Gameplay Screenshots Of Skull And Bones Have Leaked Online

An anonymous figure on Reddit has shared what appears to be three leaked gameplay screenshots of Ubisoft’s upcoming pirate simulator Skull and Bones. Bear in mind that this game right here was initially announced in 2017 and has suffered a whopping six delays since then. The surfaced images have been dumped on Imgur and showcase some elements of the title’s in-game environment. 

The first image appears to comprise the protagonist standing beside a cannon somewhere on the ship’s deck, highlighting the third-person camera perspective. The second photo is seemingly higher in quality and sees the same hero character in a settlement rather than on a ship. The final leaked screenshot is cinematic and visualizes a ship sailing on sea—nothing too out of the blue. 

The individual who shared these images also report that Skull and Bones’ development isn’t proceeding quite swimmingly, despite all these delays that have kept pushing the release of the title further on out. In addition, a flat-out cancellation of the project seems likely, and it’s possible that the pirate sim won’t make it to release day even this year, despite Ubisoft saying otherwise in a press release from January. 

As for the source of the aforementioned images, the leaker claims that the screenshots are from a recent playtest. Come to think of it, Ubisoft did mention in the press report that things have improved drastically for Skull and Bones, thanks to the playtests that have been going on for further development of the title.

Players will be able to discover the beauty of Skull and Bones in the upcoming beta phase. The additional time has already paid off and brought impressive improvements to its quality, which has been confirmed
by recent playtests. We believe players will be positively surprised by its evolution. We have decided to postpone its release in order to have more time to showcase a much more polished and balanced experience and to build awareness. Skull and Bones will now be released early 2023-24.”

Skull and Bones started its unfortunate journey with pretty solid stepping stones. It stemmed from Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag’s naval combat and seafaring mechanics, which, according to critics and fans, received tons of love from around the globe. It seemed plausible to take that concept and mold it into something more robust, such as a dedicated game revolving around that sort of gameplay. 

Therefore, Skull and Bones has been in the works for as early as 2013 but still hasn’t seen a launch a decade later. Call it mismanagement from the side of the developers or a complete lack of vision on how to proceed, what started off as a fairly doable IP has been subject to the woes of development hell. One can only hope that the title does happen to release this year and end up as a finished product after all these years.