Skull and Bones torn apart as beta testers quit after less than an hour

Skull and Bones is in a closed beta stage, and fan reactions are flooding in, most of them spelling troubled waters for the pirate adventure.

Skull and Bones has been one of Ubisoft’s greatest enigmas, as what started as a spin-off to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag seemingly has lost its way in the waters.

After ten years of development time and eight delays, Ubisoft’s pirate adventure may finally reach shore. The game is currently in a closed beta, offering fans a slice of what Skull and Bones is really about.

Initial reactions are coming in, and as some might have guessed, they aren’t as positive as Ubisoft could’ve hoped for.

Skull and Bones beta fan reactions aren’t looking good

As mentioned, the title is currently in its closed beta, its second to date. Players who were invited or who watched a Twitch channel with drops enabled are the only ones sailing the in-game seas right now. Oddly enough, there’s a six-hour time limit to the beta, but for some players, all they needed was one hour to figure out it wasn’t worth their time.

In a scalding Reddit post, Achilleasa shared they quit the game after an hour due to sheer boredom. Their list of criticisms included “walking simulator” and “bland and sterile” dialogue.

Achilleasa rounded out their review with: “I can confidently say I’ve never played any game with a first hour as bad as this. Ubisoft, I think you forgot the part where the game is fun. So yeah, I wouldn’t even play this if it was free to play. You’d probably have to pay me.”

Many of the replies shared similar feelings, with players stating they only played for shorter periods before quitting. Funnily enough, a few replies told others to play Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the inspiration for this game.

What makes this a bit harder to swallow comes from one reply: “Lmao, nice to see they haven’t fixed the new player experience at all in the past 2 years since I tried. In the survey after, stuff like that was among the biggest issues I wrote about.” 

Now, if you’re enjoying this game, don’t let this detract from your enjoyment. That said, this was supposed to be Black Flag 2.0, and early impressions are looking like it’ll be anything but that.

Skull and Bones is supposed to arrive on February 16, 2024, barring any more delays.