Skull and Bones Is Reportedly In Pretty Rough Shape

Skull and Bones is reportedly in rough shape. Skull and Bones is one of the weirder games that is on the horizon. On the surface, it seems like a pretty interesting AAA game from Ubisoft. It takes the pirate stuff from Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and expands upon it in its own standalone game, allowing players the chance to really embrace the pirate life. However, it was announced in 2017 and been delayed numerous times. It looked like it was finally going to release in November 2022, but it got pushed back to March 2023. It was a reasonably short delay, but then... it was delayed again and no release date was given. This has had many people concerned about the state of the game.

According to insider Tom Henderson, there may be reason to worry. A recent playtest was conducted and apparently, it didn't inspire any confidence in those who participated. Henderson noted that Ubisoft hasn't made the major changes needed for the game to be successful and it's hard to imagine anyone paying $70 for the game at launch. It's unclear exactly what changes Henderson and the playtesters were hoping to see, but there have been concerns from the public at large about the gameplay. There's an emphasis on naval combat, as one may expect, but some were hoping to see land combat as well since that's an equally important part of being a pirate. However, although players will be able to get off of their ship, it sounds like there won't be much land combat, if any at all.

From speaking with playtesters, the latest Skull and Bones playtest isn't exactly installing confidence in me that they've made the necessary changes needed for it to be successful. I find it hard to believe that people are going to pay $70 for this one tbh.

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) January 27, 2023

As of right now, we have no idea when we'll next see Skull and Bones. It's expected to release sometime within the next year, but it's anyone's guess when that might be. However, the longer it goes on, the more people seem to be concerned about its quality, so it may be in Ubisoft's best interest to just release it rather than polish something that may never live up to expectations.

Are you still optimistic about Skull and Bones? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.