Leaked gameplay of Skull and Bones looks like Black Flag meets Sea of Thieves with pirating, crafting, and more

A short clip of Ubisoft’s upcoming co-op pirate title Skull and Bones has been leaked online. The Technical Test Build features and explains game mechanics including quest structure, character progression, crafting and upgrading ships, hunting, battling other ships, and of course, being a pirate.

Skull and Bones was originally introduced back at E3 2017, during Ubisoft’s presentation, along with titles like Assassin's Creed Origins, Far Cry 5, Just Dance 2018, and The Crew 2, for the PS4 and Xbox One generation.

Developed by Ubisoft Singapore, it presents itself as an evolution of the open-sea pirate gameplay introduced in Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, with the added elements of a co-op adventure.

The gameplay showcased at the event appeared to be quite polished and towards the end of development, which was further emphasized by a "behind closed doors" playable demo experience by many creators during the expo. However, along with another of Ubisoft’s E3 2017 titles, Beyond Good and Evil 2, it entered development hell and kept getting delayed to the next fiscal year.

After being reportedly ’rebooted’ several times, as well as getting a visual change in the asset, indicative of a new direction, Skull and Bones finally seems to be gearing up for a release.

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Skull and Bones leaked video features the pirate life

Arguably the best title of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise is the sixth mainline entry, Black Flag, featuring the infamous pirate Edward Kenway in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy. Undoubtedly the most fun part of the title is being a pirate, sailing the high seas, facing the wind, and battling enemy Man-O-Wars.

Following the immense success of the title, Ubisoft aimed to expand the pirate gameplay into a co-op title, somewhat in a similar vein as Xbox and Rare’s Sea of Thieves. Development on the project started nearly a decade ago in 2013 and was first officially revealed in 2017.

Fans were quite excited about the title, and it was even nominated for the Game Critics Awards' Best Original Game and Best Online Multiplayer awards at E3 2017, but ultimately lost out to EA’s Battlefront II.

The old and the new logo (Image by ubisoft)

So after almost a decade and an entire console generation of development time, how does Skull and Bones Look? Quite good and interesting actually. The leaked footage of the Technical Test Build features an introduction to the gameplay mechanics.

The game will be set in a map that is heavily inspired by the Indian Ocean, and the player will start off in Sainte-Anne, located on the Red Isle. Sainte-Anne seems to be functioning as the hub world, where players will be able to craft new ships and equipment, gather provisions for the expeditions on the seas, get high-risk, high-reward contracts, as well as socialize with other players.

Progress in the game is tracked by Infamy, which players gain throughout different tasks in the world, such as contracts. There are also sharable contracts that three players can pick up and complete together, diving the rewards and the risks.

Skull and Bones retain the familiar ship combat from Black Flag, where players have to maneuver through the tides and cannon fire to attack the enemy ships. Similar to Black Flag, sinking a ship from a distance gives reduced rewards, while boarding and capturing it gives more profit.

If a player dies, he can travel back to the location and recover almost all of his loot, but any other player can also steal it following the Pirate’s Code.

Skull and Bones looks exactly as what it promised to be, built upon the foundation laid by Black Flag to deliver an interesting co-op pirate adventure. While Black Flag was certainly fun and this title won fans on its initial reveal, has that hyped reduced due to the extended delay time? Can it be successful and profitable after almost a decade of development time?