I took advantage of the free trial offer by Ubisoft to spend a little time with the game Skull and Bones. One of my favorite bits of Lost Ark was its nautical segment and this looked similar. And the trial was free, so why not?
I couldn’t tell in the time I played how much game there actually was there. It didn’t give me any sense of scale. What I *did* enjoy was the flavor of the thing. Being able to captain the ship over the shoulder was fun, though not practical, but it did help deepen the sense that I am my character and not my ship. Something that a lot of these games tend to struggle with.
It didn’t do a great job of explaining things or directing me at times. I don’t mind as much with the latter, but running out of cannonballs and having to go to the internet to figure out where to get more was a little frustrating. I figured out where to craft more, but didn’t have the resources and didn’t feel like I had the means to obtain them peacefully.
I also found that character creation options were really limited, though I did appreciate that a lot of the clothing could be obtained with standard in-game currency. They had cash shop clothing too, but I didn’t feel forced into it. I was able to put together a very captainy looking outfit with a minimum of effort. I just wish they had more options such as hairstyles.
I did have fun tinkering with ship customization options, though they were limited. I had a very bold look with black and yellow sails, but I don’t have access to my images at the time of writing.
It was also a bit frustrating that the free trial was only available via Ubisoft Connect. While I understand that choice, having to constantly bounce between distribution platforms is really frustrating and makes me disinclined to purchase.
Still, it was decent enough that I’ve considered whether or not I would purchase the full game. When I played it was on sale on Steam for around $20, and I think I’d be willing to pay that. I certainly wouldn’t pay more than that, though. It may surprise me, but what I played of it seemed very shallow.
Overall, I’m still on the fence after a few hours. I had fun. I enjoyed the time I did spend, but I just don’t do much gaming these days. It’s hard to justify paying for another game that’ll just sit in the library.
Y’all take care. Get your peglegs, and check your shanties. 💖
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