Skull And Bones prepares to set sail

The game’s creative director Elisabeth Pellen looks back on the journey so far

Pirates are about to have a big moment. This year has seen the success of TV series Our Flag Means Death, and the long-running manga One Piece is staring down its final story arc. On top of all that, people are still yelling from the crow’s nest about how fantastic Black Sails was. As such, it’s no surprise to see Ubisoft riding that wave, with Skull And Bones coming to PS5 on 8 November.

As hot as pirates are right now, the fires of this project’s story were first lit all the way back in 2013. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag had been released to widespread acclaim, and Ubisoft sought to capitalise on that success. Beginning development as an Assassin’s Creed expansion before becoming an online multiplayer experience, Skull And Bones is now very much its own thing.

Creative director Elisabeth Pellen talks us through part of that journey, explaining, “After E3 2018, [...] we saw an opportunity to give more space to the player for more interesting combat manoeuvres with these gigantic ships, so we pivoted towards creating a multiplayer naval combat game in an immersive open world.”

Rather than banding together with other players on deck, you captain your own vessel and crew from the jump. From there you can team up with other player captains, go your own way in seeking out booty, or snatch up someone else’s treasure in PvP combat.

Pellen adds, “Players can easily switch to a PvE-only [server], with no loss in progression depending on the session they would want to have on that day.”