Skull and Bones is getting ready for Season 3 and its debut on Steam on August 22nd. The team is diving into why the Steam launch was the perfect opportunity to refresh the PC experience and just what to expect.
Development was mainly focused on controller, and improving the PC experience to make Skull and Bones “feel more PC” is almost here. Among the improvements are optimized controls to make gameplay feel smoother, adding double click functionality, dragging, scrolling, and mouse interactions for the map. Improved map navigation was one of their top priorities, along with improvements to the shortcut bar, inventory management, and keybinds.
The team worked internally as well as with community feedback on a number of these changes. they sat down and tried to play the game on PC themselves to also get a better feel of what needed to be done. One example they cite is that the key to disembark from a ship to land was S, which on a mouse and keyboard control system is usually a movement key, not an interaction key. F was busy being an action key for plunder and trade. So they’ve created new default keys for these and customizable keybinds if the new options aren't to your liking.
Other changes include an option that when you hover over an item in the warehouse it will contextually switch to the correct active inventory, the ability to right click to interact with items. Hovering over something won't select items by default anymore. Left click will work (you can adjust this). There’s an improved shortcut bar more in line with a PC gamer’s expectations and the ability to switch between different sets of shortcuts. This was so successful that while it was originally intended to just be a PC improvement, they'll be adding this to other platforms later.
Overall, there are improved visuals, visual clarity, menu improvements, and more. Steam launch and Season 3 are coming on August 22nd, with a sale on the game through September 4th and a free 6-hour trial if you want to test Skull and Bones first.
