Cranium & Bones – Closed Beta Impressions

After I first received my fingers on Cranium & Bones throughout its final closed beta in August, I used to be shocked that this legendarily elusive sport truly existed. Now, with a launch date in February of subsequent yr quick approaching, it might 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 would possibly truly seize the eye of me and my pals. Although the newest beta included some odd and surprising adjustments to the story, my pals and I dove deep into the waters of this ship-based journey’s RPG mechanics and got here away pleasantly stunned.

First off, for those who haven’t seen our preview from a number of months in the past, you must go and verify 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 number of months in the past, me and two of my fellow skallywags spent a superb 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 swimsuit my playstyle. In my opinion, I wish to prioritize DPS and luxuriate 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 injury as potential. In the meantime, the opposite members of my occasion constructed a tank-y ship known as “The Defender” and a support-focused ship known as “The Sentinel,” in order that once we fought as a crew, we had the proper range of specializations we would have liked to completely crush any poor landlubbers who dared set sail in our seas.

Combining these completely different ship sorts with numerous sorts of weapons like long-ranged sniper cannons that do plenty of injury versus others that blast massive volleys of close-quarters fireballs, and attachments that alter numerous 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 potential, with dozens upon dozens of extra highly effective choices locked out for vessels of our stage.

“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 great captain had already expired, leaving me to quietly seize his stuff earlier than leaving.

I’m actually unsure why this main story change occurred! Possibly Ubisoft received suggestions that there was an excessive amount of speaking within the early a part of their cannonball-focused pirate sport, or maybe they simply minimize this half out of this beta since individuals have been solely allotted six hours of playtime, however it wasn’t the one large one I seen. There have been additionally a number of important dialogue adjustments, and one in every of my major crewmates had been changed by a brand new character altogether. It’s fairly shocking that, in spite of everything these years of improvement, they’re nonetheless making important story adjustments within the 4 months for the reason that 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.