Skull and Bones won\u2019t save itself with a dragon \u2013 it\u2019ll destroy what little it has left UbisoftThe new Skull and Bones season dropped during the 2024 Ubisoft Forward event on June 10, and it\u2019s just further confirmation that this game should quit while it\u2019s behind. Skull and Bones had a rocky start to its release. First, it was delayed time and time again, and when it eventually came out, it was met with player and critic frustration, with our own review giving it a 2\/5. It felt clunky, boring, and like a lackluster attempt to take on similar titles from the pirate genre. Now, the game has released its second season and has highlighted some key features coming in its third. Along with a new faction, activities, stories, and a few widely demanded changes, there\u2019s one season three addition that just proves this game needs to go back to the depth from which it came: a sea dragon. The (pirate) ship of Theseus Now, to me, Skull and Bones feels much like the fabled thought experiment, the Ship of Theseus, which discusses a boat that\u2019s been so heavily repaired that every original piece has been replaced. As such, can it even be called the Ship of Theseus anymore? The same conundrum now applies to Skull and Bones, which initially prided itself on its loyalty to the historical aspect of the pirating era \u2014 likely to help separate it from its primary competitor, Sea of Thieves. However, adding a literal dragon to the game feels so out of touch with that initial idea that it\u2019s stripped away the very thing that defined it. It\u2019s hard to describe a seafaring game as jumping the shark, so instead it seems that Skull and Bones is jumping the dragon. This entire game is supposed to be a love letter to the era, set in the same seas in which pirates roamed, and focusing on similar politics and democratic designs of its inhabitants. Sure, the NPCs aren\u2019t exactly people from history, but they\u2019re heavily based on famous figures, and the ship battles have a focus on realism. Adding in a sea dragon completely undermines this focus and feels extremely unnecessary. A Megladon makes sense; they\u2019re creatures that existed, albeit a long time ago, but they were fables for pirates during the era, like the Kraken. Adding in an ancient sea dragon just feels like a complete overkill and destroys everything S&B was initially working towards. Sure, Eastern civilizations did feature dragons, but hardly as potential threats to pirates, only furthering how odd it feels to add such a random monster into a game that prides itself on realism. So, with that in mind, why add in a monster like this and completely separate yourself from what was originally your only saving grace? Because it\u2019s surely not for the fans. A pirates death for me The fanbase surrounding Skull and Bones is pretty barebones. While no updated player count has been given, the first few weeks of its initial release showed a dramatically low fanbase sentiment, with many players dropping off shortly after the free trial. Take that with the four months it\u2019s been since release, and we\u2019re bound to see a considerable drop, especially with the popularity of Helldivers 2, Dragon\u2019s Dogma 2, and even Sea of Thieves\u2019 arrival on PS5. As such, it really begs the question, who is the new season actually for? Community sentiment is low, and many are wondering who will even play when season three comes out. As such, it feels like this could be an attempt to bring in new fans or to reinvigorate a bemused player base \u2014-but did it have to be a dragon? So many po-sea-bilities Instead, it would be ideal for Skull and Bones to focus on real legends of the sea. We\u2019ve seen the likes of William Kid, Kanhoji Angre, Thomas Tew, and Henry Ever in stories, but why can\u2019t we fight real-life pirates instead of fictional monsters? Surely battling against Blackbeard, Benjamin Hornigold, or even Calico Jack would be more satisfying and intense than a Meg or a flying dragon? At least you\u2019re on the same terms and fighting style. That way, you\u2019d be able to interact more with historical figures, which is what sets S&B apart from its competitors. In fact, the conversation and storyline are key frustrations among players (something a dragon surely won\u2019t fix). As such, would this not be a better time to add a solidified storyline, more akin to Sea of Thieves Tall Tales? Alternatively, the game could polish up its own speech. If we had a fantastic story to enjoy, it would make it much easier to look past the subpar gameplay. Ultimately, with an already minimal player base, tiresome gameplay, and a subpar storyline, it\u2019s not dragons we need in Skull and Bones; it\u2019s real sizeable change and improvements. The game needs to hold onto its personality and fight to stay afloat or simply let that ship sail for good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Skull and Bones won\u2019t save itself with a dragon \u2013 it\u2019ll destroy what little it has left UbisoftThe new Skull and Bones season dropped during the 2024 Ubisoft Forward event on June 10, and it\u2019s just further confirmation that this game should quit while it\u2019s behind. Skull and Bones had a rocky start to its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}