Skull and Bones gets ESRB rating ahead of rumored July reveal

One of Ubisoft’s long-delayed games may finally be nearing its launch. No, I’m not talking about Beyond Good and Evil 2, sadly. Skull and Bones has received its ESRB rating, and this comes weeks before a rumored July re-reveal. Despite looking nearly impossible at one point, it appears the troubled pirate game may finally set sail soon.

The ESRB has given Skull and Bones a ‘Mature’ rating, which isn’t a huge surprise. This is a game where you play as a pirate, after all. The rating mentions that the game will include blood, strong language (argh), suggestive themes, violence, and drug use. That’s pretty much right up the alley for pirating. Also, “f**k” and “sh*te” are among the many colorful words used in the dialogue. Excellent.

The rating summary page at the organization’s website also delivered some details. Players are a “shipwrecked outcast on a journey to become a pirate captain.” Skull and Bones is set in the first-person perspective, where you order your ship of scallywags to fire on enemies ranging from opposing ships to massive forts. Booty is looted, and enemy ships can be “rammed and boarded, resulting in brief cutscenes of crew members shooting or slashing at each other.” Some settlements will contain brothels with prostitutes that beckon over to you, but it doesn’t seem like there will be any further action beyond that. This won’t be GTA Caribbean.

Skull and Bones sails to a possible July reveal

The ESRB rating for Skull and Bones comes amid a new rumor about a reveal in July. According to GamesRadar, a source claims that Ubisoft will “re-reveal Skull and Bones during the week of July 4.” That’s next week, so we don’t have much time remaining to find out. The source also goes on to mention that the company will announced the release date and show off some gameplay footage.

The idea behind Skull and Bones came to fruition following Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. In the game, you played as the assassin and pirate captain Edward Kenway as you terrorized the Caribbean isles. It was very well received, and that convinced Ubisoft to create a game solely focused on the sailing and pirating aspects of the game. It… didn’t go as planned. Skull and Bones has been in development since 2013, receiving numerous delays. Reports on crunch time and mismanagement came into the light over the last year.

However, Ubisoft has targeted a release window for 2023. We’ll see for sure if these rumors of a solid release date bare any fruit next week.