Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is widely regarded as the highlight of the series thanks to the full embrace of its excellent pirate theme. It seems Ubisoft heard the cries of fans for more pirate goodness. During their E3 2017 press conference they unveiled Skull and Bones, a new online multiplayer game that lets you be a pirate captain. Skull and Bones is due out Fall 2018 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

Skull and Bones will feature a shared open world that you can play solo or cooperatively with friends. The naval action looks like a nice evolution of Black Flag’s controls, where you have to factor in wind and water to steer your large ships. You can also command an entire fleet, as shown in the gameplay trailer below.

You can customize your pirate captain, hire your own crews to man your ships and outfit those ships with a variety of weapons. Ships are divided into RPG-like classes: the heavy Frigate, the speedy Brigantine, and the long-range Sloop-of-War. More ships are planned for the final release.

You can register at the Skull and Bones website for a chance to play the game’s beta phase.

Skull and Bones is scheduled for release Fall 2018 for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 4.


This article was written by

Eric has been writing for over nine years with bylines at Dicebreaker, Pixelkin, Polygon, PC Gamer, Tabletop Gaming magazine, and more covering movies, TV shows, video games, tabletop games, and tech. He reviews and live streams D&D adventures every week on his YouTube channel. He also makes a mean tuna quesadilla.