Ubisoft has finally re-revealedSkull and Bonesduring a recent showcase, showing the gritter take on a pirate world. It’s inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy, even though it doesn’t take directly from it, and pits players into a realistic world. Game Rant recently spoke with game director Ryan Barnard about a variety of topics, includinghow many ships will be inSkull and Bonesat launch.
Players will eventually be able to craft 12 unique ships at launch, potentially amassing a fleet of 40 ships (for backup). Combined with multiplayer elements, pirate dens, and other noteworthy locations, it sounded likeSkulls and Boneswould be a huge game. Game Rant inquired about this, asking how it compared in size toAssassin’s Creed Black Flag, from which the initial idea ofSkull and Bonessprang.
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Size-wise, Barnard would instead compare it toValhalla. As many know, it’s the latest game in theAssassin’s Creedfranchiseand one of the biggest. The size ofSkull and Bonescompletely eclipses it. In Barnard’s own words,
“Valhalla, a great big open world Assassins game, is 95 square kilometers of gameplay space. At launch, we are 625 square kilometers.”
This meansSkull and Bonesis about 241 miles of in-gameplay space, whileAssassin’s Creed Valhallais about 36 square miles. All in all,Skull and Bonesis about 6.7x the size ofAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, but there is justification for this.Valhallais a big open-world game, but it is a strictly single-player game.
Meanwhile,Skull and Bonescan be beaten solo, but it is a multiplayer-first game. Packing in space for ships to maneuver, for players to group up, to fill the pirate dens and world, and more intrinsically requires a ton of space.
“Now, of course, we’re a vehicle game. It’s a ship game. So you need a bigger space to be able to accommodate. We’re also a multiplayer first game, so we want players to pirate up and group up with other players. And you need good amount of space for that to make sense for gameplay, right. But there’s a huge world for you to explore and to discover the different factions, the two different dens which are kind of our two pirate villages that you’ll discover through your progression of the game.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the Ubisoft community responds to this information, but perhaps what’s more important than the size of the world is how it is filled.Skull and Bonesfeatures multiple factions, pirate dens, mysteries to discover, treasure to find, and more, and filling that world but leaving enough space for naval combat is no doubt a balancing act.
Skull and Bonesreleases November 8 for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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