In a jaw-dropping twist at The Game Awards last night, Skull and Bones, the co-op open-world pirate action-RPG that made its debut in 2017, made an unexpected return. If the title has slipped your mind (and who can blame you after all these years), think of it as a potential spiritual successor to Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.
Picture a fictionalized Indian Ocean with the Coast of Africa and East Indies ripe for exploration in a shared world. Here, players embark on missions, upping their pirate infamy to pimp out their ships and claim the title of the most fearsome plunderer on the high seas.
The heart of the game? Naval combat and exploration, a realm where Skull and Bones borrows heavily from the beloved Assassin’s Creed 4. From customizable ships to epic battles, it’s always promised to be the ultimate pirate fantasy playground.
But, and it’s a big but, the game’s journey has been more turbulent than a stormy sea. Six years since its initial announcement, Skull and Bones has weathered multiple delays and morphed into various states, even undergoing a complete branding makeover.
Finally, it seems the tides are turning. At The Game Awards, Ubisoft dropped a brand new trailer delving into the mechanics awaiting eager pirates. The real kicker, though, comes at the end of the trailer – a grand reveal of the new release date: February 16, 2024. Brace yourselves, it’s hitting PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series X|S, and even Amazon Luna (that’s Amazon’s game-streaming service for the uninitiated). Bonus for Ubisoft+ subscribers – you get to dive into the pirate life up to three days early.
Pre-orders are live, and while we’re cautiously optimistic this isn’t another false start, the signs are undeniably promising.
