Game Will Be Skill-Based and Focused on PvP

Players have been excited for a return to the high seas ever since Skull & Bones was announced at UbiE3. Though a spiritual successor to Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, the game will offer a more intricate adventure as a pirate. Ubisoft creative director Justin Farren provided more answers on the upcoming experience.

In an interview with GameSpot, Farren talked about the focus on PvP, obtaining in-game loot, and long-term plans. Among the first things he addressed was boarding actions. According to him, the act of boarding another player’s ship is a mechanic the team is still working on. “We want boarding to be something that’s very intense and visceral,” he said. “If you think about other games where they have quick-time events, we didn’t want that. We wanted it to be skill-based.” Thus, it doesn’t look like there will be any first-person perspective in PvP crew battles. Albeit, the team hasn’t ruled it out. Ubisoft’s priority is making the mechanic work in a game that has several other ships in action.

Additionally, Farren promised there would be post-launch content for Skull & Bones. As he said, they will include “new gameplay, modes, new content for the player to earn, and then of course, new regions to explore.” While he promised this was a part of the “service” players get with the game, he didn’t specify whether it would be free or come in the form of a season pass.

Then there’s the question of PvP vs PvE. Many, many players enjoy their single-player experience. What will that look like for Skull & Bones? Apparently, there is no story experience without multiplayer. Farren did not mention a single-player mode in the traditional sense.

“Yeah. It’s woven into it, so the story itself will be woven into everything you do, from the time that you build your relationships with your crew until the time that you take down your first kingpin, building up your hideout, all of those things are woven into the modes that you play.

“I certainly hope that people will try to do our PVP, because we think it’s pretty compelling and it’s not a different, like Call of Duty when you play campaign and you go online, [and you get something very different]. I worked on Gears for a while and the players who play Gears multiplayer, they are different some times than the players who really invest in campaign. We want to bring those experiences closer together. For it to be a, you know, a one off campaign that’s consumed, would be a shame.

From what it sounds like, Skull & Bones’ campaign may even require a constant internet connection. But the game releases in Fall 2018, so we’ll be waiting some time before official news arrives. Expect it on PC, PS4, PS4 Pro Xbox One, and Xbox One X. No Switch confirmation.

Lastly, Farren said it was too early to talk about the possibility of microtransactions. However, they want to encourage loot through participation in in-game events. The team wants to avoid a pay wall, but he didn’t rule it out. Since Ubisoft is constantly implementing micro transactions, the question here is – What form will it take? Time will tell.

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