Skull and Bones is slated to release in either late 2022 or early 2023, and the multiple delays and lack of announcements mean that the game has fallen under the radar for most gamers. The recent Skull and Bones gameplay leak, however, prompted developers, Ubisoft Singapore, to announce that new footage and news about the game will release soon. However, the gameplay leak shows a game with a lack of depth and world exploration elements, two things that made series like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry so popular. The biggest disappointment, however, is just how much inspiration the game took from Black Flag since the naval gameplay looks like an exact copy.
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Skull and Bones’ Naval Gameplay
There are a few areas of the naval gameplay in Skull and Bones that have not been taken from Black Flag. Unfortunately, when the changes come in the form of a new minimap and more ship customization options, it is hard to say that the two games do not look alike. Black Flag had great naval gameplay, some of the best that has ever been seen, but following the announcement of Skull and Bones, many fans hoped that the developers would add in features to help the game stand on its own.
Skull and Bones is a pirate adventure game, which means that naval gameplay will be a majority of what the player would experience. Still, Black Flag came out eight years ago, and the fact that there are minimal changes to the gameplay shows fans that the game was not given the attention it deserved. Furthermore, the gameplay leak shows an alpha test version of the game, and while this is not the final version of the game, there are unlikely to be a lot of changes to the core gameplay. Without any meaningful improvements or additions, Skull and Bones will have a hard time getting out of Black Flag’s shadow.
Black Flag’s Naval Gameplay Will Not Help Skull and Bones
Black Flag opened the potential of naval-combat-focused games and served as an inspiration for many games that followed, such as Sea of Thieves, which thrived under a naval-focused multiplayer platform. Unlike Sea of Thieves, however, Skull and Bones is more of an imitation of Black Flag, which is a major problem since there seems to be no form of gameplay outside the ship. From the gameplay leak, it seems all resource gathering and island exploration will be done automatically by the crew, which completely ruins the depth of gameplay and could make it feel more like a mobile game than a AAA title.
Skull and Bones is that it is set up as a multiplayer game where players will team up or compete for greater loot and ship upgrades. As a multiplayer pirate adventure game, Skull and Bones is set to compete against games like Sea of Thieves, but the obvious similarities to Black Flag, the omission of off-ship gameplay, and the fact that the game has experienced years of delays could have already doomed Skull and Bones. Many fans are now suspicious of anything that comes out following years of delays after releases like Cyberpunk 2077, and if Ubisoft cannot attract a player base, the online pirate game’s PvP elements will not work.
Ubisoft is in a peculiar position since Skull and Bones could become a long-standing series, especially with many thinking that Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry have now grown stale and repetitive. However, for Skull and Bones to be Ubisoft’s next big success, it would still need to show more character and individualism than the gameplay leak revealed. The lack of features and the numerous delays could have significantly decreased the player base for Skull and Bones, but only time will tell if Ubisoft is able to release a product that will satisfy the fans eagerly awaiting the upcoming game.
Skull and Bones is currently in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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