Why Fans Think Skull & Bones Is Finally Being Released
Ubisoft's "Skull and Bones" is a project that may have been forgotten about by many. What began as an expansion to "Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag" in 2013 quickly snowballed into something much bigger. The project's scope became so large that during E3 2017, "Skull and Bones" was officially announced as an entirely new IP that would build upon the naval combat seen in "Black Flag." So why isn't the game out yet, almost a decade later?
"Skull and Bones" has had a troubled development cycle. A former Ubisoft developer told Kotaku that the team behind "Skull and Bones" had conflicting ideas about what they wanted the game to be, in addition to being plagued with chronic mismanagement that further hindered the game's progress. Hype for "Skull and Bones" recently picked up again after a now-deleted leak was posted to Reddit in April 2022 that showcased 4 minutes of gameplay, confirming the game wasn't dead in the water. Now, fans have gotten even better news that seemingly confirms that "Skull and Bones" will be released sooner rather than later.
It got rated by the ESRB
"Skull and Bones" was recently rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, or the ESRB. This means the ESRB was given a complete or close to complete version of the game. Additionally, the page lists some interesting facts about "Skull and Bones." For one, it confirmed that the game will release on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Stadia, and Xbox Series X|S. Secondly, "Skull and Bones" netted an M rating due to "Blood, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, and Violence." This rating is no surprise, as it's hard to have a pirate game without a healthy amount of bloody combat and swearing pirates.
The rating page also summarized the gameplay of "Skull and Bones." The game is described as a naval-combat action game where players captain a ship and are tasked with exploring the ocean while commanding cannons to shoot anybody that gets in their way. The summary also mentioned that "ships can be rammed and boarded, resulting in brief cutscenes of crew members shooting or slashing at each other." However, this mechanic has many gamers worried (via Reddit), as these cutscenes could get old fast.
This ESRB rating lines up with the rumors that Skull and Bones will announce a release date soon (via TryhardGuides), so this rating's page all but confirms that the "Skull and Bones" development team has finally agreed on what the game will be — and it could be coming to gamers very soon.