Games Inbox: Is Skull And Bones worth playing?

Skull And Bones has been a long time coming (Picture: Ubisoft)

The Monday letters page is impressed by Larian Studios’ secret for video game success, as one reader quite likes Mario Vs. Donkey Kong.

To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

A1 gaming

As soon as Skull And Bones was announced, what feels like eons ago, I was overcome with excitement. After loving the ship gameplay in Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag I was looking forward to some more of the same, sailing the seas as a pirate and plundering my way round the Caribbean…

Very distant memories.

I bought a Ubisoft+ subscription for a month so I could try Skull And Bones for free. I’m glad I did that rather than spending a large chunk of money on a game that someone described as a AAAA game.

Did they mean AAAA on the Xbox 360? The game is clunky and awkward. The graphics look like they belong on the previous generation of consoles and, in my opinion, the game should be sunk. It is absolutely awful.

Ritch, Sheffield

Words to live by

I just want to say good on Larian Studios for what they said about the secret of success in the games industry today: ‘Building games that are actually fun is going to make you the most money, that’s it.’

What a quote, sums it all up for me and I bet there’s not a single bigwig exec that believes it or would do anything but laugh at the mere concept.

I haven’t even bought Baldur’s Gate 3 but I will now, because I like their attitude and want them to be successful, although it seems they achieved that on their own.

The idea that Microsoft or Sony are doing any of this for the love of gaming, or wanting to create something with artistic value, is long gone. It’s just whatever trend is going to generate more growth, no matter how short term it is and how much damage it does to the most important business of… just building games.

Rocko

Unchained Souls

FromSoftware buying the rights to Elden Ring is the sort of boring business explanation that makes total sense for why we haven’t heard about the DLC in so long, so that’s kind of a relief. But I wonder why they bought it? I imagine it was very expensive so did they use their own cash reserves or get more investment from Sony and Tencent? Could Sony be trying to get control of the franchise for itself?

I don’t know, obviously, but I am so glad to see FromSoftware not only being successful but becoming so influential and important, despite their games seeming like they’d have no chance of being hits.

I hope this level of control leads to them continuing to do exactly what they want and nothing else. No easy modes, no simple explanations, just pure undistilled From. Looking forward to finding out what the DLC is but even more looking forward to whatever game they do after that, as hopefully it’ll be completely off the chain.

84Colbat

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Forget everything

I can’t help but think that this recent exclusives kerfuffle is all about the inevitable conflict between two ideas. At the start of a generation you want exclusive games to sell your console, but once you are into a generation and most people have bought in, you want to make the games multiformat to sell as many copies as you can, and to show the other side what they are missing (but hope that gamers forget this at the start of the next gen). This is particularly true now that AAA games costs are so high.

That said, I think some people are enjoying handwringing and doom mongering far too much (‘dark days’, etc). Ultimately gaming is always about the games, and there are still loads of great ones about (exclusive or otherwise). Just look at last year! Play the games, forget about the politics, tribalism, and marketing, and you’ll enjoy gaming a lot more.

Matt (he_who_runs_away – PSN ID)

First person Lucasfilm

So The Mandalorian is meant to be first person as well? After this and Indiana Jones it seems like a weird trend. I would’ve thought Mandalorian would work better if you can actually see Mando, especially given the jetpack. I don’t see how that’s going to work in first person at all. For something like Metroid Prime the action has to be slow and considered for it to work and they have really small areas too, I can’t imagine that being the same for Star Wars.

Of course, the rumour could just be wrong but after years of decline it’d be weird if the way first person shooters came back, for anything other than multiplayer, was licensed games. Surely if you go to all that trouble of getting a licence you want to see the character you paid for?

The Bishop

Fine is fine

After playing the free demo of Mario Vs. Donkey Kong on the Switch and reading your review last week I decided to take the plunge and buy the game.

Your review was spot on, it’s not the most taxing game in the grey matter department and it’s not really doing anything revolutionary in ideas but what it is, is a fun cutesy puzzle game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. A welcome distraction from fusing weapons, reloading machinegun clips, and destroying hordes of enemies.

I would have liked them to have incorporated an amiibo function in it somehow, however. Maybe something akin to the Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Hide and Seek game that was unlocked when using the amiibo, that certainly could have breathed new life into the levels.

On a side note, I noticed Charles Martinet’s name role up on the end credits. So I assume he is still being used as a Mario voice actor in some capacity, even if it is just for old remakes. Interesting nonetheless though.

freeway 77

GC: We noticed that too. Since it’s a remake though it’s hard to tell if it’s old or new recordings.

Au naturel

I always strive to experience games as their developers intended, so I typically opt for the normal difficulty level. I’m not particularly fond of the so-called git gud games like the Souls series.

However, if I encounter a section of a game that proves overly challenging, I’m committed to spending as much time as necessary to overcome it. Only if I find it impossible to progress will I consider lowering the difficulty level for that specific section.

Petros

Next generation problems

Great article on the Xbox podcast and current problems in the gaming industry, GC. The talk this week, from both Xbox and PlayStation, has been pretty concerning for fans of either console.

PlayStation stating they have no new releases from major franchises in the next 12 months, and having only released Spider-Man in the last 12 months, paints a pretty damning picture of their scheduling. Well, that or it highlights that triple-A games are taking way too long to make, which we all know anyway.

Meanwhile, Xbox talking up the next generation of hardware already, while they arguably haven’t even stretched the limits of the current generation (Forza games excluded, from what I’ve read) seems crazy.

If first party studios are only able to get one new game out a generation – I’m not including remasters here – which seems to be the case, other than for the workhorses that are Insomniac, then shouldn’t we be extending the lifespans of consoles so they can have more output?

I know Xbox are in last place again, which is why they want to kickstart the next generation, but I think they could do with getting their studios to focus on the current hardware and make some really good games for it so they can build up some steam for the next generation.

The promise of the biggest ever technological leap for the next Xbox, or whatever Sarah Bond said, is surely mismanaging expectations too. I imagine it’ll turn out to be executive hyperbole, with the pre-release marketing focusing on the introduction of generative AI, or whatever the current buzzword/technology is, and the actual improvement will, again, be minimal.

This generation barely seems like it’s started but Sony and Microsoft are already prepping us for a barren spell of releases or their next console. I’m hoping they’ll both have strong spring or summer showcases that provide relatively imminent release dates for new first party games.

It’s hard to get excited about console gaming at the moment, as there doesn’t seem to be many games on the horizon. Let’s hope Nintendo comes good on the Switch 2 announcement and release this year.

Hubert

Inbox also-rans

I completely agree with the Reader’s Feature about Microsoft not knowing what to do with Activision Blizzard. If you can’t make the games exclusive, what’s the point? So much money and so many jobs gone, and for what?

Carlton

I’m so glad that the Tomb Raider remasters turned out well. Like others have said, the lack of news basically convinced me they were going to be bad. So, word of advice publishers: don’t keep games a secret, it makes us assume the worst.

Benjy Dog

This week’s Hot Topic

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Sterling, who asks what is your favourite Xbox or PlayStation exclusive?

It’s obvious where this idea came from but, ignoring Nintendo for now, what is your favourite game published by Microsoft or Sony, regardless of whether they made it or not? For clarification, that means Final Fantasy 7 Remake, for example, doesn’t count, but Bloodborne and Microsoft Flight Simulator do.

How important do you feel exclusives are and have you ever bought a console primarily based on the exclusive games available for it? Do you think exclusives are unfair or a necessity for consoles to distinguish themselves from the competition?

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The small print

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