You could be forgiven for not remembering that a few years ago Ubisoft wowed the media and the larger gaming community with a pirate-focused multiplayer game called Skull and Bones that was full of promise. It sort of went quiet though, with some wondering if we'd ever see it again. Thankfully the answer is yes, and it's in even better shape than when we last left it.

Here's a snippet from a recent presentation of the game we were privy to:

Game director Ryan Barnard says Skull and Bones is an open-world or, open-sea, title. And in many ways the setup here is a familiar one. You’re the sole survivor of a shipwreck in the Indian Ocean where you’ve washed up in an unknown land. You only have a small boat called a Dhow and a single spear, which you’ll need, as the world is immediately treacherous thanks to dangerous hippos, crocs, sharks and more.

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"You collect items from the world around you, complete contracts from other pirates, craft items and explore...”

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From this it’s not a stretch to consider Skull and Bones, at least in part, a quasi survival experience. You collect items from the world around you, complete contracts from other pirates, craft items and explore. And each of these aspects of the gameplay loop is deep -- the resources you gather, for example, need to be refined in order to be used, and you can’t build something or upgrade an item or ship unless you have the blueprint for it. And the more successful you in this area, the greater your renown will become.

Click here for everything you need to know about Skull and Bones