The epic pirating adventure game spiritual spin-off of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Skull and Bones has found its own identity since the title was first announced. Set during the Golden Age of Piracy on the Indian Ocean, the game promises a unique swashbuckling experience with a heavy emphasis on multiplayer.
Players begin Skull and Bones having just survived a shipwreck, with very little supplies or money to their name. From there, they can pick up contracts, hunt for treasure, and explore the game's open world as they gain infamy as a pirate. Infamy can be used to grow a player's pirate empire, letting them unlock things like new weapons, ships, and armor. Players can play on their own or fight each other online in Skull and Bones on a PvP server, or opt for a cooperative server where they can work together with others to complete their goals.
The Creative Director of Skull and Bones Elisabeth Pellen sat down with Screen Rant to discuss the game's evolution since it began, the game's immersive world, and how development was influenced by history.
I know Skull and Bones is largely inspired by the Golden Age of piracy in the Indian Ocean region. The era seems like a pretty straightforward choice, but what was it about the piracy in the Indian Ocean that really made you lean in that direction?
Elisabeth Pellen: We were looking for a new context to renew and refresh the pirate genre, and the main difference we discovered between the pirates of the Caribbean and the piracy of the Indian Ocean is that in the Caribbean, to become rich pirate might have to board 25 ships. But in the Indian Ocean, a pirate could become a billionaire in just one day. The Golden Age of Piracy at the end of the 17th century was created by the trade routes that all of those rich merchant companies used to transport the most valuable cargo at the time, so it's really based on the gold rush.
When you're a pirate - and when you are an ordinary man and suddenly you become a millionaire legend, what do you do with all of that money? So what those pirates did is that, instead of spending this money in a tavern, they created illegal outposts and organized themselves. They even created their own secret trading networks between the region of Madagascar and the North American colonies. Because we wanted to create a game as a service meant to be operated for the next 10 years, we needed to also use a fantasy with different layers in the long term. So, those pirate entrepreneurs were interesting for us.
Also, we discovered multiple phases of piracy in the Indian Ocean. Around those entrepreneurs were other pirates such as scavengers and smugglers, so it was for us the perfect opportunity to offer different play styles and different fantasies adapted to their personalities.
I know from the preview event that co-op is almost considered and encouraged as the best way to play this game. There's PvP servers, but can players also cooperate together on more story contracts and that sort of thing? Or is it that if you're playing with players, you're also playing against players?
Elisabeth Pellen: We have two types of servers. The PvP servers where you have the full experience, and the one where solo, PvE players, and PvP players can play together and team up or fight each other. You can play solo or in Co-op, but no matter which server you start, you won't lose your progress. You can navigate from one experience to the other according to your mood, and also the time you decide to spend on the game.
Players are going to have to deal with a lot of different kinds of enemies, whether it's animals or other people or corporations. Can you elaborate on the creation of the game's different sets of enemies, in of human versus non-human or corporate entities?
Elisabeth Pellen: For most of our IPs, we use historical research that we then broke down into different systems and three main pillars. One is about the world, so for Skull and Bones we segmented the world into a system such as the ocean, the wind, the flora and the fauna, and the wildlife.
The second pillar is focus on the time period, so the system we extracted from the time period that was the factions, the trade routes, the ships, and also the cargo. Because the cargo is inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy, and it's got spices and coffee and silk.
And the third pillar is about the fantasy of the pirate, which we broke down into systems such as plundering, but also activities in the world. You can smuggle some illegal cargo, for example, to make some money instead of attacking another ship. Then after we use a filter, driven by the fantasy. We wanted to push and cherry pick to select the system that we thought would be the most fun to to play.
During the preview event, it was also mentioned that mutiny would be possible. How will staff and crew management work in the game?
Elisabeth Pellen: In the game, we have a moral gauge system that goes from both extremes. If you upkeep the morale of your crew and even galvanize them, this is when you will perform the best boarding - because you don't board the ship yourself; you send your crew to board, so you need to uplift them. But on the other side, if you don't feed your crew and you don't manage it properly, you might face a rebellion. And those guys will maroon you on a dead island and get out with the ship.
It seems like even weather can be an enemy in this game, just in of different harsh weather events. What kinds of specific dramatic turns of weather can players expect to see while they're out exploring?
Elisabeth Pellen: In Skull and Bones, we developed an epic storm, and you can even see the big dark cloud coming towards you. You can decide to avoid it, or you can use it to your advantage to get rid of some enemies if the ship is not properly equipped to face them. Because the storm will increase the size of the wave, and you will have to face some waves that could be deadly. So, you will have to navigate carefully to avoid those waves.
And, of course, because of the movement and the physics of the sea, if you participate in the naval [systems], it can be an interesting game-changer, combined with the ballistics. We also have some fog. Suddenly, fog can appear and that will reduce the visibility. Again, it makes it interesting for players to play hide and seek with other players in the fog, and to also avoid or surprise some enemies and turn it to an advantage.
Yeah, there were some pretty scary-looking clouds and waves in the trailer that I saw. This game has been developed as an idea for many years now, and you've mentioned that it's taken on a different direction than when the project first started. What do you think some of those biggest shifts and changes are?
Elisabeth Pellen: When I ed the project 2 years ago, after we announced the game, my mandate was to create the best environment for the gameplay of the navigation that we were developing. We at first experimented with a five- versus-five arena, and in parallel, we also tested with some players in areas that were more open world. As a team, we took the decision to go more for the open world, because it fit better with the pirate fantasy that is about freedom and exploration.
And also because of the inertia of our gigantic ship, it was not comfortable for the player to play on a larger playground. The big shift was to go for the development of a fuller open world, and also to turn the entire open world into a multiplayer playground that we then segmented, as I explained, into the PvP and the PvE.
In of what players can expect and what you're most excited about, what do you want readers to know about Skull and Bones?
Elisabeth Pellen: The particular idea of Skull and Bones, compared to the initial intention, is that we wanted the player to evolve from the status of outcast stranded on a desert island to the status of the middle man, and then finally to reach the status of a kingpin competing with a monster. It was really a relatable journey that was inspired by historical research and that we wanted to offer to the player.
Because at that time, at the end of the 17th century, what we discovered is that any ordinary man or woman could become a kingpin with the right knowledge and the right attitude. They could really change their destiny, and I think that this is what we are really proud of, because it will help any players to imagine, "Oh my God, I could have become a pirate myself."
There's all these new opportunities. Do you have any favorite new ships or weapons, or anything like that in the game?
Elisabeth Pellen: Yes, my favorite ship is maybe The Sloop-of-War. It's not the biggest one, and it's not the strongest one But I like it, because it allows me to be quite efficient during a battle, but it also offers me also weight capacity. The game is about stealing some resources, and it's easy to maneuver, so I like its flexibility.
Something I like to play also, when I really cooperate with friends to attack a fortress, I like to play a healer. Because in the game, we turned some weapons into healer weapons. I think it's super fun to be able to the player and to play more from a distance. That's the kind of style I like to play.
What was it like trying to balance the historical inspiration while still making it as enjoyable as possible?
Elisabeth Pellen: We use historical research to create this authentic journey inspired from history. To create a new experience and have that progression, where at the beginning, you will have to earn some [money] and chop some trees to build your gigantic vessel. But we also wanted to offer the opportunity of scale to our players. So, we had to diverge from the historical timelines, and this might be fictionalized for our context.
Also we have to add some weapons, and we wanted to create and offer more than just the regular classical canons. This is why we developed some torpedoes and mortars - those weapons are still realistic, but again, we diverged a bit from the strict history for the situation.
And finally, the reason why we fictionalized for our context is because diversity is very important for us in the game. As you may know, female pirates were quite rare. I found some female pirates, but maybe one per big-time group. We could not get more in a consistent way, so this is why we changed the name and changed a bit of the destiny. This is how and why we tried to find the right balance between authenticity, diversity and value.
Skull and Bones will release November 8 for Xbox consoles, PlayStation consoles, and PC.