PvP (Skull and Bones): As with Ubisoft's melee brawler For Honor (opens in new tab), Skull and Bones is primarily focused on team-based, player-versus-player competition. Realism has no place in Sea of Thieves, which is how plenty of aspiring pirates like it. Krakens and mermaids roam the seas, and your flintlock pistol reloads in the blink of an eye. Your customizable characters will bear exaggerated facial features that make crews look like pirate caricatures, and you'll constantly cross swords with skeletons rising from their graves as they swarm you en masse to reclaim stolen treasure chests. Sea of Thieves is in line with Rare's previous work in that it opts for a fun, cartoony style that has no concern for real-world laws of physics. The gorgeous graphics also give every ship a detailed, impressively ornate appearance - which makes it all the more satisfying when one of your cannons hits dead-on and turns that enemy hull into a explosion of tiny splinters.įantasy (Sea of Thieves): The easiest way to sum up Sea of Thieves' approach to realism is the fact that you can launch yourself out of a cannon to land onshore or onboard another ship - and land completely unharmed. That said, Skull and Bones isn't afraid to dabble in the supernatural, if the cinematic tease of a giant kraken is any indication. You won't just swing your boat into position like some kind of arcadey shooter: steering the ship for the best tactical advantage relies on your mechanical knowledge and skill, requiring that you sail with the wind at your back to build up speed (measured in knots, naturally) and quickly drop anchor when it's time to aim your cannons or manage a tight turn. Realism (Skull and Bones): While calling Skull and Bones 'realistic' might be a stretch, Ubisoft is clearly going for a healthy dose of historical accuracy when it comes to 18th-century ship designs and their combat capabilities. All you have to do from there is grab a shovel, dig up your reward, and run like hell if any reanimated skeletons try to reclaim their riches. As in classic pirate films like Treasure Island and The Goonies, you'll seek out your next haul of treasure via exploration and the guidance of cryptic clues that lead to towards those secret spots in the sand. Whether you're plundering sunken ships, forging a path through a tropical jungle, or boarding an enemy vessel, it's all in the pursuit of booty and filling up your ship's hold with filthy lucre. Treasure hunting (Sea of Thieves): For those seeking the more traditional high-seas adventure in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean, Sea of Thieves will float your boat. There's no evidence that you'll ever be disembarking for land or controlling isolated crewmembers, nor have we seen any third-person combat a la Creed for instance, boarding an enemy vessel is simply a cutscene execution triggered by a button press. This appears to be what'd you'd get if you took Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag (opens in new tab) and stripped out all the on-land bits, putting the focus entirely on grandiose ship skirmishes as pirate crews vie for dominance across the Indian Ocean.

Naval battles (Skull and Bones): Simply put, Skull and Bones is all about the boats - and though that could potentially change as Ubisoft reveals more in the months leading up to launch, you should consider it to be a strictly seafaring vehicular combat game for the time being.

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