PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Set on the seas of 17th century Africa at the height of maritime piracy, Skull and Bones casts players as the survivor of a shipwreck, marooned on an island in the middle of nowhere. After reaching the “pirate paradise” of Sainte-Anne during the opening prologue, and meeting Bee Gees lookalike Captain Scurlock who takes you under his wing, your sole objective is now to increase your notoriety and influence within the pirate world by any means necessary.
Along your journey to infamy, you’ll follow the game’s main story quests while taking on countless other missions from NPCs and notice boards. Completing contracts rewards you with silver (the game’s main currency) and usually a handful of other items that can either be traded with merchants or used to craft something more useful like new ships or weapons to install on your fleet. Ships are very much the game’s main focus – your human avatar can’t be improved in any way at all, apart from changing their clothes, so all of your efforts will be concentrated on improving your vessel.
There are nine classes of ship available, each with unique stats and specialisms, making some more suitable for certain situations than others. Adding furniture to the ship’s deck alters the effects that your attacks can inflict on enemy ships, and there are around a dozen different types of weapons that can be installed from standard cannons to the more exotic torpedoes, rockets, and a flamethrower. There’s a constant need to build new ships and create new weapons, armour and other add-ons in order to reach the level requirements of later missions in the campaign, and this can take a heck of a long time – first you’ll need to locate the blueprints, which in true open-world fashion can be found at settlements all across the ocean, then gather the relevant materials and resources before heading to the shipwright and blacksmith to build your chosen equipment (which, in contrast to the time it takes to gather all of the necessary resources, is done with a few quick button presses). A ship’s level is dictated by the equipment installed on it, and taking on high-level ships with a low-level boat is nigh-on impossible, so the hunt for blueprints and materials to improve your chances is likely to take up a huge chunk of your time.
Sailing the high seas is very pleasant indeed, with plenty of stunning scenery as the clear blue ocean stretches all the way to the horizon and verdant islands loom into view. One of Skull and Bones‘ most contentious issues, though, is that it doesn’t give you a whole lot to do while you’re travelling between settlements. Some journeys can take 15-20 minutes or more, and apart from pressing the action button to collect some flotsam from the water or harvest some materials from a nearby shoreline, it’s not unusual to do very little other than steering left and right to keep your ship on course. Leaving your ship is limited to specific landing spots, which are mostly small settlements consisting of a couple of vendors and the odd bit of treasure here and there, and curiously it isn’t possible to steal ships while you’re at sea, so if you were hoping to treat Skull and Bones as GTA-on-water then you might be out of luck (there is, however, a notoriety meter that builds as you attack enemy ships, bringing reinforcements to chase you down, but that’s about as close as it gets).
The game’s big selling point – naval combat – takes its cues from the well-received seafaring combat in 2013’s Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag (Skull and Bones began life as a Black Flag expansion all the way back in that very same year). You’re able to use up to five different weapons simply by swinging the camera around and aiming from different sides of your ship, and various status effects can be inflicted upon your enemies depending on which weapons you use and which parts of the enemy’s ship you attack. Battles can get extremely frantic, especially when faced with multiple enemies on the choppy waves of a heavy storm, and often feel exhilarating when you finally achieve victory, with enemy ships exploding in huge balls of fire and smoke as they slowly sink under the surface. Like Black Flag, it’s also possible to board an enemy ship to gain additional rewards for winning the fight, but Skull and Bones disappointingly removes the on-deck swashbuckling (there’s no hand-to-hand sword fighting or any other combat in the game at all) and reduces it to a quick cutscene.
Playing solo, you’ll see other players dotted around the place, sometimes coming to your aid during battles if they’re feeling helpful. Grouping up with others can be useful for fending off an attack by multiple enemy ships, but it isn’t necessary – the whole game is manageable solo, if that’s the way you’d prefer to play. The multiplayer aspect only really comes to the fore during sporadic “world events”, where many players are required to take down powerful vessels, although there’s also a PvP area where players can battle against each other.
Skull and Bones is a bit of an odd proposition. Its visuals are stunning and the naval combat is solid, but it feels like a step down from the eleven-year-old game that inspired it. There’s no shortage of quests to take part in, but unfortunately this is where the game really falters. There are bounties that require you to blow up a rival ship, “plunder” missions that involve extended battles against a few waves of enemies, and a black market that allows you to make and distribute illicit goods, but there’s very little variety beyond “go here and attack or collect something” and the lengthy uneventful journeys can make things feel quite underwhelming. If you’re keen to go on a fairly chilled solo adventure that allows you to grind away for hours and hours, you’ll certainly have plenty of fun, but those looking for an engaging single player campaign or engrossing multiplayer aspect might not be quite so enthused.
