Skull and Bones Reviews
Clearly, Skull and Bones has suffered from years of development and numerous changes of direction. The handling of the ships is well done, but everything around them is much less so. The in-game phases are very repetitive, and boarding and pillaging are nothing more than identical cinematics. The very principle of the experience is to go back and forth until you reach the end of the main campaign. Not to mention that the technology is not worthy of a game marketed in 2024 at this price.
Review in French | Read full review
Skull and Bones has fun naval combat and great ship customisation but it's buried by tedious quests, grinding and a shallow endgame that feels unfinished in its current state.
As a whole, Skull and Bones is a very fun game, one that I genuinely couldn’t put down once the battles began. But that fun is uneven at best. Despite its long development cycle, the live-service element that is felt deeply throughout the game isn’t microtransactions. It’s emptiness.
Skull and Bones unfortunately falls far short of the bar set by Ubisoft's great service games like Steep, Riders Republic and The Crew Motorfest. Even though the theme is well done, it's far from being fun at the moment.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
It may not be the “AAAA” game Ubisoft touted, but with a solid enough foundation, a decently planned bevy of seasonal content ahead of it, and the uniqueness of making the ship and gear the focus, it may be finally on the right course after all.
I wish Skull and Bones was the pirate extravaganza it could and should have been. But other than some fleeting ship combat, if you want to get the real pirate experience, look elsewhere.
For a niche audience, Skull & Bones may be a GOTY contender. But for everyone else, it’s hard to imagine the appeal. Skull & Bones is a grind-heavy game with not a lot of payoff, unless your idea of payoff is being asked to grind some more.
Skull And Bones' sailing and naval combat are solid and well-made from the get-go. Unfortunately, it isn't enough to carry the entire game and its insane "quadruple A" price tag. Whether it's the lacklustre storytelling, the shallow gameplay mechanics, or the uninspired multiplayer, there's no denying that Skull and Bones fails to live up to the hype. And as players lower their anchors and bid farewell to this ill-fated voyage, one can't help but wonder what could have been if only Ubisoft's higher-ups and management had dared to chart a course less travelled.
With its visually stunning world, engaging gameplay mechanics, and the promise of evolving content, “Skull and Bones” charts a course many will be eager to follow. Yet, the true measure of its legacy will be how it grows and adapts in the treacherous waters of game development.
Skull and Bones is finally a real, fully-launched product after several years of troubled development. While some components manage to pleasantly surprise, like ship buildcrafting and general ship-to-ship combat, the jankiness on the technical front, the exhausting live service components and the slim yet grindy endgame leave a lot to be desired. As always with live service titles, we can look towards the next year of seasons and additional content to see how it develops, but for now Skull and Bones is a middling recreation of the pirate fantasy.
While Skull & Bones is far from the worst game ever made, it completely fails in conveying its vision of becoming a legendary pirate captain. Instead, it chases every conceivable gaming trend from excessive crafting, battle passes and hands-off story telling and leaves next to no impact whatsoever. Even among Ubisoft titles, often mocked for their bland sandbox approach, “Skull & Bones” seemingly perfected the blandness with a sparse few highlights when environment, multiplayer and ship combat all click into place and reveal a wealth of untapped potential.
Review in German | Read full review
There was so much potential for Skull and Bones to be a fantastic pirate MMORPG, but it is not even close. And due to the lack of meaningful content, Skull and Bones has the potential to be the most disappointing full-priced Ubisoft game that I have ever played. Our money seems to be going toward what seems like a free-to-play game that managed to squander an AAA developer's resources.
To summarize, we have a pirate-themed ship game that looks great and has great mechanics.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Skull and Bones feels like an online mode from Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, but in a bad way. The sea battles are really fun at first and look really great, but unfortunately it remains a monotonous and dull grind. There's not much to do, there's no gameplay away from the ship and everything else just plods along. There is definitely potential somewhere, but there are plenty of more fun alternatives in the pirate genre.
Review in German | Read full review
Skull and Bones offers the promise of adventure on the high sea. While the game focuses a little hard on its naval warfare mechanics, they are nonetheless exciting and don’t grow old quickly. Though a bit grindy, Skull and Bones should offer hours of entertainment and many customization options to those looking to set sail into its waters.