Skull and Bones new gameplay meets with mixed response

Ubisoft has shared around half an hour of new gameplay for Skull and Bones after announcing the game’s sixth delay, featuring plundering, exploration, and more.

Skull and Bones has been pushed back from its last release date of March 9th, with Ubisoft following up its announcement of the delay with a new gameplay devstream with over half an hour of footage.

Ubisoft shares new gameplay footage in Skull and Bones devstream

The Skull and Bones gameplay devstream starts off with the player character beginning a new investigation to find the Crown of Ukuta and plundering a settlement. We also get a look at an outpost, which offers lore to find and a place to trade and find contracts, as well as what the seas will be like to explore.

The gameplay footage has had a bit of a mixed response, judging by a few posts on the Skull and Bones subreddit and the reactions on the Skull and Bones Twitter page. One repeated concern seems to be about the apparent lack of hand-to-hand combat — when plundering a settlement during the gameplay devstream, for instance, it seems we stay aboard the ship while a short cutscene of our crew jumping overboard to fight on land plays out. We attack from the ship and help the crew get away after plundering the town. “The fantasy here is as we’re out here fighting and holding our ground, they’re in the settlement scampering around and stealing whatever they can get their hands on,” says narrative director Joel Janisse.

Some fans, meanwhile, seem pleased with the look of the naval combat and the options for exploring the seas. We spoke to game director Ryan Barnard for our Skull and Bones interview, where Barnard confirmed that “there is a lot of gameplay on land — it’s where you craft, gear up, socialise, manage your warehouse and customise your ship and your captain. The only thing that really isn’t on land is combat.”

We don’t yet have a new release date for Skull and Bones, but we’ll keep an eye out. What do you think of the latest gameplay for Skull and Bones? Let us know in the comments!