Skull and Bones, the troubled Ubisoft attempt at making a game around the ship combat of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, is getting some good news for a change. The last time the game got shown in a good-ish light was a whole year ago, when the publisher showed off some gameplay, which itself faced criticism. More recently, in what looks like proper good news for the title, it is getting an open beta next month, and launching soon after.
There’s a bit in the announcement regarding seasons in Skull and Bones, which reads “strategic ship loadouts and seasonal ships and gear will be key to taking them down in the final showdown at the end of each season”. As is with live-service games, this introduces more content as time goes on. Not entirely surprising considering the multiplayer aspect of the game, and especially with the mention of leaderboard resets in the same announcement. There’s also a Year 1 roadmap to go with, hinting at what sort of content you can expect with each season.
Skull and Bones will be getting an open beta early next month, specifically between 8 and 11 of February. Ubisoft says that progress you make in this window can be carried over to the full game, if you choose to buy it when it launches. And that is scheduled to happen pretty soon after the beta too, with the date currently pegged for 16 February. Get the Premium Edition and you get access to the game three days early, which is becoming an ever-increasing trend.
There will be cross-play and cross-progression for all the platforms that the game will be available on, which are PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via the Ubisoft Connect launcher or the Epic Games Store. You can find out more about the beta, and Skull and Bones in general, by hitting this link.
