The 10 BEST And WORST Things About Skull and Bones
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VOICE OVER: Ty Richardson
WRITTEN BY: Caitlin Johnson
"Skull and Bones" has a lot of ups and downs. Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're looking at the pros and cons of Ubisoft's long-awaited pirate game. Our list includes strong elements like its Performance and Naval Combat, as well as weak ones like its PvP and Lackluster Campaign.
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at the pros and cons of Ubisoft’s long-awaited pirate game.
This was true in the closed and open betas, and we thought that Ubisoft might be working on implementing a more complex character creator at launch. But that doesn’t appear to be the case. Whether it’s on Ubisoft’s radar for a future update is yet to be seen, but it’s severely lacking when you play the game now. There are very few customization options beyond skin tone, body type, hair color and style, with no sliders to fine-tune things. It’s true that character creators are a rare appearance in Ubisoft games generally, but in an RPG that’s all about freedom, it would be nice if things were a little deeper.
On PS5, Series X, and PC, “Skull and Bones” has been performing just as well as a new-gen game should. It’s got quality and performance modes and, in performance, runs at a very stable 60fps – at least in the early access and the betas. The crossplay also functions well and just requires you to add friends via Ubisoft Connect. It also hasn’t got too many bugs, though there has been a notorious glitch circulating where you get marked for death by the Helm, only for that to immediately expire and flood your screen with a dozen notifications for the same thing. It’s set to be one of Ubisoft’s most stable releases, although, that makes sense considering it’s been in development for SO long and changes so little from “Assassin’s Creed IV”.
This one might be contentious, because there’s every chance you’re one of the players who’s excited for the opt-in PvP in “Skull and Bones”. For a while, there were rumors that there would be separate servers for PvP and PvE, but that now doesn’t appear to be the case. The game is heavily weighted towards PvE, though there are a few modes that allow PvP. This is in stark contrast to “Sea of Thieves”, which does have a PvE-only mode, but that’s not the standard. The risk of being hunted down by your fellow pirates is what makes “Sea of Thieves” so fun, and that’s essentially gone in “Skull and Bones” when you can simply say, ‘No, thank you’ and never have to engage with PvP at all.
“Skull and Bones’” predecessors, “Black Flag” and “Rogue”, didn’t have too many customization options for the “Jackdaw” and the “Morrigan” respectively. There are some cosmetics, and even more for the “Adrestia” in “Odyssey”, but the ship customization in “Skull and Bones” is on another level. You can have pets, furniture, various pieces of décor, figureheads, decorations, flags, color schemes, and sail patterns, giving you the ability to really make the ship your own. Of course, though, all the BEST customization options are purchasable only with virtual currency. This time, it’s gold, and you can use it to buy cosmetics for your ship and your character. The only silver lining is that there aren’t any pay-to-win mechanics.
Yes, we know; in real life, most of the sea IS empty, and those empty stretches of open ocean with no land in sight are a key part of feeling like it’s you against the world. But “Skull and Bones” takes that to a new extreme, with vast sections of stormy sea that, currently, have nothing to do in them. On the other hand, “Black Flag” managed to have that sense of distance and scale without leaving you in the middle of the Caribbean with nothing to do. There were always islands and places to explore, not to mention plenty of ships to battle, which is also true for “Sea of Thieves”. On top of that, fast travel is tedious; it costs money and the fast travel outposts and cities aren’t exactly easy to find.
Because “Skull and Bones” is drawing from one of the best naval combat and traversal systems in any video game, the sailing is as fun as you’d expect – though, not SO fun that it counteracts the boredom of the empty ocean. You raise your sails to different levels to change speed and you need to contend with the wind speed and wind direction so that you don’t drift away and crash into rocks. Some of the weather mechanics from “Black Flag” have also made it over; namely, swelling seas and rogue waves. To avoid the rogue waves, you have to sail directly into them and brace, just like in “Black Flag” – though there’s no helpful mini-map here to make them easier to deal with.
There’s a very light story in the main quests you get from Scurlock, but it’s far from a true campaign. You’ll also eventually be able to join the Helm and start an industry creating and smuggling opium and pirate rum around the Indian Ocean, which is interesting, but also not a story. Sailing around with your friends is fun enough, but when you compare “Skull and Bones” directly with games that DO offer piracy gameplay with a full story – i.e., “Black Flag” – it definitely falls short. All this despite Yves Guillemot saying that “Skull and Bones” isn’t a triple-A game, it’s a “quadruple-A” game; yeah, SURE, a quadruple-A game with no story.
Something that might turn a lot of players off from “Skull and Bones’” biggest rival – which is, again, “Sea of Thieves” – is that game’s lack of progression between sessions. Plenty of things ARE saved, but in other ways, every time you jump back in, you’re starting from scratch. This, of course, keeps things fresh, but “Skull and Bones” is a game for those who want a more traditional, ARPG fare and want to level up and keep everything when they leave and come back. You keep all your resources, money, ships, cosmetics, and your level of infamy between sessions, meaning you’re always role-playing and working on your character.
We already knew this, but the lack of third-person gameplay is a big issue in “Skull and Bones”. Third-person is only used in the various outposts and the two HUBs, and all you can do is walk around and talk to quest givers and access your cache and vendors. Sometimes, you can find buried treasure with a map, but there’s no sword-fighting or third-person combat. Considering every other popular pirate game has swashbuckling, including the game “Skull and Bones” evolved from, this oversight is baffling. Hopefully, this is something that could one day be added in a large, future update, because it’s very easy to get tired of the seafaring and wish there was some more variety in the gameplay – especially for the price.
Ubisoft Singapore began life largely as a support studio for “Assassin’s Creed”, and its big contribution to the franchise was the naval combat in “Assassin’s Creed III”, which reached its apex in “Black Flag” and “Rogue”. So, it’s hardly surprising that the naval combat, “Skull and Bones’” bread and butter, is excellent. It’s faster than in “Assassin’s Creed”, your ships are more mobile, and you have way more options for creating loadouts and builds. Equipping different cannons will change the flow of battle and the role your ship plays, and you can craft and upgrade armor and other weapons to make the combat more personal and dynamic. If you LOVE the ship combat in “Black Flag”, you’ll probably have just as much fun in “Skull and Bones”.
Let us know in the comments what YOU think of “Skull and Bones” and whether it’s worth its hefty price tag.
Worst: Character Creator
This was true in the closed and open betas, and we thought that Ubisoft might be working on implementing a more complex character creator at launch. But that doesn’t appear to be the case. Whether it’s on Ubisoft’s radar for a future update is yet to be seen, but it’s severely lacking when you play the game now. There are very few customization options beyond skin tone, body type, hair color and style, with no sliders to fine-tune things. It’s true that character creators are a rare appearance in Ubisoft games generally, but in an RPG that’s all about freedom, it would be nice if things were a little deeper.
Best: Performance
On PS5, Series X, and PC, “Skull and Bones” has been performing just as well as a new-gen game should. It’s got quality and performance modes and, in performance, runs at a very stable 60fps – at least in the early access and the betas. The crossplay also functions well and just requires you to add friends via Ubisoft Connect. It also hasn’t got too many bugs, though there has been a notorious glitch circulating where you get marked for death by the Helm, only for that to immediately expire and flood your screen with a dozen notifications for the same thing. It’s set to be one of Ubisoft’s most stable releases, although, that makes sense considering it’s been in development for SO long and changes so little from “Assassin’s Creed IV”.
Worst: PvP
This one might be contentious, because there’s every chance you’re one of the players who’s excited for the opt-in PvP in “Skull and Bones”. For a while, there were rumors that there would be separate servers for PvP and PvE, but that now doesn’t appear to be the case. The game is heavily weighted towards PvE, though there are a few modes that allow PvP. This is in stark contrast to “Sea of Thieves”, which does have a PvE-only mode, but that’s not the standard. The risk of being hunted down by your fellow pirates is what makes “Sea of Thieves” so fun, and that’s essentially gone in “Skull and Bones” when you can simply say, ‘No, thank you’ and never have to engage with PvP at all.
Best: Ship Customization
“Skull and Bones’” predecessors, “Black Flag” and “Rogue”, didn’t have too many customization options for the “Jackdaw” and the “Morrigan” respectively. There are some cosmetics, and even more for the “Adrestia” in “Odyssey”, but the ship customization in “Skull and Bones” is on another level. You can have pets, furniture, various pieces of décor, figureheads, decorations, flags, color schemes, and sail patterns, giving you the ability to really make the ship your own. Of course, though, all the BEST customization options are purchasable only with virtual currency. This time, it’s gold, and you can use it to buy cosmetics for your ship and your character. The only silver lining is that there aren’t any pay-to-win mechanics.
Worst: Empty Map
Yes, we know; in real life, most of the sea IS empty, and those empty stretches of open ocean with no land in sight are a key part of feeling like it’s you against the world. But “Skull and Bones” takes that to a new extreme, with vast sections of stormy sea that, currently, have nothing to do in them. On the other hand, “Black Flag” managed to have that sense of distance and scale without leaving you in the middle of the Caribbean with nothing to do. There were always islands and places to explore, not to mention plenty of ships to battle, which is also true for “Sea of Thieves”. On top of that, fast travel is tedious; it costs money and the fast travel outposts and cities aren’t exactly easy to find.
Best: Sailing
Because “Skull and Bones” is drawing from one of the best naval combat and traversal systems in any video game, the sailing is as fun as you’d expect – though, not SO fun that it counteracts the boredom of the empty ocean. You raise your sails to different levels to change speed and you need to contend with the wind speed and wind direction so that you don’t drift away and crash into rocks. Some of the weather mechanics from “Black Flag” have also made it over; namely, swelling seas and rogue waves. To avoid the rogue waves, you have to sail directly into them and brace, just like in “Black Flag” – though there’s no helpful mini-map here to make them easier to deal with.
Worst: Lack of Campaign
There’s a very light story in the main quests you get from Scurlock, but it’s far from a true campaign. You’ll also eventually be able to join the Helm and start an industry creating and smuggling opium and pirate rum around the Indian Ocean, which is interesting, but also not a story. Sailing around with your friends is fun enough, but when you compare “Skull and Bones” directly with games that DO offer piracy gameplay with a full story – i.e., “Black Flag” – it definitely falls short. All this despite Yves Guillemot saying that “Skull and Bones” isn’t a triple-A game, it’s a “quadruple-A” game; yeah, SURE, a quadruple-A game with no story.
Best: Progression
Something that might turn a lot of players off from “Skull and Bones’” biggest rival – which is, again, “Sea of Thieves” – is that game’s lack of progression between sessions. Plenty of things ARE saved, but in other ways, every time you jump back in, you’re starting from scratch. This, of course, keeps things fresh, but “Skull and Bones” is a game for those who want a more traditional, ARPG fare and want to level up and keep everything when they leave and come back. You keep all your resources, money, ships, cosmetics, and your level of infamy between sessions, meaning you’re always role-playing and working on your character.
Worst: Lack of Swashbuckling
We already knew this, but the lack of third-person gameplay is a big issue in “Skull and Bones”. Third-person is only used in the various outposts and the two HUBs, and all you can do is walk around and talk to quest givers and access your cache and vendors. Sometimes, you can find buried treasure with a map, but there’s no sword-fighting or third-person combat. Considering every other popular pirate game has swashbuckling, including the game “Skull and Bones” evolved from, this oversight is baffling. Hopefully, this is something that could one day be added in a large, future update, because it’s very easy to get tired of the seafaring and wish there was some more variety in the gameplay – especially for the price.
Best: Naval Combat
Ubisoft Singapore began life largely as a support studio for “Assassin’s Creed”, and its big contribution to the franchise was the naval combat in “Assassin’s Creed III”, which reached its apex in “Black Flag” and “Rogue”. So, it’s hardly surprising that the naval combat, “Skull and Bones’” bread and butter, is excellent. It’s faster than in “Assassin’s Creed”, your ships are more mobile, and you have way more options for creating loadouts and builds. Equipping different cannons will change the flow of battle and the role your ship plays, and you can craft and upgrade armor and other weapons to make the combat more personal and dynamic. If you LOVE the ship combat in “Black Flag”, you’ll probably have just as much fun in “Skull and Bones”.
Let us know in the comments what YOU think of “Skull and Bones” and whether it’s worth its hefty price tag.
