. The ships are literally the same models with different paint and some different rigging setups. They just networked it so you could have battles with a few friends with no relation to real wind direction or speed.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Actually it IS AC4. The ships are literally the same models with different paint and some different rigging setups. They just networked it so you could have battles with a few friends with no relation to real wind direction or speed.

Oh, is that all it is? I thought it was a new game.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Well if anyone wants to play some more realistic battles we can throw together some MP battles in Tides of War. Just let us know when you want to play and we can usually be available.

 

[TommyM]

The game looks absolutely amazing so far, wish there was a campaign though.

 

[Dat Scharger]

Another MP-pirate game, interest faded away instantly.

 

[TommyM]

For those who plan on playing the game we should form a group once the game is out.
Should be really fun playing together been wait for such a game for awhile now.