Skull and Bones
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Critic Reviews for Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is a bloated game that does manage to swim instead of sink, but not without many caveats. In an attempt to separate itself from Black Flag and stand out from the likes of Sea of Thieves, Skulland Bones doesn't so much color outside the lines as much as dogmatically stick to a tired formula while burying its strongest attributes under mountains of redundancy and half-realized concepts. For those who crave a game set during the Golden Age of Piracy, there are definitely things here to enjoy, but get ready to do a lot of digging.
Skull and Bones is a maritime RPG with a strong foundation, even if it feels like a live-service first draft.
Ubisoft's long-in-the-works pirate adventure boasts a beautiful world and bombastic ship-to-ship combat, but it sinks amid boring busywork and tedious traversal.
Combining moody and gratifying ship-on-ship combat with shallow live service trappings, Skull and Bones is great within the claustrophobic parameters of what market forces allow it to be.
With excellent sailing and naval combat mechanics, it's a shame that Skull and Bones is so hampered by its lack of diversity, odd developmental decisions, and minimal capacity to offer a true pirate fantasy.
Despite its long and circuitous course to arrive at port, Skull and Bones is the type of game that may change significantly in the coming months. But to evaluate it as it stands, fellow pirate enthusiasts may discover what I did – a flawed but beautifully presented historical fantasy in which one can take to the water and make a fortune, even if absolutely everything about the pirate life isn’t always pretty.
Skull and Bones strips away everything great about Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, resulting in a dull live-service game that's often a chore.
Skull and Bones isn't an unmitigated disaster, but it ends up throwing a lot of its potential overboard. The problem isn't that it's a game-as-a-service, but that its design falls short. It has highlights and good ideas that make it enjoyable, but if this is AAAA, then let Davy Jones drag us all into the abyss.
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