Skull and Bones - Review

[@SkillUp]

Thank you Manscaped for sponsoring this video. Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code SKILLUP at manscaped.com. Embrace a new you, and definitely embrace a new trimmer - courtesy of Manscaped.

[@vincenthellsing5655]

How is the sponsor for a game about beardy pirates manscaped? That's not in line with the Fantasy (Just like the gameplay, lol)

[@SpadeApeiron]

28:41 Do you wanna hear & experience the definition of Cringe ?

[@napoleonfeanor]

As long as it is cold, I prefer to keep my hair there lol.

[@MaxiTB]

"Let's imagine it's not 70 bucks plus full with micro transactions but 30 bucks". Yeah. But it isn't and even with 30 bucks, heck I hope they have all the content it and then some. Because this is nothing more than a really bare bone mod sold as full title.

[@fuzzymcgee_]

in Sid Meier's Pirates from 1990 you could leave your ship and explore the land at any point even take over cities/ports .... think of this

[@yungzhe]

Speaking as a game dev, I have friends who joined Ubisoft Singapore after they've graduated from university. Those who were lucky joined the team that made Immortal Fenyx Rising. Those who weren't, joined Skull & Bones. There were many of them who spent their better half of their youth working in development hell, unable to leave the project because that was the only thing they had on their portfolio, and Ubisoft will do this very scummy thing where if you were to leave the project before it is released (within a certain time frame), you will not be credited. Just imagine that, you just graduated from college, and got this exciting opportunity to work in Ubisoft (a rather reputable game company at the time), and you got hired for your dream job. 5 to 6 years later, you are now older, you have a wife/husband, have kids, and the only thing you could write on your portfolio was "I worked in Ubisoft for 5 years". Many of them wanted to leave the project, but stayed on for another year, because upper management told them the game is going to be released this year, might as well leave the company with a completed project under your belt... right? Game's delayed. Another year goes by. Management says next year. So you wait. Game's delayed again. Management says the same thing. So you wait again. Ubisoft is not only inflicting "sunk cost fallacy" unto their players, but unto their employees as well. Now that Skull & Bones is finally released, many of them expressed relief instead of the usual excitement that game devs expressed on the completion of big projects.

[@griffingaming1450]

the executives really need to get fired, developers just try their best to make a great game but how can they do that when the team leader is changing constantly, the direction of the games is changing constantly and you are being told to put certain things in the game that you know is bad or doesn't work. The team leaders are not to blame because they either got fired or was driven out by executives constantly interfering, Just look at what the first director said, he left because they wanted to go in a different direction, which basically means dont make a great game, make a repetitive game, trash game with microtransactions to the nine. I really feel sorry for game devs, all that passion and skill, but you cant put it too good use because of the company execs screwing everything up.

[@kukuhimanputraraharja8084]

those leaders who bicker and whatnot about this game's direction apparently completely forgot that they have employees with families under their leadership that desperately need to be paid to survive.

[@Icetea-2000]

And both of these games are worse versions from the existing games they’re copying 😂 Breath of the Wild, and Black Flag Does Ubisoft really have no new ideas?

[@fazahasbi1838]

Congratulations for surviving that hell on earth. Good luck on your next ventures

[@yungzhe]

@@Icetea-2000 oh believe me, many young blood have many ideas with strong potential, but it's whether the idea have good profitability. Remember when some devs (can't remember whether was it Respawn or Visceral Games) tried to pitch an idea to EA, and the upper management asked them "FIFA is making $1B a year, can this game make the same revenue?" - which is business slang for "unless you can give us all the money, you can go fck yourself".

[@N00BPUN1SH3R]

I think a documentary about the game's 11 year development would be more interesting than the actual game

[@TheJordanK]

This almost feels like malicious compliance

[@WildZephyr]

I would pay money for that

[@nickgarcia1292]

Maybe Matt mcmuscles will do a wha happun video on it..

[@dlar321]

It is sooo wild that they could have just made black flag 2 and had an entire other franchise to sell

[@maegnificant]

Ubisoft themselves made one actually, but it's a marketing stunt of course

[@AustinCollins-y8n]

"quadruple A game" -> cannonballs explode when they hit sails.

[@Wyattporter]

I was blown away by that. Waiting to see a cannonball rip a hole in a sail and it explodes against it in a shower of woodchips. Ludicrous

[@EmilWestrum]

Cannonballs exploding at all is kinda fucked. Its just a ball of metal.

[@Icetea-2000]

@@EmilWestrumBlack Flag even thought about that, and because people of course want to see explosions they instead just made it that you hit the gunpowder within to have it explode.

[@SmarkAngel]

It was one of those explosive cannonballs! Like the kind that got poor Sam White! :-p

[@One.Zero.One101]

Their PR department needs to be fired for even attempting to call this a AAAA game. There's a difference between promoting a product and saying wild outrageous sales pitch. As soon as I heard the press release I knew it was gonna be so easy to poke holes in it.

[@Syy]

For the record, Black Flag is on sale for $10 right now on Steam.

[@GamingRobioto]

Yeah, I bought it, played it back at the PS4 launch and loved it. The good old days before Ubisoft went full Ubisoft

[@aether388]

Oh nice, thanks! Tbh this review mostly just made me miss Black Flag, perfect timing with that

[@efraimkent]

are you suggesting we give Ubisoft our money to cover their ”losses” by buying one of their old games? cause that is definitely what Ubisoft is suggesting

[@GGiGotHydra]

God i was really looking forward to the day skull and bones delivers. I aint buying that. I bought black flag on release still my favorite Ubisoft title. (pirate bias probably, but ship combat was so cool) it wasnt overbearing as Odyssey.

[@bepkororoti8019]

Haha, someone is being cheeky at Ubisoft and/or steam

[@Jollyroger84103]

You know in Black Flag, when you sink an enemy ship, that sinking ship still has collision physics...

[@finecastleie]

Thinking about it now, the ship gameplay physics was accurate despite the limitations of the game engines.

[@raresmacovei8382]

AC3 even

[@hefoxed]

Iirc more recent game, AC Odyssey, also has it and actual boarding. I wonder what version of the engine they're on comparidly -- since it was a new study to my understanding, the developers may not have understood the engine that deeply? That and 11 years is development was likely really demoralizing and scared away developers with better options.

[@baloalpar4149]

I member

[@ianfitchett2768]

​@@finecastleie actually game physics just straight up hasn't evolved in like 15 years. Game physics peaked with red faction guerrilla and has languished so severely since then that people think Teardown is advanced

[@maegnificant]

They call it a AAAA video game, because development for 11 years costs a shit ton of money and CEOs are just measuring by expenses. Edit: Some people seem to think I am defending this kind of reasoning. I am not.

[@TheCrewExpendable]

AAA originally just referred to budget, not quality or potential culture impact or sales (and was pulled from the movie industry). So in a way it literally is a AAAA game!

[@maegnificant]

Pretty sure the CEO got told "the game is great! And we worked for so long to get it there!" and that's about it

[@maegnificant]

The actual game was probably produced in like 1-2 years, with almost nothing to come from the years before that. Smells of shit management/tax fraud. There are rumors that Ubisoft was taking money from Singapur and took their workers on vacation there through a studio contract. And then Singapur demanded a game to actually come out.

[@christopherlyndsay8611]

“AAAA” is the sound CEO’s make when they realise they’ve wasted millions.

[@themm5752]

It’s also the noise devs made when making this game: AAAA

[@MalafisTV]

It's alarming to me that even Pirates of Carribean on the ORIGINAL XBOX was able to provide a better form of ship combat and allow you to board enemy vessels on foot and fight for them. This was like 20 years ago.

[@vinny-zebu]

Is this the game that have the franchise label but the game itself has nothing to do with the Disney IP?

[@reidwallace4258]

Pirates without swords are just assholes with boats.

[@liszt646]

Pirates without swords are just ass holes without hair

[@thesomalistrawhat]

😂😂😂

[@JB2FROSTY]

Lmfao broo

[@mando80s]

🏆

[@hotcoldman777]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@TLparkZ]

Congrats to SkillUp for being among the honored chosen to review AAAA mega hit title Skull and Bones. Can you imagine if he had to review a lesser title like Helldivers 2.

[@TheCrewExpendable]

Meanwhile Shillup is forcing this poor Austin kid is to review this obscure "Helldivers 2" indie game.

[@Axemania21]

[This comment has been removed and is under investigation for possible treason]

[@Sawyer1982OAC]

We now know who´s all about democracy...

[@713Lord]

apply water to burned area. Theonly reason, Skillup "did not dislike" skull and bonesis because he choose his hell without diving. Ubi created the greatest themepark ever - if you ever wanted to be davy jones not going on land. No wait, Davy and Crew did leave their ship like all the time so Ubi couldn't even do that within reasonable 11 years. this is peak game developing.

[@Bodphrah78]

Poor Austin, but we would like to know more, at least he is doing his part!

[@King88Martyn]

I genuinely can't believe they missed the opportunity to have your crew as a thing that you have to recruit and upgrade... instead of furniture... truly baffling.

[@dychostarr]

I legit assumed that was HOW it was going to go. The fact they didn't do the bare minimum for an assumption is baffling. Make it where each "crew" you equip you can hear them over the yells as you sail/fight, giving unique listens each time which gives a reason to get as many as possible.

[@TrueTwilightGrim]

Meh, I could see them turning into a loot box with pay to win features

[@jonatanrobledo9812]

​@@TrueTwilightGrim *sudden Shadow of War flashbacks*

[@osto1964]

😊​@@dychostarr

[@kleberson777]

Ikr. if you didn't have land attack, duel or control your character. Having crew management outside ship management is bare minimum. Sid Meier Pirates (2004) even did it better than Skull & Bones (2024) Crew number affect Boarding success rate, Attacking port success rate, firepower, firerate, navigation speed. We need to maintain crew morale and reduce crew casualty. This alone could add so many depth in Skull & Bones gameplay

[@omegaprime223]

So, basically: 'It is a game that has a competitor, from the same company, that is better, cheaper, and a decade more mature.' If they sold it for 20-30 bucks I'd think about getting it, but it's not.

[@GarrettWinn43]

only Ubisoft could take 5x more development time on a game modeled after one that already existed and release something far worse than the original model, charge 17% more for that game and say that it is the first AAAA title. These companies truly do everything they can to outdo each other on making garbage products.

[@Chadius]

Don't forget, they also own the original model!

[@IIIceFlyArt]

And somehow people will still buy it 😭 and they'll do just fine and make enough money and nothing will change 😭😭😭

[@lutherheggs451]

The "original model" that had SECTIONS at best that were 5 -10 minutes in length. Its kinda dumb to try and continually compare a game that had very brief sections of what another game is 100% centered on. It doesn't look good, but neither were the boating sections of Black Flag. Not really rocket science that small 5-10 minute sections of something might be better because it wasn't the main focus of black flag

[@cin2110]

@@lutherheggs451 Even then Black Flag was 10x better and I played that 10 minute sections for hours to max out my ship and complete everything, multiple times over however I won't touch this pile of AAAAs

[@GarrettWinn43]

@@lutherheggs451 not sure what your are talking about. I had way more than 5-10 minute segments when sailing around in my ship. The entire model of it was more detailed and fun. At any point you could let go of the helm and walk around your ship. And combat felt very engaging including the fort battles where you would start at sea and end with combat off boat on the actual fort.

[@trenthowell26]

He named his pirate "CEO Andrew Wilson". Brilliant.

[@D4rkKn1ght311]

It should've been CEO Yves Guillemot

[@lazycouchgamer7276]

I found his player name being "Ship Up" funnier

[@drkskwlkr]

The stamina bar is a leftover from sea combats in AS Odyssey. It made *perfect* sense there because the ships had both sails and rows, and the crew could row faster for some time then needed a break to refill the stamina meter. Apparently the mechanic was ported without thinking.

[@rileymachelle4088]

The sails are getting tired, they need a break lol

[@thespacealien171]

Without thinking, that sums it up perfectly.

[@Razsac]

They could have kept a stamina mechanic, but it should go down when reloading cannons and changing sail speeds. That could make sense and make it interesting too, maybe when out of stamina changing speeds and reloading is super slow

[@cakeassassin6277]

No. Its a leftover from the hunger/ mutiny meter from the tecnical tests

[@fendelphi]

@@Razsac Stop kicking them while they are down. You are making too much sense.

[@console72hrs]

The fact that at the beginning you said pretend Black Flag was never made, pretend the game wasn't in debelopment for 11 years and pretend it isn't 70 dollars should tell anyone all they need to know

[@MsTurtledick]

I'm literally struggling to get through this video solely because of how excruciatingly fucking boring this game looks. Ubisoft is dead

[@Fekete_Geri]

Yeah it was a pretty silly thought exercise. Given how half of those things were in DIRECT control of the developers / studion even until the last moments of release.

[@Alepap.]

Even if i pretended all of those things and i pretended that it was free to play, i still wouldn't touch it Played in the beta with a friend, i got bored to death by its mediocrity.

[@Phoenix-Knight_Cosmos-Def]

This game isn't worth it. You will get prey on both players and lots of ramdon npcs. I even see NPCs coming under the water to hunt me. Well, it's not a joke crazy things happen in this game. Another time a player was doing one of the world events things , we both were the same level, so were the NPCs' convoys, we were able to do a little bit of damage then out of nowhere the that convoy had became indestructible, at the end I had to leave what point we could not do any damage to that convoy... I did kind of like it, but some players, the more they play it, the more they will like it or dislike it. I dislike it. I always have to refresh the game.

[@TheHeadincharge]

@@Fekete_GeriThe thought exercise was facetious, primarily highlighting the absurdity of the context and pointing out how those things overpower the game that exists.

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

Sid Meiers Pirates in the 80s for the 8bit NES. In that game you could pick from 3 different sword styles, a career/education major, collect and customize like 30 ships of 5 different types and manage your own fleet, treasure hunt, manage crew, manage trade and cargo, go on foot to assault forts, fence, board ships, install your own government, engage in ship combat and manage sail direction according to wind, get married and retire and etc etc etc etc. That's like 40 yrs ago

[@100thdragoon]

You can pick it up right now and have an insane blast, hard to believe Ubisoft didn't just directly copy mechanics from Pirates! and yet, here we are.

[@TFrills]

how abt sid meiers pirates from 2004? THAT game was good. I still play it sometimes.

[@themoocow7718]

Didn’t they make the Civilization games too?

[@milojopus8763]

Skull & Bones is the best Black Flag advertisement Ubisoft ever made.

[@Chickensea10]

The multiplayer servers are still alive! SAVE BLACK FLAG

[@hefoxed]

I'm hopeful for black flag remake. New to AC universe and bit new to rpgs open worlds (as in under a year), and I found the parkour and graphics in black flag just frustrating for my personal preferences so didn't get past the opening area, but enjoying Odyssey and Valhalla graphics and climbing/parkour for most part. So hoping the remake does happen and is done reasonably well, incorporating more modern ac parkour/climbing/hud/graphics. But apparently the skull and bones team might be involved, which is perhaps not a great sign.

[@rouhsifbenschop7074]

i actually liked the climbing prior to the newer games, they felt so bland and too focused on just getting up instead of real parkour, i know its personal preference but dear god the HUD's fucking suck please anything but the HUD@@hefoxed

[@hefoxed]

@@rouhsifbenschop7074 Dislike for Black Flag hud or Odyssey/Valhalla for hud? I don't remember the hud from black flag, but imo Valahallah > Odyssey for hud (quests and combat, Odyssey > Valahallah). I believe Mirage is similar to Valhalla from the game play I've seen. Odyssey cannot get rid of the markers (map markers, quest markers, etc.) in the middle of the terrarian, bypassing the beautiful landscapes, without disabling full hud (I tried so hard to find a setting to do it). Valhalla however, can just use compass and beams and disable the other parts things individually. Ghosts of Tsunumi had the best hud so far as far as RPG, with the wind mechanic instead of marker/beams. (Struggling to find the right word to describe some items). I started with BOTW/tears of kingdom and Fenyx rising, which have similar climbing, and so my climbing preferences likely came from them. I don't like the having to find the right spot to grab. I'm more into the rpg then parkour so getting places is priority, I found the parkour in .. too imprecise to what I wanted? I tried like 5 hours of Unity also, and I just kept not going in the right direction or falling to my death.

[@William_Brando]

Most real comment

[@kevadu]

I *hate* the cannons being able to aim basically anywhere. It's not just totally unrealistic, it completely undermines all the strategy and maneuvering involved in how ships like these actually fought each other.

[@farisanwari777]

Yeah, that was half the fun/frustration in Black Flag, I distinctly remember maneuvering tightly against the twin legendaries only to be hydraulicpressed by their anvil and hammer approach 😂

[@akmal94ibrahim]

Yep. Takes away the immersion of being in a pirate ship in naval battle. Now it just feels like you're in a tank or armoured car in the sea.

[@ZombiePepperoni]

@@farisanwari777lmao getting caught in the broadsides of two heavies at the same time was crazy 😭

[@iRemainNameless]

Not to mention the lack of any realism or need for strategy using wind while sailing. What a failure

[@Girvo747]

Overboard on the PS1 got this right lmao

[@leaotz]

Anybody remember Sid Meier's Pirates? You could board ships, attack towns on foot, hire or kidnap pirates for your crew. Ubisoft can't even manage something that existed 20 years ago

[@kleberson777]

duel, find treasure, diplomacy, married Governer daughter, Retire & Fame mechanic.

[@joeyh31]

Was obsessed with that game as a kid. Played it all the way through a few times.

[@plixplux]

Sid Meier's Pirates! came out in 1987 the first time around - and you could still board ships, attack towns on foot, hire or kidnap pirates for your crew =)

[@jjhaya]

The PSP version is a huge part of my childhood man, I love seeing that green profit margin trading from town to town 🤑. I think with this game, they probably spent a lot of money on developing the game over the years and to avoid losing a lot of money from it, they rather release it and maybe earn some to lessen the loss rather than not release it at all 😅. Hopefully knowing the audience's reception of this they would develop what the people want and need 😊.

[@thevrana]

And had a list of famous pirates that you actually see, and can defeat.

[@MrAerohank]

Crazy how pirates of the caribbean game from 21 years ago managed to have engaging ship to ship, boarding fights and land fights but a game from 2 full decades later doesn't.

[@afr_gem]

Yup, even all the age of pirates games by akella are better than this. skull and and bones only has grpahcis going for it, everything else is shit.

[@kleberson777]

Sid Meier Pirate ❤️

[@potadrone5496]

Swashbuckler ps2 as well

[@cashbanucita0025]

Kingdom hearts 3 a game that has 1 pirate level that's got more depth then this

[@kleberson777]

@@cashbanucita0025 at least KH3 pirate level is over the top and can board enemy ship. so yes, KH3 pirate world is already better than Skull and Bones

[@mattfick5502]

According to Steam DB, there are (edit) 3100 people playing Black Flag right now, and that number is trending up. Before Skull and Bones, the average was about 800 concurrent. This is the highest concurrent player count since October 2020. If Ubisoft's goal was to cause a spike in Black Flag sales (which came out on PS3 and 360 as well as last gen) then they succeeded Edit: concurrent is down to 1900ish

[@primordialserpent1763]

The Arkham series also saw an uptick in players when SS:KtJL released, all of them roughly doubled their player counts. As of writing this comment Arkham Knight has 4,100 people playing while SS has 2,000, City 1,700 and Asylum and Origins have 1,100 each.

[@AJayZy]

@@primordialserpent1763I also played the Arkham games and will be playing Black Flag tomorrow 😇

[@Mr0901]

What's concurrent for this game? 😂

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

Ironically, this is one pirate game that most people probably won't even bother pirating.

[@ice1ice1]

my friend paid 110 euro for this pos game 🫠

[@ashleygray1632]

What a great comment 😂

[@ryanmussell739]

You win 👑

[@panyarou]

That's pretty good 😂

[@the-real-Lovefist]

Burn

[@William_Brando]

Sometimes, just looking at the running animation for the protagonist tells me everything a game needs to tell.

[@Axeloy]

facts

[@anarky3585]

Why the f is this so true

[@spacegoat0133]

Fr

[@treywilson9901]

This game has a terrible run animation. It looks like you're skating across the ground

[@Zegeebwah]

Not being able to get out of the boat is like not being able to get out of the car in a GTA game... what were they thinking???

[@ryanseijuro5279]

That's the driv3r series. Should've seen how that series turned out

[@Torresgamingchannel]

Incredible work by one intern who did not choose to copy and paste directly from Black Flag. Sure, it took him ten years. But think of everything he learned along the way.

[@emmmortem]

Best comment, shoutout Jeff the intern

[@canniballistic555]

Still failed to get that promotion though I hear.

[@peoplewithpixels]

That's a AAAA intern!

[@stinkbanana2522]

Black Flag was a videogame who's goal was to be fun and enjoyed. S&B is a vehicle to extract wealth from you and get you addicted. There's a big difference.

[@akmal94ibrahim]

In a way, S&B is more like a pirate game then

[@Tatman2TheResQ]

That's what I don't understand about publishers' decisions. Make a good game... and people will pay for it. Shouldn't be that hard.

[@MarioGoatse]

Who’s Who is.

[@Chickensea10]

Black flags multiplayer servers are still alive! SAVE BLACK FLAG

[@averyterribleperson5292]

When the opening talks about corporations in a pirate game, i cringed hard. And im a dirty leftist but damn dawg, you could not find a more transparent gaming company if you tried

[@zulubunsen9067]

19:39 "Is it fair to compare Skull & Bones's cutscenes to that of Black Flag?" If it's touted as AAAA then yeah, why not.

[@Dr.Yakub22]

Tbf one cutscenes was made by a director , animators, and actors who had a particular vision and a story to tell while the other was made by ai.

[@YeetThyBaby]

Touted

[@zulubunsen9067]

@@YeetThyBabyThank you, corrected!

[@alyx4436]

Having islands in an open world but not being able to explore them is such a cocktease.

[@InfiniteDarkMass]

Jeez, now that you say it... Did they really make an open world pirate game where you are basically tied to your ship most of the time?

[@HowToChangeName]

Why do I feel it's intended for DLC or pass or whatever they called nowqdays

[@LadoTsulukidze]

Not only you're tied on your ship but you can't even explore your ship on foot as far as I know :D @@InfiniteDarkMass

[@bunburner4850]

​@@InfiniteDarkMasspretty much 99% of the time. You even farm resources from your boat

[@Lupinvej]

“You will cut down trees from your boat…” …I’m sorry what?

[@StyryderX]

At least it would've been funny if you use the cannon to fell the trees...

[@kleberson777]

that what happen if you didn't have crew system

[@buggart]

@@StyryderX You know what? If that was how they cut trees and get stone, I would actually applaud them. Look at Palworld, for example, earlier in the game you are encouraged to craft an axe and a pickaxe to get wood and stone. At higher levels those go out of the window because you can craft a spear that will do better than those items. Heck, you can even use guns to mine for wood and stone.

[@One.Zero.One101]

This feels like a mobile game with barebones mechanics, existing purely to entice kids to spend their daddy's credit card.

[@AJayZy]

@@One.Zero.One101At least the cosmetics are fleshed out 😅

[@camdenjurewicz4280]

You know, the funny thing is: Sea of Thieves added a "Safer Seas" mode where there are no other player ships on the map with you. (Rewards are reduced in this mode, but there is little danger out on the sea aside from AI skeleton/ghost ships). It's still a bit of a different experience, but if you want to be a pirate and have a chill time it's still a much more put together game, and it's on Game Pass.

[@Hakeraiden]

This one is on Ubisoft+

[@Mmlujan]

@@Hakeraidennobody pays for that lol

[@VinAn-d8m]

Nice. That was what I was waiting for, I am not a pvp player

[@kalinora3901]

Except that they reputation capped it so that you have to play with the toxic PvP players to attempt to finish getting to pirate legend. No thank you.@@VinAn-d8m

[@rabadooda]

Sea of thieves has the jankiest CQC of any game I've played. AI have the intelligence of goldfish and combat is extremely basic. Enemies spawn randomly and stand in one location doing nothing. The game's only redeeming feature is it's PVP naval combat which is still quite basic and nothing to write home about. Ultimately, SOT can't decide if it wants to cater to adults or children, being overly complicated in some aspects and far too childish and simplistic in others. Most quests are fetch quests and incredibly boring. Other quests like the monkey Island questline drag on for hours in an attempt to offer an engaging story but completely lose sight of what makes the game fun in the first place, namely the combat and immersive open world. It's also an extremely buggy game. Hit detection is STILL a major problem and the developers seem either incapable or unwilling to fix the problems.

[@orbalisk100]

It’s actually unbelievable how these studios do this. How can a company spend this much time and money, release this, and go on making games? Crazy

[@Verchiel_]

Corner cutting, lying, large amounts of casual players that have low standards. Even if their latest games are dogshit, existence of micro transactions easily makes uo for poor reception and sales.

[@Windbend3r]

Consumers have no power we gave it up. People are so positive they don’t see the glaring negatives that will basically make our lives worse. People blindly accept everything that’s presented to them from a corporation

[@PensFan35]

Sunk cost fallacy. Giant corporations like Ubisoft often operate under the assumption that they can out-spend the wave of doubt and uncertainty that plagues development. After a certain point your development has become ‘too big to cancel’.

[@jorgeporras9262]

If I remember correctly (because these are rumors I heard like three years ago) the Singaporean government made a deal with Ubisoft, and Ubi was legally bound to release a high profile game made by the studio there. There were several complaints about Ubisoft underpaying and exploiting the Singaporean workers, plus the studio having shitty local managament. Ubi wanted to cancel Skull and Bones and just stop spending money there, but the government was like "nuh-uh, you're not getting away from your deal" and forced them to finish it, which took 11 years. If those rumors were true I can't imagine any project doing well when the parent company has wanted to kill it for years, and the employees are working under shitty conditions in a country where high profile game dev had probably never been done before.

[@lukaszzylik4437]

Eh. Previous to this game Ubisoft made Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which might be one of if not the best Metroidvania ever made. You win some you lose some.

[@usmanmehboob1349]

Its amazing how there is no competition in this genre whatsoever, and they blew their chance. They deserve a raise!

[@zDonr]

bro completely forgot sea of thieves exists that game blows this

[@fixo5132]

@@zDonr sea of thieves is too goofy... and mostly boring. Please give us a true Black flag Gaas.

[@Jurgir09]

They deserve walking the plank, land lover

[@cashbanucita0025]

Sea of thieves which is better in every way

[@zDonr]

@@fixo5132hey man there’s nothing wrong with a game being goofy it makes it unique

[@CSY_]

Saying this game has been in development since 2013 this is probably the most Ubisoft game ever, predictably disappointing

[@bandanna2388]

That’s Ubi “prepare to not own games” Soft for ya. Worst gaming company behind EA and Activison…

[@CSY_]

@@bandanna2388 it’s sad because if they didn’t have monetisation then their games would be so much better, think the new prince of Persia. Ubisoft are in a very weird place

[@bandanna2388]

@@CSY_ they’re just don’t care about quality anymore, they gave up after far cry 4 imo.

[@TheCrewExpendable]

Ubisoft was under contract with the Singapore government to make this game. Imagine your tax dollars being spent on this turd!

[@bandanna2388]

@@TheCrewExpendable wait for real? That’s hilarious!

[@Whippets]

You set a ridiculously low bar and then asked if the game is a catastrophe, and answered no, it was an average game. So yeah, setting the bar at medium means it sucked ... if I'm spending $70, I'm expecting a damn good game.

[@prossnip42]

Sid Meier's Pirates genuiniely has better exploration and quest design than this game does. You know, that game that came out in 2004, 20 fucking years ago

[@zorastin]

Ahh 1987 calling. Sid Meiers Pirates first came out in 1987 Achtually haha. and yes it was good then too.

[@zack-frost]

Seriously fucking embarrassing

[@IronSalamander8]

Yep! Have it for my Commodore 64. Good stuff from Sid and Microprose as usual.

[@BaconNationChannel]

I compare this game to Sid Meiers Pirates too! SB has a lot of elements of SMP. I actually bought SMP on Steam last week after the Beta. Very nostalgic game. I wish Ubisoft was really trying to make a spiritual successor to SMP with this game. The people wanted Sea of Thieves, I for one am happy they went this direction.

[@the-real-Lovefist]

@@IronSalamander8me too! Was a better game in 87

[@KadeemG61]

This is Duke Nukem Forever on crack. Skull and Bones took a decade to develop and some bumbling idiot at Ubisoft saying “it’s a quadruple-A game.” Explain, Ubisoft. How many pirates games that are good from other developers?

[@TheSteveo909]

“They took 10 years to develop a worse product than what they already had a decade ago” Bethesda: “welcome to the club”

[@BullFrogFace]

In Bethesdas case its more like 20 years lmao

[@dandan2160]

Shots fired... across the bow. Poop deck destroyed.

[@Tarquin47]

@@dandan2160 "Sir, they've hit us right in the Starfield!" "Good, they didn't hit anything important."

[@michaelstarratt4868]

Don’t be this guy

[@TheSirAzzur]

Duke Nukem Forever "Hold my beer"

[@ZeroEscape2074]

"AAAA video game" basically translates to, "We don't know how to project manage, there might've been some money wrote off to be given to execs as bonuses, and several accounting frauds we've done."

[@AlfredoEscalante]

Man, just a project management issue could lead to delays, mismanagement of resources, errors, etc. but eventually when the project is finished, at least the finished product would be good if the original vision was good. This has all the looks that lower and middle management, testers and pretty much everyone kept saying that the game is bad but still the owner wanted it release... The mentality of the higher management in Ubisoft is really something.

[@Arrestedrabbit]

​@AlfredoEscalante had* to release it which might explain why the game feels worked to death for no benefit

[@grantpowell8957]

Ironic to get a Skull and Bones ad during this video. It just like, “so, you convinced yet?”

[@abramjohnson903]

Lol, just got one too

[@SageWon-1aussie]

"Why not try it for yourself?" Because I listened to the review, thanks.

[@jshv73]

Sincerely hope Ubisoft doesn’t recoup a single cent they invested into this project

[@Krenisphia]

It's already a financial loss. Even Ubisoft themselves said they don't expect to make its money back. What I don't understand is why they continued to pursue development when they first experienced troubles on this project several years ago.

[@duelyst9552]

@@Krenisphia They were forced to since they signed a contract with the Signaporean government to make the game.

[@Mulberry2000]

Well they could of took a hit and dumped it.

[@duelyst9552]

@@Mulberry2000 Problem is it wouldn't be just a hit it would be breaking a contract with the government, which is leagues more complicated and serious than just releasing a shit title. The title is shit, but at least they didn't break the contract.

[@PenguinDT]

@@duelyst9552Yeah, if I recall right, the contract was worded in a way that not releasing it - even at a loss - would've resulted the government of Singapore owning big chunk of Ubisoft. I used to think being such an idiot you sign that kind of contract wasn't possible, prohibited by laws of the cosmos. However, since then I've seen the Ubi exec behaviour. It's like seeing 100% proof of bigfoot being real - your view of the world will never be the same.

[@Strider_Shinryu]

One extra thing to bear in mind is that AC Odyssey also had sailing, ship to ship combat and boarded ship combat. Sure there was less/no specifically pirate based stuff in AC:O but it still had a lot of sailing. This means that it's not just a case of Ubi not doing any naval gameplay since Black Flag. They literally developed another entire game including much more fully developed naval gameplay WHILE also working on Skull and Bones and yet this is how Skull and Bones turned out.

[@JacobNuse]

I loved the ship combat in AC Odyssey. It wasn't as good as Black Flag, but there was just something special about wearing down an enemy ship and then full speed ramming the middle of the ship and watching the ship get split in half.

[@zerg0s]

Hilariously, this game did take mechanics from Odyssey. In Odyssey, ships have rowers, so they have a stamina bar. You use it for extra speed from rowing, and then your rowers have to recover. In Skull & Bones, ships ALSO have a stamina bar. Sailing ships. Without rowers.

[@alexeyeliseev6322]

​@@zerg0smust be the wind's stamina bar lol

[@LootFragg]

@@alexeyeliseev6322 In Skull & Bones, you have blowers. They make the wind.

[@dominicp9296]

Ac3 had it also so there's no excuse

[@RKNGL]

PSA: Assassin’s Creed: Rogue also has Black Flag ship combat. So if you want to play a few more missions for Black Flag but as an Irish dude and in a new setting, then Enjoy. It's probably the most underrated title in the series.

[@JerryCanTheThird]

Exactly, after trying S&B "beta" I reinstalled AC Rogue. I was about halfway through the game. It has soo much more to offer than this AAAA

[@ihatehandleupdate]

@@JerryCanTheThird My favourite part was when he said "I makh ma onn lukk!" and lukk'd all over the Assassin's faces.

[@Coolbone1]

This game is so good and connects so much stuff in that mess of a story that AC had back them

[@S3nn4h]

@@Coolbone1 Yeah Rogue is mostly unknown because it was sold as a Stand Alone DLC, but it actually links the stories of Black Flag and Unity. Funny thing, the NPC killer you see in the very first mission in Unity is your character in Rogue.

[@agentdrozd]

@@S3nn4h it wasn't sold as DLC, you're thinking of Freedom Cry. Rogue was a full game that was largely ignored becuase it was launched together with Unity, but only for old console gen (PS3/X360 while Unity was PS4/XONE) and yeah it mostly borrowed mechanics from Black Flag

[@PapaYaga1]

The opening credits of this game proudly proclaiming that they had like seven different studios work on it is beyond comical.

[@blackhammer5035]

I think they had to spread the blame around, if they stuck that black spot on any one studio they'd all just quit.

[@xyandi4870]

They should.

[@Deliveredmean42]

More like cycling 7 different studios that was working in this game through out the 11 years of development. Which on itself its absurd if its the case. That suggest it has been in development hell and change studios a lot more than most games that were also in development hell, got canceled and then being revived to either mostly a bad game (Ride to Hell Retribution), or the very rare decent result (Dead Island 2).

[@PapaYaga1]

lmao good point@@blackhammer5035

[@LadyTylerBioRodriguez]

I felt really bad for Ubisoft Kyiv. First the nation is attacked by Russia, then it was stuck making this!

[@Blackcloud288]

Oh, those outposts were DEFINITELY going to be levels or dungeons, back when this was a Black Flag spinoff. What a disastrous carcass of a product.

[@jamesmansfield67]

Love all this marketing that does its absolute best to insult a base level of intelligence. I keep getting told to eat a bowl of shit while being told it’s gourmet. It’s getting tiring.

[@AHersheyHere]

2:35 I love how the cannonballs have the same impact dirt cloud hitting the sail as it would the deck. The first AAAA game couldn’t even program fabric physics. Raising the price doesn’t raise the number of A’s.

[@greed-1914]

Aside from the waves not having sound, I noticed they just sort of stop at the land instead of breaking around it.

[@atari947]

Lmao total war empire has cloth damage for when you hit sails. A game from 2008 and a notably bad total war.

[@ejscorp]

Hey now, those are some really stiff sails

[@HobokerDev]

Ubisoft motto: "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory".

[@captainmcknight]

I like the “starting on the other side of the finish line and still coming in last”

[@AlwaysVotingMAGA]

That's also the Chicago Bears' motto too lol

[@unc54]

@@AlwaysVotingMAGA That implies the Bears have been close to victory

[@AlwaysVotingMAGA]

@@unc54 Lol I'm glad someone knew what I was talking about on here even though this is all about gaming. I don't even watch sports anymore but it's fun to make fun of Da Bears lol

[@JosueOnYT]

Saffron Olive, is that you?

[@OverratedGames]

i would read a book about how all of this happened over the span of 11 years. i am genuinely curious to know how so little got accomplished over such a long stretch of time

[@arthurg7894]

I'm hoping for a documentary

[@griffingaming1450]

Simple, executives kept sticking their nose in, force the team leader to either quit or get fired when they wouldn't do what the executives wanted, which basically means execs wanted to monetize the hell out of the game while team leaders wanted a more subtle approach, in the end they basically just had to do this because of the amount of money they were losing and contract they had with the Singapore government forced them to make the game so it wasn't like they could scrap it, wouldn't be surprised if that's what took so long was the execs wanted more and more monetisation every time they changed the team leader and they couldn't find one that was willing to put up with their crap.

[@robertschnobert9090]

Two hours of explaining how useless executives are and how much cocaine and alcohol they need to function haha 🌈 ​@@arthurg7894

[@jgamer2228]

I wouldn’t. I value my free time because of how little of it I have these days

[@AlexLopezMan]

good old PS3 Black Flag days, where I don´t use fast travel at all , hunt whales, sharks and I swear to god I took every fort before the story related first fort just for the challenge, damn I might replay it.

[@bushmonster1702]

I never played it but it’s in my steam library. Going to have to dive in.

[@Axeloy]

@@bushmonster1702 enjoy, it's so worth it

[@Archaeologist89]

I play through the campaign every other year and it just never gets old. A black flag 2 would have likely perfected the formula they vied for in the original, but that ship sailed long ago. Luckily the OG is just so good you don't need this new MTX garbage to have a likely much better experience.

[@beady123]

God that game was so good

[@noblewolf8232]

Me too. I didn't use fast travel in Black Flag because it is so cool sailing on horizon and doing some stuffs along the way. Black Flag is really my #1 assassins creed.

[@AA-BB]

Pirates for Commodore 64 which was released in 1987 seriously has more features and more depth. You could sink ships, fight on deck, explore land, fight on land, find treasure, attack towns and take them over, upgrade your fleet and had a functional trade system.

[@BaconNationChannel]

2004 version was great too

[@SageWon-1aussie]

36 years of the games industry "developing". Same sheet as DnD.

[@ciscoytube5352]

How did they do this? They fired everyone, shipped the entire studio to Singapore, and started over like six times... that's how this happened.

[@ninjadodovideos]

Ubisoft already had a studio in Singapore long before and they worked on parts of several Assassin's Creed games before this game including on Black Flag actually... among other things. In fact I believe it was the Singapore team that did the original sailing sections in AC3 even, so this game being terrible has nothing to do with it being made in Singapore and everything to do with the terrible mandates this team was given from on high by the executives in Paris (ie has to be live service multiplayer, must have micro transactions as a core element, etc). Blame upper management and _maybe_ the creative director(s) for their bad choices, but I expect the development team (and probably even the directors) just did what they could with a shitty situation, working with what they were given. I feel bad for anyone who was stuck working on this project and I hope they get to work on something better after this.

[@ciscoytube5352]

@@ninjadodovideos ubisoft continued funding Skull & Bones because the deal with the Singapore government wouldn't "Let It Die." Recommend reading the kotaku article on this where it explains how singapore set the timelines, hiring requirements, and probably helped drive this project into the hole it's in. Not the only reason for its state, but definitely a contributing factor to why it is being sold at the price it is and the agressive sales strategy.

[@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD]

People do like to think that studios are the same as they were ten years ago. Anyone working in any aspect of the tech industry should know what a ridiculous idea that is. How many people that you work with have been at the company for 10 or 15 years. The people currently working at the companies that made good games in 2010 would be lucky to have be trained by people who were trained by the people who made those games. It's all totally disconnected and outsourced and spread out. I want the Obsidian who made New Vegas to make a new Fallout game too, but they don't exist anymore. The team that made Left 4 Dead is not the team that made Back 4 Blood. Take the AAA black pill, never buy another one on launch, support indies, openly mock everyone else.

[@ninjadodovideos]

@@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD Or you can support indies without being an asshole to AAA devs doing difficult work under often impossible constraints, doing what they can to make good games under frequently dire working conditions. Mock the idiot execs, not the devs in the trenches. Also the idea that there is no continuity at all within studios is as much nonsense as imagining teams never change. They do change but also many stay, and others continue their work in the same spirit. It's not all black & white.

[@yungzhe]

​@ninjadodovideos I have friends who worked in Skull & Bones... let's just say, they are relieved that the game is finally released. Many of them wanted to leave the team, but couldn't because they have been on the project for the better half of their youth (from graduates to adults with a family), because if they were to leave, they would have nothing on their portfolio to show, as they will be bound to an NDA. Some did end up leaving the studio, because starting fresh over is better than being stuck in development hell.

[@lukewithann7256]

Bro the ship chopping down trees had me in fucking stitches xD

[@dtanobo]

I can't just imagine the context of the game doesn't exist. It's whole foundation is based off of a game with more content, actual melee combat and no live service rubbish. No thanks.

[@Ceece20]

Sea of Thieves

[@bakutie]

even without the context uhh 70 bucks for this lmao

[@Kalashee]

My question is: Why in the slightest fuck would I buy a video game from a company that literally JUST said “Players should get used to not owning their games”??? 🤨🤨🤨 Does that really make sense to you?

[@himynameisaaron86]

YOU'RE NOT A REAL GAMER BROOO

[@kiennguyentrung7331]

What Ubi means is that you should be used to not owning their games because none of them are worth buying

[@Kalashee]

@@himynameisaaron86 Hey, I’m fine with not being an absolute retard if that’s what being a “real” gamer is 👍🏾

[@Kalashee]

@@kiennguyentrung7331 I haven’t bought a ubisoft game since farcry 4. And since they’re being a bunch of fucks with the Sands of Time remaster, I am A-ok with that.

[@FrankD6877]

Honestly this is really my only gripe with the game. We should ALWAYS own what we purchase. Seriously. Why would anyone not want to own what they just bought for 70-100 bucks? What the fuck does Ubi even mean with that dumbass comment…

[@quietwulf]

The truly sad thing about this whole debacle is they it IS AN OBJECTIVELY COOL IDEA FOR A VIDEO GAME. It SHOULD have been a slam dunk.

[@brimfire]

What's probably telling about that "quadruple-A" was that Yves Guillemot was likely referring to the amount of MONEY Ubisoft spent on it rather than any allusions to the QUALITY of the product which... man is it possible "Skull & Bones" will be the most expensive videogame ever made!?

[@blindmown]

Star Citizen exists

[@brimfire]

@@blindmown ... Touché.

[@NoName......]

I can not fathom how much money ubisoft lost making this game.

[@TheCrewExpendable]

Lol they were paid by the Singapore government to develop this. Imagine your tax dollars being spent on this turd!

[@vallejomach6721]

Government grants AND major tax breaks for a decade whilst the studio that made this has worked on EVERY AC game since ACII...they've probably had their money's worth. Turn out some garbage low effort trodge after a decade of that...turn it out and let it die. Profit???

[@alanbeaumont5606]

Microsoft...." can we join the club our games are shit too?"

[@Mark-O-V]

I can imagine that. What I can't imagine is who the fuck thought releasing it was a good thing and would make them money? This is a huge hit to an already damaged reputation.... On track to dethrone EA as worst company, and already in same club as Bethesda as far as taking a decade to create absolute shit...

[@napoleonfeanor]

How much did SG pay? Still less shameful than Germany investing into Gollum and the Amico lol

[@Relt88]

This game has some of the worst sound design choices i’ve ever heard. It’s like sailing a boat with a white noise track playing in your ears. Refunded.

[@prezlamen7906]

​@@LunarisSolutionsLol. Lame shit.

[@Shineinpoverty]

Agreed.

[@prezlamen7906]

Its Ubitrash

[@1894db]

I loved Black Flag almost entirely due to the pirate game play, and thought it would have been SO much better without Assassin's Creed weighting it down. When they announced they were making a pirate focused game I was incredibly excited. Then eleven years passed. This would have been so disappointing like 8 years ago... now I'm just resigned to it.

[@ShadwRavn]

For 30€ I would buy and like it. For 70€ it s shit. The price tag= expectation of size and quality

[@elektromagnetik2786]

Holy shit!!! I just realised, This is actually Assassins Creed Black Flag Mobile. They did it. They made a free to play mobile version of AC black Flag tackled full of MTX and are selling it on consoles for 70 bucks...

[@termnus77]

Wasn't that game AC Pirates?

[@Hakeraiden]

MTX which is all cosmetics. Also it's available for 15€

[@agentep9979]

​@@Hakeraiden15 bucks for a cosmetic is fucking absurd. I don't understand how game developers have been getting away selling insanely artificially inflated cosmetics for the last decade. IMO the most premium skin possible should cost 1 dollar, 1.50 - 2 if they really pulled out all the stops. But they get away because their game is "free" (not even the case with S&B), even though there is NO world where selling an individual piece of clothing or a weapon skin should cost as much as a THIRD of a $60 premium experience with dozens of hours of content

[@italianspiderman5012]

@@agentep9979preach brother! I’ve been saying this for years! It’s ridiculous how much skins cost, but unfortunately it seems that selling skins in fully priced games doesn’t rise an eyebrow anymore, shame.

[@bam-skater]

$70??...Not today satan, not today!

[@infinitexp420]

Helldivers 2 is FAR better than this lol

[@xxx-pliskin-sniper-xxx8538]

​@@infinitexp420What's it like for solo players? Can't get my bros to check this one out 😂

[@krisiscove]

Give it a month. It will be discounted.

[@ninakore]

- Bianca Del Rio

[@whyno713]

@@krisiscove Yup, gonna pick up a key when it hits $20 somewhere.

[@josephsheehan6079]

Seeing a skill up title with nor recommend don’t recommend but just “review” has the same energy as your dad isn’t mad he’s just disappointed.

[@lumirairazbyte9697]

That’s the same thing as Cyberpunk review: It’s a great game, but the bugs/performance tampered the experience. Skill Up didn’t say anything, because, if he said in the title that he fairly recommends S&B, it would be buried under the KZbin algorithm, because gamers wants this live-service game to fail.

[@SageWon-1aussie]

This review has massive "disappointed dad" energy.

[@mm30111990]

this should have been a game for your phone. that boarding scene was actually shocking.

[@Danieldialga]

Imagine developing a PIRATE game focused around the sea only to then not include sound effects for waves. At first i died laughing at that part, but then i remembered that my once beloved hobby turned into this money focused mess and it made me furious.

[@jthompson6189]

To be fair, 2023 was a banger year for video games. Just none of those were made by Ubisoft

[@harrydeansatan6803]

I get the frustration but I wouldn't measure the whole hobby by a company like Ubisoft that does its best to showcase everything that's wrong with """AAA""" games. There are tons of great games worth seeking out.

[@Danieldialga]

@@harrydeansatan6803 Absolutely, I agree. But you said it yourself - you actually have to look for games worth playing among hundreds of cash grabs.

[@bonefat21]

Back in the day, my friend described Ryse: Son of Rome as "if they made a game out of the movie 300, but took out all the cool parts and made it boring." Now, here he is, calling Skull and Bones "the Ryse: Son of Rome of Black Flag."

[@Trispefear]

Ryse is a cool ass game tho

[@brandondraheim3149]

The real question is whether you'd rather play this or Sid Meier's Pirates.

[@jjhaya]

Is that even a real question? The answer is too obvious 😅. The thing is though Sid Pirates is a good inspiration, at least developers have to update the graphics and make the game even deeper, Ubisoft already has such features from Black Flag and Rogue, and it's a guaranteed success 😊. Skull and Bones looks too shallow as a pond which is ironic that it feels like something you would see at Google Play store 😂.

[@paullatina7413]

I rather pass a kidney stone than play this trash……

[@D4rkKn1ght311]

Whst is worse this or Atlas?

[@wcw07]

Corsairs 2!

[@chilbiyito]

Or TLOPO community run version of the shutdown game POTCO

[@NutsorSomethingBerserk]

Goes to show how ahead of it’s time Black Flag was. It had issues, mainly the AC tropes and gimmicks in the gameplay that held it back from perfection but it’s story and overall gameplay, especially ship combat, and world were all peak AC. To this day, I haven’t found a pirate game that has captured my attention and heart like Black Flag has. And I wish someone would take the amazing blueprint that it laid out and make something just as good, if not better with modern technology and gameplay design.

[@YouLikeBosch]

That ship combat is like the most unsatisfying thing I've ever seen.

[@jonatanrobledo9812]

I remember playing arcade games back in the late 90s with more punch than this. Even that flash-powered pirate game 2d cannons had more impact than these boats.

[@thenegromancer4695]

Oddly black flag is way more satisfying and I hate assassin's creed

[@majones117]

Black flag was just in a league of its own. @@thenegromancer4695

[@GeremyG]

The brand new AAAA game genre is off to a bad start.

[@krisiscove]

I mean Cyberpunk has cost almost half a billion. You can consider that AAAA I suppose. And GTA6 is rumored to have a billion dollar budget. The real question is what budget qualifies as AAAA?

[@Shinkajo]

You're mistaken. It's working exactly as intended.

[@SageWon-1aussie]

More like double double Ay.

[@HeyMyNameIs...]

2011 Ubisoft gave you different styles of game genres and what did you get for 60 bucks: - A campaign filled with good and checklist content from Ubisoft - A fully functional multiplayer with different game modes and customization options - A fully playable co-op campaign This was the standard from Ubisoft and you got less and less when years went on and now you pay 70 bucks for less game, polish or different gameplay modes.

[@JMW10o0o]

Preach!

[@AJ-pc9gu]

is this supposed to be far cry 3? if so it came out in 2012

[@AppleInk]

Yes, and the 70 bucks price tag for current games is less and less excusable with every single AAA release that has recently come out.

[@akaimizu1]

@@AppleInk If they at least did, what they tried to hint at as a selling point, maybe they'd get away with it better. But no, the new $70 price tag did absolutely nothing to halt the same amount of, or more, micro transactions (from most publishers) they want to hit you with, from launch, for stuff which used to be included. They want that extra cake and eat it, too. Then have the nerve to never admit, like that Arnold line from Commando, "We lied!" They'll use any other word to politically redress that very same action.

[@AppleInk]

@@akaimizu1 Exactly. Sadly most people have been brainwahsed for years already. Lol, like Arnie x)

[@mackinblack]

GTA6 is a AAA game. Ubisoft is saying that Skull and Bones is even better than GTA6 will be.

[@TheManofthefuture101]

" Two months are enough to visit Los Santos ", after all.

[@dogg92]

Man, I wish to God that Rockstar had a pirate franchise in a similar vein as Red Dead 2. Just an ultra-detailed, ultra high-quality pirate game with a totally free open world to explore and commerce would be so amazing.

[@chrissturk5539]

Rockstar looks to be loosing it touch .. i wouldnt bet on them in the future

[@trevorn2969]

With all their games being about crime, there would be no better devs for it honestly

[@Axeloy]

if rockstar did pirates it would be absurdly good

[@RRRRRRRRR33]

It's a "easy" formula on paper really. Pirate simulator in the Caribbeans, open world, you can be a proper rogue or ally with the navy, play mini-games based on the time period and "piracy" activities, insert a One Piece easter egg, etc.. a game that will be popular for sure if it's well made and has enough production value. But here we are, Ubisoft actually has the money to make a game like this, but they burn that money with this game instead who went through production hell. I know some people assumes the expenses were not that high because of the Singaporean government cutting off taxes, cheap labor, etc.. but really, 11 freaking years, lol of course not the same budget of Red Dead 2 itself, but more than enough budget to cover up a modern Assassins Creed title and then some

[@TyaColo]

@@chrissturk5539I thought that too post GTA V and then RDR2 came out… they’re gonna have to prove me wrong and I hope they don’t.

[@aegiswings]

Sid Meier's Pirates in 1987 let you both do melee and ship combat!

[@JSTEEZYSNAKE]

Remember Pirates of The Caribbean for OG Xbox? You could get out and explore anywhere, you could board other ships and have sword combat.

[@hulsie88]

It was ace, I remember capturing the biggest ships and adding them to my fleet, I had a huge unstoppable fleet, if they could add that to black flag that would be the best.

[@ZombiePepperoni]

Y’all know where I can find a way to place this? I can’t find decent emulations and I’ve been searching for what feels like actual decades.

[@raven89k]

That was the game to take inspiration when making this

[@WickedRibbon]

When Skull and Bones was first announced I genuinely thought Ubisoft were making my dream game: AC: Black Flag + Sid Meier's Pirates! Turns out my expectations were waaaay too high 😢

[@iwatatiff]

Ubisoft never fails to disappoint

[@crumblebee6728]

“How do you spend 11 years making a game that is worse than the one you’ve already made!?” Rocksteady checking in

[@animelytical8354]

To be fair, they had a bad idea and executed it as we expected. Thus team just made a game that took out more than half of what people were asking for when they wanted a pirate game that wasn't Assassin's Creed

[@plop0r]

Disagree, kill the justice league is a different game with different ambitions to arkham. Sounds like features in skull and bones are directly eclipsed by its inspiration.

[@Axeloy]

this instance is in a more specific context considering it's supposed to be like black flag

[@gardian06_85]

by every so often throwing out the work, and starting again. kind of like saying "I am going to build a table" then every 2 weeks saying "this isn't quite right" and taking an axe to it, then starting from anything resembling wood that is left, and every time someone asks how you are doing on your table you just keep counting from the time you first said you were going to build one. This is what "Development Hell" truly means. this is not an "11-years of making a game", this is a 4-5 year project that has been started, stopped, chopped to pieces, and started again.

[@SillyRiz]

It's different here. SSKTJL is vastly different from the arkham games whereas skull and bones is an inferior version of a game ubisoft has already made (black flag)

[@elementoflight6834]

Even if you say "well it changed hands so much it has like 2 years of actual dev behind it by now". Boy, if they just took Blackflag and updated the graphics for a few months/years and then limit the on-foot gameplay, you still have a waay better pirate game than this thing.

[@thsudy]

“The purple cannon, The purple cannon, The purple cannon, The purple cannon, The purple cannon” -Fleekazoid

[@Xxgxxaxx]

I am so glad I understand that reference

[@Custodian_Hiom]

It's just the way it is, pimp

[@axllaw427]

The new "Light Wood Laminate"

[@sicjonathans]

Why nobody points it out, with all limitations, maybe, in one moment, Ubisoft was aiming mobile platform? If you look at this AAAAAAAA game like a mobile game, it will all make sense.

[@ryanmichaelriffs]

The best thing it has done is make me appreciate Black Flag more, as well as return to it. There was so much potential with this game too.

[@OMGclueless]

Is this gonna be like Suicide Squad and Arkham where the old game has more players a few days in because the main thing the release did was remind people of how fun the old thing was?

[@ryanmichaelriffs]

Dead on. I mean we all hope not, but the current state of gaming is pushing gamers that direction with releases like these.

[@user-zp8kj2cl9g]

Also AC Rogue

[@ryanmichaelriffs]

Absolutely, and I'm pretty sure that had less than a year of development or something crazy like that.

[@termnus77]

Jokes on you. Ubi sabotaged AC black flag with the last patch they released.... If they've fixed it again, awesome, but it feels like they really don't want you to play their back catalogue 😅

[@Malek-dg4gh]

He didn't even bother titling this "I do/do not not recommend" that's how you know it's gonna be good

[@Mink91]

He was paid to by Ubisoft no morals there

[@godminnette2]

​@@Mink91what the fuck are you talking about lmao. He clearly didn't put those in the title because recommending this game is complex, as he outlines in the opening minutes. The game is just okay, but it's a worse game than the excellent Black Flag.

[@foregone_roulette]

I love SkillUp but sometimes its pretty obvious when he's softballing it to not lose corporate access. I think his assumption is they'll read the title and not look at the actual review, and considering how lazy they were making this game that might actually be a safe bet lmao

[@joshuatealeaves]

@@foregone_rouletteHow is he softballing it here on this review? He’s roasting the game. I swear people in the gaming community just make up shit on the spot

[@bufosp]

r/whoosh

[@Gammelsmxlf]

"So I see that you are applying for the role of senior technical animator. What's this 11 year gap on your resumé?"

[@lordcorgi6481]

This was the easiest win Ubisoft could've ever had. Take Black Flag, make it multiplayer. That's it. Instead modern Ubisoft does what they always do. Install repetitive and mundane systems.

[@patmurf1]

As I watch this, I realize that Sid Meier's Pirates! accomplishes more than this game does. Back in 1987 Such AAAA

[@howlingbeast3x6]

I thought the exact same thing when he talked about boarding

[@TheWordPlay]

All I'm saying is that Sly 3 had a pirate section where you could board the enemy ships, and that came out in 2005

[@nathanwatkins1005]

😂 SMP did pirates right back in 2004 (and 87)

[@Sniih]

Dude thank you, Sly 3 was the OG goat of pirate combat.

[@Kaileigh_Broko]

I'm just gonna replay Black Flag instead of paying $70 of a worse version of being a pirate.

[@OfficialHybridSystem]

I think THIS is the most accurate and honest review of Skull and Bones I've seen, and I've seen a lot...

[@Eesu226]

The boarding part made me laugh. Forget about Black Flag, in Pirates Gold! A DOS game you at least had a boarding battle and little fighting game style sword fight when you boarded ships.

[@ShaggyShagz13]

I love Sid Meir's Pirates, Pirates Gold, and the remake Pirates. When NES and SNES both had a better pirate game than Ubisoft, somebody needs to be keelhauled.

[@wpk914]

Very cool that ship boarding in this 2024 Ubisoft game about pirates is less interesting than the level in Sly Cooper 3 where you act as a pirate for a half hour

[@kabnoot]

Have you played the game?

[@johan8969]

@@kabnoot The boarding is a cutscene so it doesnt matter. A person who bought the game has experienced the same as a YT clip.

[@c.g.1605]

Can’t wait for Austin’s Helldivers 2 review

[@rRobertSmith]

Are you kidding me? $70 for this piece of crap? Must be desperate to pay for the very long development cycle, Ubisoft built a lemon and now we have to pay for it?!

[@slt328]

Ralph’s copium for not getting to play helldivers: “I had some fun with it!” Excited for channel lead, Austin, (hehe) to release his review of helldivers!

[@DarthSatoris]

Giving Austin Helldivers 2 to review while choosing Skull and Bones for himself is probably the biggest L Ralph has given himself in a long time. xD

[@TheCrewExpendable]

That's how you know Ralph is a good leader! He immediately jumped on this grenade to protect his team!

[@HarrisonFletcher2049]

I refuse to believe there wasnt some lead designer that was just VEHEMENTLY against out of ship gameplay and Ubisoft just couldnt get rid of him because of the same rules that kept them from being able to cancel the game and be forced to continue development. Nothing else explains how they managed to exlcude the gameplay that warranted the existence of the game in the first place.

[@DerOrk]

There is no on-foot content because this was ment to be a PvP multiplayer game originally. By the time it was retooled into a singleplayer experience it was too late fof such drastic changes in gameplay.

[@patrickowens89]

“…aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”

[@stevenesbitt3528]

Haha😂

[@poposterous236]

underrated comment

[@amelioratetoolate]

I see what you did there

[@fiftyfour5454]

The carousel tactic described at 37:40 was actually commonly used in the early part of the age of sail, like the sixteenth century, before ships were built longer with more and bigger cannons on the broadside. However, the point stands that the extreme angles cannons can fire at without visibly rotating at all (and a hell of a lot of other things in this package) are eminently arcadey and unhistorical.

[@rabilrocks10]

Only AAAA thing I can see here is Ralph’s ability to review a videogame.

[@Zola2546]

''These games were born on the other side of the finish line, but they still found a way to come last place.'' This is the kind of quality wordsmithing I always come back for. Thank You Sir!

[@Arntor-kf9hi]

Honestly it just feels like if you’re the type wanting to chill and be a pirate for 20-40hrs just buy black flag for $15 and you’ll enjoy yourself much more.

[@AwesomeTiger267]

Best part is he says that multiple times 🤣

[@foggyvhs8790]

The best thing this game’ll do is just push people back to replay BF

[@RRRRRRRRR33]

Have to ignore the nonsensical story tho

[@foggyvhs8790]

@@RRRRRRRRR33 I never finished it, but I loved the premise and characters from what I did play. It was the first game where I was like damn this’d do great if it wasn’t weighed down by being an AC game. Weird cause upon playing Skull and Bones I was thinking damn I wish this was a little more AC.

[@RRRRRRRRR33]

@@foggyvhs8790 It's wacky, the main character learns ninja skills out of nowhere, then the whole "Chariots of the Gods?" nonsense, etc.. I love ninjas just like everyone else, it's a universal thing (especially if you are a guy. Ninjas, robots, gunslingers, samurais, pirates, etc.. automatic appeal), but to mix up ninjas with pirates... imo it doesn't work, it looks too goofy and out of place. If you remove the AC shenanigans of Black Flag, if the main character is a typical rogue who can perform rough parkour and fight dirty (using a lot of those one shot flintlock pistols), that would be the perfect pirate game