Pirates, cowboys, astronauts. These are the three frontiers of adventure, born out of our desire to just go out and do cool things, even if their imagery is based in something less than savory, like cigarette ads or Cold War propaganda.
To that end, Skull and Bones is a long-developed game that aims to give you a pretty decent pirate-themed RPG experience. It’s an interesting choice that fits Ubisoft’s own portfolio well- the game is set in a real time period with mostly-real basis, but with a dash of fantasy and gameplay-ism thrown in.
Despite this, there’s a lot of different ways to do a pirate RPG. Having spent the better part of two weeks picking away at Skull and Bones, I think there’s a lot to dissect about the game’s approach to things.
Ship Combat Will Always Be Nerdy
All through Skull and Bones, it’s hard to ignore the feeling that you can guess what it’s trying to be. As a Pirate Pseudo-MMO, you can feel at its core a celebration of how cool it is to embrace the spirit of adventure.
And yet, a lot of these ideas don’t translate much further than its initial strong impression. As a lover of any kind of nerdy combat system, the game’s naval combat has me hooked good. Having to decide things like downshifting a gear or reposition my ship to get the good guns out is intrinsically fun- even moreso in the later game when you get silly things like Chain Cannons or flamethrowers.
It’s not just the combat, either. Sailing is actually pretty fun- while i’ll initially dread a long voyage, controls are simple enough and cool things that happen frequent enough that it feels like a good game to just zone out to. Having things like Trade Routes to pay attention to if you want certain loot, knowing when to cut through a river to save you sailing around the cape, these are all really nice features that make you feel like you’re playing a game about sailing.
The Problem With Pseudo MMOs…
The big flaws of Skull and Bones instead come from what it straps on to the game. While it’s never officially referred to as such, Skull and Bones gives off the vibe of a Pseudo-MMO- it’s got a story that you can play solo, but so much of the content in the world is designed with the idea that you’re teaming up with fellow captains to take it on together.
On one hand, the social angle is pretty fun- I was almost dead fighting a bounty Captain in the open sea until another player came in to help me, and maybe one day I’ll know the thrill of taking out a massive sea monster. But on the other having so much of the things you see be clearly balanced around doing them with friends feels like such a killjoy. Raiding settlements takes forever since you’re manually whittling down structures, as do any kind of world bosses you encounter.
It just feels so strange because on one hand, some of the systems in Skull and Bones can feel really clever and smart, but then the others are back to things like Elemental Cannon Damage or Healing Ships.
It’s not helped by the fact it makes the same mistake a lot of MMOs do- boring characters. The Kingpins feel like they had the potential to be genuinely interesting, yet at the end of the day they exist only to tell you which direction to drive towards next. Even your crew don’t really have much of a personality- my entire voyage out on one mission I had my First Mate tell me three whole times that “maybe one day” she’d tell me about her tattoos. Take a hint, buddy.
Mix that with its broad palette of drab factions and you’ve got a world that really lets its checklist skeleton show. At the end of the day only the local Kingpins are allowed to be remotely interesting, and even then they decide to forego all that while they think up their next plan that only you’re competent enough to do.
Fun With Caveats
It’s very frustrating because at its core Skull and Bones has a fun gameplay loop. Exploring a big open Sea is genuinely enjoyable, and the game’s freedom in letting you screw up is the kind of thing more boring games tend to avoid.
But in its attempt to appeal to a wider audience it feels like it gets in its own way a little too much. I mean, sometimes it can even come down to naming- just having features in the game be called Perks or DPS is a huge blow to immersion. Combine that with the fact anything you do in the game is usually followed up by “and now deliver it to so-and-so on the other side of the map” and you get a game that feels frustratingly paced.
Still, if you’re patient and with a lot of time on your hands, Skull and Bones is a meaty experience that’s sure to give you plenty to do. The trick I find is to not see it as a narrative that needs to be completed- this game’s systems reward meandering and drifting way more than it does Pirate-RPG-Story, and it’s no surprise that this is how you have the most fun.
Score: 6/10
Game reviewed on PS5. Review access provided by Ubisoft.
