Skull and Bones is still a thing by the looks of things, and a new leak shows quite a few aspects of what players can expect when taking to the waters of the Indian Ocean. The leaked video is like an overview trailer that looks at the outposts across the world, ship combat, and player customisation. There is also a brief look at what kinds of activities players can partake in. If you had any experience with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag or Odyssey, then you will see a lot of familiarity from the sailing portions of those games.
Skull and Bones will require players to really take stock of their ships and crew. Players will start with a small dhow to begin their pirate career, and will need to complete quests and plunder the seas to grow infamy. Infamy is your reputation and the more you have the more options you have access to including the bigger ships, and the harder quests. With the resources gathered you will need to have items that can be used to repair your ship as well as keeping crew morale high. If crew morale falls to a critical level then they will mutiny. If your ship gets destroyed you will respawn at the nearest outpost with the majority of resources recovered, but some will still be floating out at sea and can be picked up by any other player in the area so it is a race against time to get them.
On the seas of Skull and Bones, players will need to watch out for other players who will try and take their resources as well as NPC privateers that will look to rid the sea of pirates. Resources can also be gathered out in the wider world by chopping trees, getting ore, and hunting animals.The core focus seems to be ship to ship combat and while boarding manoeuvres are mentioned there does not seem to be extensive melee combat like in previous games with this gameplay, though that could be shown at a later time.
Skull & Bones was announced in 2017 and has been subject to numerous delays and missed release dates. Originally a spin off from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag there have been many reports of the game undergoing massive changes while it was being developed. In 2019 it was reported the game was moving to a live service title, then in 2020 it was announced the studio was to “pivot the game to follow ‘a new vision.’” Earlier this year associate game director Antoine Henry announced he was leaving the project and Ubisoft.
Source: Reddit
