5 things Sea of Thieves can learn from Skull and Bones

With Sea of Thieves and Skull and Bones clashing in the open-world pirate gaming genre, there's always a treasure to be found on the horizon. With its focus on ship customization and deep naval combat, Ubisoft offers a fresh course for piratey-plunder. But both games cater to different desires within the pirate life fantasy. One excels in open-ended exploration and emergent chaos, while the other might quench a thirst for tactical ship battles and building a naval empire.

Let's hoist the colors and set sail for five key areas where Sea of Thieves can learn from its nautical counterpart, expanding its appeal and offering players even more ways to conquer the high seas.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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Things Sea of Thieves should learn from Skull and Bones

Although Skull and Bones might fall short of Rare's pirate title, there are areas in which Ubisoft has managed to hold strong. Here are some features that developers at Rare might think about adding to their beloved game.

1) Deeper ship customization

Blueprints of ships in Skull and Bones (Image via Ubisoft/ Concon on YouTube)

Sea of Thieves offers customization only in the cosmetic sense. While the game lets you spice up your ship with some fancy cosmetics, Skull and Bones takes it to a whole new level.

Imagine outfitting your ship not just with a new paint job, but upgraded cannons, reinforced hulls, and specialized sails for different wind conditions. This would give players a stronger sense of ownership over their vessel and allow for more strategic fleet building.

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2) Meaningful naval combat

Skull and Bone boasts much more realistic naval combat (Image via Ubisoft/ Game Informer on YouTube)

Sea of Thieves' combat can be chaotic and fun but often lacks tactical depth. If you have a sense of direction, angles, and basic aim, you are good to go. Skull and Bones, however, brings a strategic twist with its diverse ship classes and weapon options.

Rare's title could benefit from a similar system, allowing players to choose between maneuverable sloops ideal for flanking or heavily armed galleons built for head-on assaults.

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3) Building a pirate empire

Skull and Bones lets you build an elaborate Pirate empire (Image via Ubisoft)

Skull and Bones emphasizes building a pirate empire. Imagine if, in Sea of Thieves, conquering forts could grant control over trade routes, allowing players to collect taxes and establish smuggling rings.

This would add a new layer of long-term progression and encourage player cooperation (or ruthless competition) for control of the seas.

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4) Friendlier to new players

New players have a hard time in Sea of Thieves (Image via Rare/ Tormiline on YouTube)

In Sea of Thieves, you're dropped into a massive world with little hand-holding. While it encourages exploration, the game can leave newbies feeling a bit lost. Although the introduction of safer seas does tackle the issue, the element of confusion persists amongst new players.

Skull and Bones offers structured missions that could inspire developers at Rare to implement more elaborate introductory quests other than the "Maiden Voyage." This would go a long way towards easing players into the pirate life without sacrificing the open-ended nature of the game.

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5) Cargo variety

Cargo loot offers more than just gold (Image via Ubisoft/ Karpo Gaming on YouTube)

While Sea of Thieves introduced new loot and rewards in Season 11, the former can become repetitive really fast. You can fight with skeleton ships and take part in epic naval battles against a variety of PvE and PvP elements. It's always the same boring loot, which often detracts from the thrill of the game.

Skull and Bones spices up the loot game with a diverse array of cargo, each with its own value and risks. Sea of Thieves could benefit from a similar system, with players potentially plundering shipments of spices, silk, or even stolen weaponry, each offering unique rewards and attracting different types of pirates.