Skull and Boneshas been a long time coming. What started as DLC for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag back in 2013 has spiralled into a pirate MMO thatUbisoft is dubbing a “quadruple-A” game, costing a reported$200 million to develop.
It has been delayed andallegedly restarted developmentnumerous times, but an open beta was finally held to show that yes, it’s real. And surprisingly, despite the concerns over its UI, gameplay trailers, and rocky development, it’s going down well with fans.
“Beta saved this game!“one player claimed, garnering 237 upvotes at the time of writing. “Surprisingly, yes,” another replied. “I was one of those who said it’s gonna fail and posted here about it even. But after spending some more time on it, I’m genuinely excited.”
Another post cropped up on the subreddit asking what people thought of the game, getting over 500 comments in just under 24 hours - most of which are positive. “It’s not exactly what I was expecting, but the combat was solid, the varied weapons make me want them all, and traversing the open ocean to the East Indies in a storm with privateers chasing me was a top 20 gaming moment for me,” Exact_Parking2094 said.
“I enjoyed it a lot,” Independent_Beat225 commented. “Sailing and exploring the ocean [was] very chill and enjoyable while listening to your crew singing shanties and fighting a sea monster was fun. I am looking [forward to] getting to playing it.”
Some players sank as much as 50 hoursinto the beta alone. One such fan, Jyn67, wrote, “I must say Iadorethis game, how good it [felt] when a whole fleet of players completely [annihilated] everything on its way [while] singing sea chanties.”
“To say I’m surprised I spent 30 hours on the beta is an understatement,“Few_Tumbleweed_5209 posted. “I had no interest in this game, none. I wasn’t a fan, at all. I mocked it, and said to my friends three days ago, ‘I’m going to play the beta out of spite’. Well after a good 30 hours, getting the best ship, some equipment you can’t even officially get in the beta, I have to say I’ve had a great time, and met great people.”
Granted, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The $60 starting price and $90 premium edition, combined withUbisoft saying that you need to get used to “not owning your games”, is putting people off, and previews from critics are far from glowing.Kotakusaid that the beta hasn’t sold them on “this game being worth the long wait”; over atPC Gamer, playing it made them long forSea of Thievesinstead; andBoing Boingsimply said, “It’s not very good”.
It’s out on February 16, so we’ll find out for ourselves soon enough.
