Skull and Bones Reviews
Despite being in development for so many years, Skull & Bones offers fewer gameplay mechanics than the naval battles of past Assassin's Creed games. Yes, it does what it claims to do, but the turbulent development process unfortunately prevents it from getting any sympathy votes.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Unfortunately, that doesn't leave Skull and Bones with anything that it can really claim as one of its strengths. Its ship combat is weak, and for all intents and purposes the on-foot gameplay is nonexistent. What little story the game has is threadbare at best, and it gives the player no good reason to slog through the grind. It is saddening, as the game could've been something great, especially since there aren't a ton of pirate games out there. However, there isn't much about Skull and Bones that I will remember a year from now.
Skull and Bones may have survived the turbulent seas of its long voyage to release, but the end result is a game that's barely kept afloat by its solid sailing mechanics, while the uninspiring content, underwhelming presentation, and poor multiplayer design punch far too many holes in the hull.
Skull and Bones is a massive letdown and one of the most disappointing games in recent years. Creativity is almost nonexistent, 70 dollars price tag is unjustifiable and combat becomes repetitive extremely fast.
Review in Persian | Read full review
It's a charming game with a pirate theme and plenty of mechanics, but it does feel repetitive after a while.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Ubisoft has offered a decent base for an online pirate game, perhaps without a lot of variety yet, but it still has atmosphere and depth in terms of upgrading ships, building new ships, as well as trading and, of course, combat.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
After all the drama, all the hype and a lengthy development process, Skull and Bones is here, and it fails miserably. This is not a AAAA title, and even calling it a AAA title is highly debateable. I wouldn't waste my money on it and I recommend that you don't either.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Skull and Bones adopts the theme of piracy in a naval battle game that delivers good combat in a well-crafted fantasy. There is still a lack of precise adjustments to improve the experience as a whole, improvements to poorly developed mechanics, and the endgame in its current state is deplorable. Despite this, there is an opportunity here for fans of the style and setting to have fun, as long as they understand what the game proposes.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Skull and Bones spent seven years in development, but still feels like an unfinished beta version that was released way before it’s time. And while many expect this kind of patchwork from Ubisoft, it is still a reprehensible industry practice that is in no way fair to the players, who despite all the warning signs have waited and hoped for the game’s release.
Skull and Bones has potential but the result is disappointing. the gameplay gets boring after the first hours and the game fails to deliver story wise.
Review in Persian | Read full review
If you can stomach the rough seas of the early game, Skull & Bones has a bounty of live-service content on offer. The end-game mechanics and loot loop rely completely and entirely on the combat system that, thankfully, is one that delivers with every firing of a cannon. Taking over towns and cities, conquering trade routes, climbing the leaderboards - Skull & Bones is a thrilling ride. It's just a shame that it can take 30-40 hours to get there.
Skull and Bones demonstrates that the live-service ship has sunk. Ubisoft Singapore’s troubled development and unclear concept have resulted in a product that barely performs its role, marred by constant boredom and poor design choices.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Skull and Bones is visually beautiful, and the frantic pace of its ship-to-ship battles can potentially provide intense PVP and PVE thrills. However, as a result of its turbulent, decade-long development cycle and the game's resulting "identity crisis", its high points end up getting lost in a sea of mediocrity.
We are not talking about a perfect title, but we must recognize Ubisoft's commitment to a game world that leaves room for freedom of activity and exploration, which aims for long-term replayability, thanks also to the updates expected to arrive shortly . In summary, the product is valid and brings good potential into play.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Skull and Bones should've just been a dedicated singleplayer pirate RPG. Instead, it's a live-service product that I don't see surviving past a handful of seasonal updates. Unless a massive tidal wave is coming that gives everything a proper shakeup, it's lost at sea for me with this one.
"Skull and Bones offers solid naval combat and engaging endgame content with a good grind for upgrades, but it lacks a compelling story and has minimal on-foot segments. While the visuals and sea battles are impressive, issues like glitches and an always-online requirement hold it back from being great. The roadmap for updates provides hope, but the game still struggles with mediocrity."
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Skull and Bones is quite possibly the biggest disappointment of 2024 so far. The lack of content at launch reminds me of the first Destiny game, with somewhat fun moment-to-moment gameplay, but a complete lack of anything else to keep the player interested past the first hours at launch
Skull and Bones simply failed to follow on the success of Black Flag. It's a watered down version of a good game with insane amount of meaningless fluff. The years of development were simply not worth it.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Skull and Bones appears to be a project pursued due to financial support rather than player demand. It borrows elements from Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag but omits enjoyable features like swimming. The game reduces the player to controlling a ship in a superficial world, revealing its lackluster content once the initial gloss wears off.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Years of development yield a little tension with spectacular sea fighting while playing. In the end, however, this looting offers too little variation to keep fascinating. The story and the main character also do not know how to commit to you because of absent development. Furthermore, live service elements and hated micro-transactions make cannon food from Skull and Bones. Ubisoft should have sat down again to sit around the drawing board or have this title sink.
Review in Dutch | Read full review