On 8 November 2022, Ubisoft will be publishing Skull and Bones on the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Google Stadia and Windows PC platforms – an action-adventure game developed by their Singapore studios, which focuses on open-world naval-combat. This is only a genre of gaming (at the moment) really focused on by 2018’s Sea of Thieves from RARE, at least in terms of AAA-developed/published works.
With the game having a presence at Gamescom this week, we have received more information about the game’s PC-specs and features, as well as some of the online functionality / anti-cheat being introduced at launch.
You can read more about each of these inclusions below:
PC Specs and Features
Depending on your system specs, some of the features PC players will be able to access include:
- 4K HDR: To be fully immersed in the gameplay experience.
- Uncapped FPS: To give players a higher potential for reducing input lag during naval battles
- Image upscaling: To offer premium quality images and detailed gameplay through ray tracing, DLSS and FSR.
- Complete customization: To change options in the advanced input settings to create a close-to-perfect experience.
But again, this is heavily dependent on your specs and other computer-specific elements.
Online Features and Anti-Cheat
According to Ubisoft, while “players can sail through the dangerous seas of Skull and Bones™ alone, it is best experienced with up to two other friends or player encountered”. Therefore, they claim to have added the following features to ensure the game offers an “entertaining online experience”:
Player tooling: A balanced matchmaking system to hop into Skull and Bones™ world. Players will be placed into servers based on their Infamy level and PvP preference. Players can also report or block others for disruptive behavior in the game.
Game servers: Powerful physical servers with modular redundancy and cloud servers complement one another during spikes of high activity to limit wait times. Ubisoft dedicated server sites in North and South America, Europe, Asia, South Africa, and Oceania.
Anti-cheat solutions: BattlEye monitors the game in real-time. It permanently bans players on the first offense if any cheats have been deployed and detected to gain an unfair advantage.
The main question I have is around the latter, particularly, what means Ubisoft has in-place to a) Ensure that PC performance does not suffer if real-time monitoring is in place, and b) Will there be any way of contesting permanent bans.
Developed by Ubisoft Singapore and published by Ubisoft, Skull and Bones will be released on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Google Stadia and Windows PC starting 8 November 2022.
