After I first received my fingers on Cranium & Bones throughout its final closed beta in August, I used to be surprised that this legendarily elusive recreation really existed. Now, with a launch date in February of subsequent 12 months quick approaching, it could appear any doubt that this seafaring journey received’t see the sunshine of day is fading. Now I simply need to know if it’s going to be good, and after one other six hours in the newest closed beta this previous weekend, I discover myself extra hopeful than ever that this plundering simulator may really seize the eye of me and my buddies. Although the newest beta included some odd and surprising adjustments to the story, my buddies and I dove deep into the waters of this ship-based journey’s RPG mechanics and got here away pleasantly shocked.
First off, if you happen to haven’t seen our preview from a couple of months in the past, you need to go and test that out, as a result of the overwhelming majority of my reward and cautious optimism nonetheless applies. Having an opportunity to develop my sea legs a couple of months in the past, me and two of my fellow skallywags spent a very good chunk of the weekend tinkering with our boats and exploring as a lot of the map as we may earlier than working into horrifyingly overpowered enemy crafts that turned us into driftwood in a single second flat.
Upgrading and customizing your very personal piracy vessel stays one of many coolest issues Cranium & Bones affords, and that’s very true after the primary few hours as soon as I acquired the means to craft class-based ships with particular strengths and weaknesses to go well with my playstyle. In my opinion, I wish to prioritize DPS and revel in getting in shut and smashing the enemy craft to items, so I constructed “The Rammer,” a ship that’s nice for doing as a lot harm as attainable. In the meantime, the opposite members of my get together constructed a tank-y ship referred to as “The Defender” and a support-focused ship referred to as “The Sentinel,” in order that after we fought as a crew, we had the proper range of specializations we wanted to completely crush any poor landlubbers who dared set sail in our seas.
Combining these completely different ship varieties with varied sorts of weapons like long-ranged sniper cannons that do a number of harm versus others that blast massive volleys of close-quarters fireballs, and attachments that regulate varied resistances and armor scores, made Cranium & Bones really feel like a real naval RPG, and it felt like my crew had solely simply begun scratching the floor of what’s attainable, with dozens upon dozens of extra highly effective choices locked out for vessels of our degree.
“Upgrading and customizing your very personal piracy vessel stays one of many coolest issues Cranium & Bones affords.”
After the earlier beta, I praised Cranium & Bones for having a narrative that was surprisingly extra fleshed out than I used to be anticipating, and whereas that also held true on this second beta, there have been additionally some actually weird adjustments to the narrative I don’t totally perceive. For instance, within the early moments of the earlier beta I discovered a dying pirate captain, Abel Rassler, who served as a leaping off level for the remainder of the story, however on this newest model, once I went to loot that very same ship, the nice captain had already expired, leaving me to quietly seize his stuff earlier than leaving.
I’m actually unsure why this main story change occurred! Perhaps Ubisoft received suggestions that there was an excessive amount of speaking within the early a part of their cannonball-focused pirate recreation, or maybe they simply lower this half out of this beta since members have been solely allotted six hours of playtime, but it surely wasn’t the one large one I seen. There have been additionally a couple of vital dialogue adjustments, and considered one of my primary crewmates had been changed by a brand new character altogether. It’s fairly stunning that, in spite of everything these years of growth, they’re nonetheless making vital story adjustments within the 4 months because the final beta. However then once more, I suppose that’s what betas are for. Right here’s hoping that’s not an indication that the script’s going by way of too many last-minute rewrites this near launch.
