Skull and Bones is the embodiment of a never-ending twilight zone. I can barely remember a time without Ubisoft’s nautical adventure game floating somewhere on the horizon like a mirage, forever taunting but never truly there.
As recently as last week, Skull and Bones was once again spoken about by Ubisoft, but if fans of the upcoming title expected anything like a release date to be announced, they will be sorely disappointed because not only did Ubisoft not commit to a release date but instead the company announced that the game would be postponed… again… for the sixth time.
However, the company also noted that some players would be taking part in a beta test and get the chance to see how the additional time has paid off and brought impressive improvements to the game’s quality. According to Ubisoft, since the game was announced in 2017, Skull and Bones has gone through many changes and even a complete reboot in 2020.
Now, thanks to Reddit, we can finally hear what one of the beta testers thought of the game, straight from their mouth and not under the forceful thumb of Ubisoft.
Impressions from the 6 hour Skull and Bones closed beta from GamingLeaksAndRumours
If you aren’t interested in reading the entire posts, here are some of the highlights:
The closed beta gave playtesters access to the first six hours of gameplay and what could be played seemed close to completion. So much so that Ubisoft even had the battlepass system implemented already.
One of the minor annoyances in the early game is the frequent and unskippable loading screens each time players craft or turn in missions. As for the game’s main focus, nautical travel and combat, the player who posted on Reddit compared it to Assassins Creed Black Flag in terms of combat and steering.
The Redditor also noted how almost all of the early game content revolved around fetch quests and labeled the game “an extremely grindy version of Black Flag – with microtransactions.’
And that is it. As of now, this is everything we know about the upcoming game. Still, if we’re being honest, we expected more, considering how long the game has been teased. Unless something drastic happens between now and the game’s eventual release, we doubt we will be calling the open waters of Skull and Bones home.