After Skull and Bones, I expected Pirates of the Caribbean, and this is a typical Ubisoft open world

Like the cursed pirate ship “Black Pearl” emerging from the mist, playing skull and bones After all, it also presents itself in its final form, even as the release date is near. During a very long time, until 2017, when this production was first announced, We’ve heard a lot of different annoying things about her. The concept of what has changed many times skull and bones It’s really meant to be – Online game, shooter style rainbow sixonly with ships at sea, location with a single-player story campaign, production without a campaign, in the Caribbean, in a fictional location… Ideas were changing like in a kaleidoscope.

it seems that Just fantasizing about a hacking adventure is generally a ready-made recipe for success, regardless of the medium used. It has literally been running for centuries, from Stephenson’s books, to The Adventures of Peter Pan, the unforgettable top of the show. SeaAnd the pirates Polański, pirates Mister Meyer or finally Pirates of the Caribbean. What will be in the end then skull and bones?

I watched The Today Show a little while ago and My first engagement was sea ​​of ​​thieves With the most beautiful and realistic graphics, it is another network game that will be fun mainly in the co-op mode. I also get the impression that the atmosphere of a pirate adventure has been covered somewhat by the well-known template “Underpants” – colorful and filled with lots of tags, resources to collect, animals to hunt and tasks to be done. I lacked a specific target to pursue, and I didn’t have expressive heroes, even a side of them. Because if it’s just collecting “experience” online by engaging in the same activities, maintaining players’ interest can be more difficult than just creating the game.

The sea of ​​thieves meets the black flag

But let’s start with w skull and bones It promises to be really good. The first thing, of course, is the mechanics of sailing a ship and fighting sea battles. You can see that she still remembers the times Assassin’s Creed 4: The Black FlagBut this item was the most sparkling out there! Just sailing on the sea and standing at the wheel and listening to the huts was so much fun. Here, in addition to building better and better units, there are still many options for personalizing the ship and equipping it with more advanced armor and weapons, such as Greek fire. An interesting idea is the option of crew rebellion. Robots roaming on deck make a much better impression than an empty ship sea ​​of ​​thieves.

Ubisoft has also learned a lesson from the protests against the rules of the Black Zone in to divide And this time We have a choice between servers with full PvP and ones that don’t run the risk of being chased by other players’ gangs – Although it seems that they will still be able to steal our loot and our possessions in the event of death. Good idea – the only question is: How will singleplayer fans find themselves in all of this co-favorite sponsorship? The creators say that each activity can be performed individually, but what about dynamic events or attacks on fortresses? Will the difficulty level change somehow depending on the number of participants?

A game we could have played with Jack Sparrow, but…

The concept of flying the pirate flag with your crew and doing whatever you want too seems attractive. Despite its many drawbacks, Ubisoft’s open worlds also have advantages, and there are usually many reasons to spend many hours in them. However, I must admit that the previous trailers, which somehow felt more like a piracy, attracted me much more. The creators say that they decided to go towards a more realistic and gloomy image of a pirate, but they have not bought me with it yet.

I wish I could get a computer version of the first part Pirates of the Caribbean, the possibility to create your own Jack Sparrow, a bit of humor, colorful characters and the option to meet some scary ghost ships in the middle of the ocean, and at the same time I saw a kind of youth gang do a complete demolition in 17th century reality with modern fashion of emotions. I got a little sting from it and I’m not sure it’ll make a good first impression. You can also see that the game has undergone a certain reduction in the graphic design compared to the previous articles with the gameplay.

You’ll need quite a bit of content to get started…

There is also the issue of playing online in an open world game without a clearly defined objective. Time and time again we have convinced ourselves that players are able to quickly reach all the prepared limits and then the loud demands for additional add-ons begin. It is enough to remember the production of the twin sea ​​of ​​thievesThe gameplay mechanics were praised, but it was heavily criticized right after the premiere for its general shallowness and very poor content. The game started collecting good reviews and attracting more and more people only after many free updates, including the story campaign. Studio Rare was so successful here that although it was available as a Game Pass subscription, this production sold well on Steam.

creators skull and bones I think they face a similar challenge of providing extensive support and constantly enriching the game with new challenges, additions, and attractions. Leaving players alone even in the best created world is the worst thing you can do in your game, as fans are constantly finding out about it. Red Dead Online. Although we heard a short confirmation about new products being prepared in the coming years, free of charge, only new challenges, events, gatherings and equipment were mentioned. I hope there will be new locations, hidden treasures to be found after multi-stage quests and puzzles or some small campaign.

This boat either sails or sinks

skull and bones It evokes fear as much as hope. The test will be the lack of a story campaign and immediately throwing players – literally – into the deep waters of open “grounds” focused on online co-op, as well as a slightly different vision of pirates. Success sea ​​of ​​thieves It showed that the combination of this game mode and a special adventure makes sense, but at that time there was no similar production on the market. In the current circumstances skull and bones It will have to fight for players in a sense, and with production it has had time to fix bugs and complete content.

Obviously, the authors hide quite a few aces up their sleeves, for example in the form of naval battles with black flag and experience building vibrant open worlds. But we also know Ubisoft overstated their approach to online production, and the tendency to stuff them with too many trivial details that spoil the climate, causing them to die in the beginning. XDefiant And hyperscape. If you can maintain proper moderation and balance, a good starting recipe might be to include the game in your Xbox Game Pass subscription, just as it was with Rainbow Six: Extract. The rest depends on whether the creators can keep up with providing interesting content. Personally, I will miss seeing the first pirates in skull and bones…