After eleven years in development, Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones has finally arrived. Initially inspired by Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Skull and Bones is a new take on the Golden Age of Piracy, bringing concepts from the former's tight-knit single-player experience to a living, breathing live-service open-world game set in a fictionalized rendition of the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, Skull and Bones frequently underwhelms and disappoints in almost all respects. It's not a total shipwreck, but it's certainly far from smooth sailing.

Undoubtedly, a shadow is cast over Skull and Bones, and it's that of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. However, Skull and Bones is smart enough to recognize this and attempts to chart its own course instead of trying to imitate other pirate-themed hits from the past decade. The only problem is that Skull and Bones makes a few too many concessions and ends up being far less robust than its contemporaries while not nailing anything that it wants to accomplish. For what it is, Skull and Bones will likely attract a few fans into its niche, but by and large, the game falls flat on many of its promises and concepts.

Skull and Bones isn't Quite an All-Encompassing Pirate Adventure

Skull and Bones MC with Scurlock

When conceptualizing a game about pirate fantasy wish-fulfillment, players may likely think of swashbuckling, looting, plundering, and, of course, sailing the seven seas. Toss in multiplayer offerings and an open world, and it's easy to envision singing sea shanties and sinking ships with friends in one grand package. Skull and Bones is all of that and none of that at the same time, and players can expect little in the way of swashbuckling.

From the start, Skull and Bones makes it clear that this is almost entirely a ship-based game. The first time players take control of their character after a destitute character creation process, the game's technical issues are highlighted by its odd movement animations, sluggish camera, and clunky player momentum. Simply going up to a merchant and trying to talk to them is needlessly tricky sometimes, as it requires being at a specific distance from the NPC and not a step closer. The only on-foot combat players will ever encounter is fighting with the camera controls just to see where they need to go. In fairness, Skull and Bones was very upfront about on-foot sections not being a focus for this title, but when the actual on-foot gameplay feels so tacked on, it's a wonder why it was even implemented in the first place.

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Skull and Bones' World Feels Too Fragmented

Skull and Bones brings players to a massive open world ocean waiting to be conquered, yet that world may not be as exciting as it sounds.

The starting pirate city where players meet their first gang of characters is perhaps the most lively and impressive of the bunch. It is where players will find the highest number of other players, and the entire setting is filled with buildings that look cobbled together using rubbish and lumber—a fitting kingdom for lawless scurvy dogs. In contrast, players will later go to all sorts of pirate coves and smaller settlements that don’t have much to offer. However, the same liveliness and charm of the start hardly extends to the rest of the game’s locations. Smaller areas like pirate coves and settlements leave the merchants by the dock and have the rest of the area exist for a play area's sake.

As far as the real looting and plundering are concerned, Skull and Bones takes a hands-off approach to day-to-day pirating, off-shoring it to menus and unseen skirmishes while tying it all to a middling story. From its incredibly dry opening to its closing marauds, almost nothing here felt like a true pirate journey in which players could deeply invest themselves. The story itself is so haphazardly strung together and transparently used as a vessel to feed players fetch quests that it only ends up feeling shallow and tacked on when all is said and done.

Most story missions require players to go out and sink ships, then loot the spoils and go back to register the mission as complete. Other missions will see players idly shoot at a tower on land after pressing the "Plunder" button while holding off waves of incoming ships. In some other instances, players will be fishing with a spear, which are generally some of the more engaging quests of the bunch. These missions mainly improve the player's Infamy rank, give them more blueprints, and give them more resources to improve their ships. And it's all one big bloated set of chores.

Skull and Bones: Loot, Pillage, and Live Service

Skull and Bones First Mate Whiskers

There is plenty of content in Skull and Bones, no doubt about that, but so much of it is redundant busywork that it feels hard not to get ground down by it after a certain point. In its opening questlines, there is an understandable amount of fetch questing to get the player started and into the rhythm of the game, but then that fetch quest formula persists for the next 20-25 hours to reach the endgame. The endgame itself is decent, if not just a bigger grind; however, the prospect of dealing with territory wars and selling contraband within the player's own Black Market is leagues more interesting than doing the bidding of Pirate Kingpin John Scurlock and Admiral Rahma.

If Skull and Bones had any semblance of a compelling story, the grind might be alright, but the truth of the matter is that Skull and Bone's story is soulless and meaningless. Characters are forgettable, dialogue is unnatural and awkwardly spliced together, and many of the quests John Scurlock sends players on are to thwart faceless figures that they will never see, get to know, or have any stakes in. Between a silent protagonist with no background who does little but follow orders and writing that doesn't do much to ground the player in the world of Skull and Bones, any meaningful connection players may have to the narrative of the game falls apart rather quickly.

Skull and Bones Cosmetic Shop

Then come the live-service elements, which often feel like the invisible force that explains so much of why Skull and Bones is so grindy and tedious. The main gameplay loop of getting new weapons and upgrades for a ship is always a convoluted mess of blueprints, Infamy ranks, resource grinding, and prolonged instances of sailing back and forth to get all of them because fast traveling costs precious in-game currency. Pacing hits a wall the more players get into Skull and Bones, eventually making upgrades a matter of time spent in-game over anything else.

For example, later in the game, ammo becomes more scarce as ships get tougher, and in turn, the game becomes a bigger grind than before for an essential resource. All of this can be sidestepped if players spend some real-world money for in-game currency so they can buy ammo and get to places faster to find more resources. While the real money is in cosmetic purchases, the button to buy in-game currency to get things moving grew all the more attractive as Skull and Bone's progression progressively got slower as the game went on.

Skull and Bones is a strange game where it always felt like the live service elements are what is holding this game back from being as ambitious as it wants to be. From the controversial Crew Boarding splash screen to the nonsense ship-based mini-games for harvesting--which players can turn off--all seem to exist because the game has to be a multiplayer open world, and its infrastructure perhaps can't support much more. The live service demands of Skull and Bones not only seem to have stripped back a lot of what could have made the game good, but it also brazenly makes the game more of a chore than it needs to be.

On the Open Seas is Where Skull and Bones Sings

Skull and Bones Ship Combat

The real treasure in Skull and Bones is all in the ship, and for that, there is plenty for players to enjoy. For everything the game does poorly on foot, narratively, and with its campaign, the actual moments at sea can be blissful at times. When the wind picks up and the ship cruises along the coast steadily while the crew starts singing a sea shanty to soothe the soul, it all feels delightfully meditative. Meanwhile, the actual ship combat is perhaps the best part of the whole package.

Skull and Bones takes a simplistic third-person shooter approach to its combat and navigation that feels much easier to learn than even Black Flag’s mechanics. Every ship battle is an entertaining skirmish as the player has to know how their speed matches their combatant’s speed and try to manage angles of attack and travel time for the various weapons players have on their ship. It certainly tickles those parts of the brain that enjoy deciphering in-game physics as players finally get that sweet spot where they know they can hit their enemy’s weak spots if they do everything right. Mid to late-game weapons even open up whole new styles of play with mortars and sea fire to really show the French Compagnie and British Trade Alliance who's boss.

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Skull and Bones Post-Launch Content is Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Skull and Bones' launch state is not the most exciting, so the post-launch content has to do a lot of the work to make players interested in the game.

Additionally, outfitting the player’s pirate ship with a deluge of cosmetics purchased from the frequent plundering and looting was a genuine joy and the one pirate aspect that Skull and Bones really nailed. Once players can get past how much of the game is sifting through menus and doing chores for the main story progression, the actual act of building a ship they can call their own makes up for the game’s shortcomings just a little bit. As a strict third-person shooter with side content for kitting out a ship with all the bells and whistles, Skull and Bones works.

A player sailing their ship to the settlement of Suny in Skull and Bones

Some stronger elements in Skull and Bones’ visual presentation should not go unnoticed. The game does a decent job of cultivating an atmosphere of being a gritty pirate bravely taking on the seven seas and often looks quite beautiful when players find the sun rising or setting over the horizon. Its various islands and mountains all look great while sailing, but they also make it all the more painful that none of these areas are explorable on foot.

However, the most gripping visual moments in Skull and Bones happen when players are caught in the middle of a storm as the entire sky turns an ominous dark green while the sea begins to churn underneath the ship. In these moments, it’s as if Davy Jones himself could emerge from the horizon at any moment, but it is a moment that never comes. Skull and Bones can definitely sell players with its immersive factor; after all, Ubisoft's games regularly set the standard for high-quality settings and graphics. However, eye candy can't do enough heavy lifting to make up for the mundane experience throughout this beautiful rendition of the Indian Ocean.

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, Skull and 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 Tag Page Cover Art

Set sail into the vibrant open world of Skull and Bones, a naval online action RPG where you rise to become the most fearsome pirate kingpin.

ENGAGE IN SPECTACULAR NAVAL COMBAT

Prepare for devastating battles by crafting a dozen different ships and equip your fleet with powerful loadouts. Unlock stronger weapons as you progress and customize your ships to reflect your unique pirate playstyle.

SAIL INTO A DANGEROUS HELL IN PARADISE

Voyage into the Indian Ocean and explore a vast open world teeming with cutthroat pirates, deadly sea monsters, supernatural threats, devastating storms, and more.

TEAM UP WITH FELLOW PIRATES

Sail the lawless seas solo or team up with two friends or other players to partake in shareable contracts and rewards.

ENJOY EVER-EVOLVING CONTENT

Each season, face a brand-new legendary sea lord and discover fresh content, limitless endgame opportunities, and new exciting features designed to enhance your pirate experience.

Pros & Cons
  • Great ship customization
  • Entertaining and approachable combat
  • Atmospheric and immersive setting
  • Middling story
  • Clunky on-foot controls
  • Redundant missions
  • Grind-heavy progression system

Skull and Bones is available now for Amazon Luna, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Game Rant was provided a PS5 code for the purposes of this review.