Skull and Bones Gameplay Reveal Comes Ahead of Next Ubisoft Forward

After skipping out on the E3-in-all-but-name timeframe last month, Ubisoft announced two showcases to let players know what to expect from the big publisher. The first, which will air on July 7 at 11 a.m. PT, is the reintroduction of Skull and Bones, a long-in-development pirate game that first appeared in 2017. Following that reveal, updates on the rest of Ubisoft’s lineup will (as promised) come on September 10 at noon PT at the next full Ubisoft Forward presentation.

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Leaked gameplay footage hitting the internet in April revealed a lot of what Skull and Bones might offer. Players will see plenty of others online as they explore this high seas adventure and participate in ship battles inspired by Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. There also seems to be treasure hunting, ship maintenance, and contract fulfillment in the vein of Sea of Thieves.

The general timing for this week’s Skull and Bones showcase was easy to predict, with rumors swirling since the game got an ESRB rating last month. Ubisoft previously mentioned a release later this year for the game. Still, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a beta or some other gameplay test come out of the showcase considering the online nature of the experience.

Ubisoft’s September show won’t be as focused, but there is still a selection of likely candidates that will make an appearance. The next Mario + Rabbids game will be waiting in the wings come September, and there is plenty we don’t know about Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and the Splinter Cell remake, the former of which is still set to release before April 2023. The oft-delayed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake could also show up, as it hasn’t shown its face since its controversial reveal. However, it’s not likely that the next Far Cry game pops up, as it is rumored to be a live-service title and probably isn’t too far into development.

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Assassin’s Creed is not explicitly mentioned as an inclusion in the company’s blog post, but the company did previously say that the “future” of the series would be discussed in September. This could be the place it reveals the rumored title starring Valhalla‘s Basim Ibn Ishaq. It’s also possible that Ubisoft talks more about Assassin’s Creed Infinity, the announced live-service game, but that game is probably quite a ways away.

Ubisoft is also typically full of surprises, so there could be something that no one outside of one of its many studios could see coming.