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Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an open world naval action RPG where ship combat, build choice, and sailing skill define your pirate legend. Conquer rival ships and mythical beasts in a vast ocean of up to 20 players.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “Fun naval combat” (62 of 104 reviews) and “Lots of content” (18); the most common complaint is “Missing pirate activities” (25). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-30 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-13.
What reviewers agree on
62 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Windrose, in it's bare-bones Early Access state, is already what we had all hoped Skull and Bones would be. All you had to do was just copy + paste the ship sailing/combat in Black Flag, and make it Coop and PvP. RIP…”
“Not even worth the 90% discount. It looks cool and plays okay. But what did me in was landing on shore ignoring the main quest. Having ♥♥♥♥♥♥ movement. And finally that same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ubisoft UI overfilling and…”
“Played 100h on Ubisoft since released. Wasn't thrilled about the damn Helm Empire reseting every seasons because I play casually. Now that they changed that and that the Helm Empire is permanent.. on top of adding a WT2…”
18 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“At the time of purchase on Steam, I have had 289Hours played in the game already on the Ubisoft game client. So you'd have to add my current Steam play time with the 289Hours playtime I just mentioned. I am enjoying…”
“Wait, it's actually kinda good? SKull and Bones' reputation no doubt precedes it, so with that said, I actually like it! My wife and I have been craving a co-op pirate experience, and with Windrose not yet out and Sea…”
“If you get this game expecting it to be an arcadeish type of game, you'll enjoy it. The story is fine, but the progression is very bad. at the start you progress very fast, stall in the mid game and in the end game you…”
17 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Recommending this game at sale price (under $10), but I'm almost hesitant to even say that. It's one of those games that's neither remarkable nor memorable, which is really a shame because I can see the potential, but…”
“Sometimes even AAAA is not enough Pros: + fun to play in coop with 1-2 friends + strong early game with steady progression and combat feels satisfying + empire management with offline resource production + detailed…”
“I only play this game because i got it for 6 bucks , and i am a compulsive grinder with no life. I literally reached the highest tech and wealth and rank 120 in the game within 2 weeks. The content is undercooked and…”
14 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Played 100h on Ubisoft since released. Wasn't thrilled about the damn Helm Empire reseting every seasons because I play casually. Now that they changed that and that the Helm Empire is permanent.. on top of adding a WT2…”
“This game has a clear progression that can be enjoyed by single player or groups. The high level you get the more group oriented it is though.”
“At the time of purchase on Steam, I have had 289Hours played in the game already on the Ubisoft game client. So you'd have to add my current Steam play time with the 289Hours playtime I just mentioned. I am enjoying…”
13 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Windrose, in it's bare-bones Early Access state, is already what we had all hoped Skull and Bones would be. All you had to do was just copy + paste the ship sailing/combat in Black Flag, and make it Coop and PvP. RIP…”
“Played 100h on Ubisoft since released. Wasn't thrilled about the damn Helm Empire reseting every seasons because I play casually. Now that they changed that and that the Helm Empire is permanent.. on top of adding a WT2…”
“This game has a clear progression that can be enjoyed by single player or groups. The high level you get the more group oriented it is though.”
25 of the 104 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“This is World Of Warships wearing a Pirate skin. You cant board ships, you cant swordfight, you cant explore islands, and the islands you can go on have invisible walls to limit exploration. Ubisoft lied to people that…”
“Recommending this game at sale price (under $10), but I'm almost hesitant to even say that. It's one of those games that's neither remarkable nor memorable, which is really a shame because I can see the potential, but…”
“Thank God I bought this garbage for 2$ because it will finally die, shut down, be killed and destroyed thanks to amazing new pirate game "Windrose". This game is trash and I wish I never wasted my 2$ but hey at least I…”
21 of the 104 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“I didn't mind the beta so thought I'd finally grab it as its only £4 currently. Loaded up the game, was greated by 7 menus flashing at me trying to take me to the store, then when I get in game a further 4 menu's…”
“This is World Of Warships wearing a Pirate skin. You cant board ships, you cant swordfight, you cant explore islands, and the islands you can go on have invisible walls to limit exploration. Ubisoft lied to people that…”
“Recommending this game at sale price (under $10), but I'm almost hesitant to even say that. It's one of those games that's neither remarkable nor memorable, which is really a shame because I can see the potential, but…”
16 of the 104 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“you know its a ubisoft classic if you cant even get into the game. seriously why is this company not disbanded yet”
“Account Suspended due to failed password attempts. Made new account. Suspended automatically. Recovered and changed password of third account. Suspended. This is ridiculous. I'm trying to play a video game not withdraw…”
“Skull and Bones is honestly a huge disappointment. The graphics are fine, sure, but that’s not enough to save a game that feels bugged from top to bottom. After a while, everything starts to feel repetitive, boring, and…”
15 of the 104 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“I didn't mind the beta so thought I'd finally grab it as its only £4 currently. Loaded up the game, was greated by 7 menus flashing at me trying to take me to the store, then when I get in game a further 4 menu's…”
“Not even worth the 90% discount. It looks cool and plays okay. But what did me in was landing on shore ignoring the main quest. Having ♥♥♥♥♥♥ movement. And finally that same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ubisoft UI overfilling and…”
“Recommending this game at sale price (under $10), but I'm almost hesitant to even say that. It's one of those games that's neither remarkable nor memorable, which is really a shame because I can see the potential, but…”
15 of the 104 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“Sometimes even AAAA is not enough Pros: + fun to play in coop with 1-2 friends + strong early game with steady progression and combat feels satisfying + empire management with offline resource production + detailed…”
“If you get this game expecting it to be an arcadeish type of game, you'll enjoy it. The story is fine, but the progression is very bad. at the start you progress very fast, stall in the mid game and in the end game you…”
“The negative votes are almost all from butthurt fanboys who wanted ground assault, or were expecting Sid Meyers Pirates. Ignore them. For what it is, this is a great game. This is a great ship-to-ship and ship-to-fort…”
Counted across 104 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 66.4% positive rating · as of 2026-05-13
“90% of the hate comes down to poor expectations. If you go in expecting a "Quadruple A" Black Flag Multiplayer experience, you're gonna be disappointed. If you're looking for the "definitive pirate experience," there's better games out there. But "It wasn't what I wanted it to…”
— a player, Steam review · 497 hrs played“ok. so..... I KNOW the publicity this game got. I KNOW the community jumped all over the hate wagon (I was one of them). The development of this game was a crazy roller coaster and I always said they were crazy to assume AAAA status and the amount they charge at full price. All…”
— a player, Steam review · 60 hrs played“Bought it because land combat got announced, and the game was on sale. Land combat was then delayed, and eventually canceled, and I've owned and played it for too long to get a refund. Say it with me, f*ck Ubisoft. Aside from that, about half of the game is just an inventory…”
— a player, Steam review · 7 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-10-22.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-22). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Additional maintenance 20th October – Calendar update and routine maintenance
📅 Tuesday 20th October ⏰ 8AM CEST / 5PM AEDT / 11PM PT (19th Oct) ⏳ ~ 1h 🔧 The maintenance will focus on routine server checks and calendar update to reflect the season extension.
Maintenance 19th October – Ammunition removal, Season extension, and bug fixes
📅 Monday 19th October ⏰ 8AM CEST / 5PM AEDT / 11PM PT (18th Oct) ⏳ ~ 2h Highlights Gameplay & Inventory Changes: Ammunition & Blueprints Weapons no longer require ammunition to be stocked in your ship
Maintenance 13th October - Routine maintenance
Top Community Feedback under investigation Frustration with the limited new content added in the game. Storage space filing up too fast. Dislike for the Seasonal Mastery Reset due to grind associated.
Maintenance 6th October – routine maintenance
📅 Tuesday 6th October ⏰ 8AM CEST / 5PM AET / 11PM PT (5th Oct) ⏳ ~ 1h 🔧The maintenance will focus on routine server checks & operations. To note: The issue with access via GeForce NOW has been resolve
Maintenance 29th September – routine maintenance
📅 Tuesday 29th September ⏰ 8AM CEST / 4PM AET / 11PM PT (28th Sept) ⏳ ~ 1h 1/2 🔧The maintenance will focus on routine server checks & operations. Top Community Feedback under investigation Frustration
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-13.
| Genres | Action, RPG |
| Player tags | Pirates · Action · Naval Combat · Action RPG · Open World · Co-op · RPG · Exploration · 3D · First-Person · Realistic · Third Person (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · PvP · Online PvP · Co-op · Online Co-op · Steam Achievements · Full controller support |
| Languages | English * , French * , German * , Spanish - Spain * , Arabic, Japanese * , Korean, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Latin America, Traditional Chinese, Italian, Polish * |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 50 |
| Official site | https://www.skullandbonesgame.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 (64-bit) Processor: Intel i3 4150 or AMD FX 4300 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GTX 950 2GB or AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 70 GB available space