Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones will feature a variety of crewable ships, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Here are the ones revealed so far.
Ubisoft Singapore’s upcoming live-service piracy game, Skull and Bones, will feature a variety of crewable ships with which players can explore, fight, and plunder. While it was initially envisioned as a spin-off of Assassin’s Creed IV:Black Flag, Skull & Bones‘ gameplay looks different than its predecessor, which makes sense – the game has been in development for close to a decade. This extended period is the result of multiple delays and changes in the game’s vision, but recent reveals indicate the game is finally almost finished.
Over the course of Skull and Bones, players accumulate a fleet of ships with different stats and traits for different purposes. Each ship can be outfitted with an arsenal of weapons, such as cannons and rockets, as well as armor and a whole host of other upgrades like extra cargo space, furniture, and cosmetics like sail and wood colors. As such, players have a significant degree of control over their playstyle and aesthetics, being able to sail alone or swashbuckle socially with friends in Skull and Bones‘ multiplayer.
The choice at the core of this customization in Skull and Bones is the class of ship the player will crew, from the hard-hitting brig to the nimble cutter. Each vessel fits into one of three general categories – Cargo ships specialize in carrying plundered goods and supplies, Firepower ships are designed for maximum offensive capability, and Navigation ships are fast, likely good for scouting or making quick escapes. Here are the ships that are confirmed to be in Ubisoft’s new pirate game so far.
Every pirate needs to start somewhere. When a player begins their adventure on the Indian Ocean in Skull and Bones‘ take on the Golden Age of Piracy, the one-masted dhow is the first ship they’ll have. It’s small, and likely has limited options for customization compared to the more impressive ships in a fleet. Still, players shouldn’t discount the dhow – it has uses even beyond the early hours of the game.
Developers at Ubisoft Singapore have described the dhow as a “hunter-gatherer” ship. While it can’t haul tons of cargo or equip impressive weapons, its limited arsenal and small size make it perfect for hunting sharks. Larger weaponry would blow them to bits, rendering their skins useless for sale. The dhow likely has a few other qualities that make it superior for gathering supplies, too, and it seems likely that it is a Cargo-type ship.
While plenty of pirate media, like the long-running multiplayer title, Sea of Thieves (which hit 25 million players in 2021) draws on well-established pirate tropes, Skull and Bones cuts a bit deeper for inspiration and focuses on the Indian Ocean rather than the Caribbean. As such, while players could possibly see galleons and Portuguese caravels, ships from Asia like the sambuk play a much larger role. Little is known about the sambuk in-game, though some inferences can be made.
In real life, sambuks are considered a type of dhow, though they have two masts rather than one, and have historically been used for pearl diving. It seems likely that sambuks might be Cargo ships in the game, serving a similar purpose to the dhow but with space for a larger crew. Without further information this is all speculation, but more will likely be revealed as the Skull and Bones release date gets closer.
More concrete information is available around the brigantine, one of the ships that appeared in Skull and Bones’ gameplay reveal. A developer described it as the “fastest ship in the game” – which makes sense, as the ship falls into the Navigation category. The brigantine is also categorized as medium which, when paired with the dhow’s classification as small, provides a hint to the scale of the rest of the game’s ships – multi-decked galleons may very well appear, and even mightier vessels aren’t unlikely.
From gameplay, the brigantine is more than just fast – it seems to be able to carry a sizable amount of cargo when equipped with additional storage. The ship’s main weakness seems to be a limited offensive capacity. Still, many pirate captains in Skull and Bones will likely turn to the brigantine for raids that require speed and precision.
Keen-eyed audiences who watched the new Skull and Bones gameplay reveal may have briefly spotted a pair of cutters. Unfortunately, the term “cutter” wasn’t widely in use until the 18th century, so Skull and Bones’ definition of a cutter may not easily align with known, existing historical ships. That doesn’t entirely rule out speculation, though.
What is known is that the Skull and Bones cutter is relatively small – only a fraction of the size of medium ships. As real, historical cutters were often used as small warships, it seems likely that in-game they would be categorized as Firepower ships. While the small size likely wouldn’t allow for a huge array of weaponry, a smaller, more maneuverable vessel could be great for protecting – or raiding – larger, slower ships.
Like the sambuk, the padewakang is a ship endemic to Skull and Bones’ Indian Ocean open-world setting, rather than the Caribbean. Also like the sambuk, little is known about the padewakang in-game. The ship will likely feature distinct, tilted tanja sails, but not much more can be said – historically, it’s been used for trade and warfare, making its role in the game unclear.
Of all the ships revealed so far, the brig is sure to be one of Skull and Bones’ hardest-hitting vessels. It has plenty of capacity for weaponry, from canons to bombards and mortars. Gameplay has even shown a brig with a front-mounted multi-tank Greek Fire weapon, which releases massive gouts of flame that rapidly burn enemy ships. The brig isn’t even the most imposing vessel in the game – like the brigantine, it’s labeled as a medium ship. Larger, nastier, and better-armed vessels may sail the seas, but the brig will certainly be a solid choice for tackling such problems head-on.
Reports indicate that Skull and Bones has seen a rough development, it’s great to see that the game is finally coming along. This selection of ships has obvious holes – any ships have yet to be classified as large, and none are confirmed to be Cargo-type ships. As the release date approaches and more information is revealed, it should be clear soon if Skull and Bones can inherit Black Flag‘s crown.
Petra Jarrett is a contributing writer for games features who joined the site in February 2022. In 2021 she received a Bachelor’s of Science in Game Design and has significant experience examining and writing about game systems and experiences. In her spare time, Petra designs Dungeons & Dragons adventures, enjoys hikes, and plays board games with her family.
