I don't know why they thought giving us 50% the pirate experience was a good idea when they gave us 100% the experience in black flag

Bethesda: Starfield's game design is 10 years behind. Ubisoft: Hold my beer.

Ubisoft literally was THIS close to having it all. They had the absolute PERFECT blueprint in AC Blackflag! All they had to do was take out the "Assassin" in Blackflag, give the player the option to create their pirate and customize with gender, ethnicity, look, clothing etc and craft an epic narrative story of say something liken to Pirates of the Carribean at World's End. Where you are the last of the Pirate Kings and the East Indian Trading Company and British Royal Navy are after you and your goal is to find your very last hidden treasure to split with your crew to live out the rest of your days. Allow Island and cave exploration, swim to sunken treasures and shipwrecks, sword fight with other pirate factions, maybe even have mutiny in your own crew if they feel they aren't being managed correctly! Have mythical creatures like the Kraken, or cursed Skeletons etc. That would have been the pirate experience that EVERYONE would have thrown money at. Instead, they make a game that belongs on a mobile app. WOW

I am flabberghasted. Frankly stunned. Astonished, even. Floored, if you will. How in the goddamn fuck do you make a pirate game with no guns or swords. Thats just completely wild.

an authentic pirate fantasy without swordfighting...

Ubisoft got one of the most talented developers out there. THE ONLY ISSUE they have is the lack of direction and purpose of their project. They need to sort that out, and quickly.

wow, they legit were like "how terrible can we make this"

Rockstar would probably be able to make the best possible pirate game if they made it

You can't have a pirate experience without hidden treasures, sword fighting and drunk on rum swashbuckling .. You just can't.

the pirate fantasy: me personally it was always be a pirate captain who raids ships and gain a reputation that is feared among the seas. as well as having a brutal way of fighting multiple swordsmen at once. im completely shocked that you cant even board ships during naval battles

The way I feel about this game: 25% arcade pirate game, 25% UI in your screen ruining the immersion, 50% of fading screen teleportation

Before AC : Black Flag, the closing realistic game about pirates for me is Sid Meir's Pirates (2004 version). Despites the cartoonish graphic because of it's an old game, the game's mechanic itself are quite complex and fun. - You can board enemy ship and challenge enemy's captain. - You can travel by land to find treasures, sneak into cities, meet people, etc. - You can find a lover/wife by seducing Governor's daughter and by luck also get useful informations/items. - Get reputation by doing multiple quests, raiding, capturing wanted men, etc. - Declaring war and being hostile against enemy nations. Sadly, there are not much typical games with these kind of mechanic like this anymore.

Should've canned the game when they had the chance

I was so hyped when it was first announced but i dont even know if im going to buy it anymore

This game had me so hype, however it turned into a cheerful, colorful, way to much fantasy having joke. They had a real chance to make a gritty pirate game and went this route.. truly unbelievable

All we wanted was a full on pirate experience to rival Sea of Thieves

Ubisoft keeping failing on going back to the roots just make me appreciate more those old games

Scrap the whole game and remake black flag with no trailing missions. Instant hit!

Translation: buy black flag and rogue, have a good time. Sleep.

I went back to sea of thieves the second I realized I couldn't leave my ship, what were they thinking

That rumored Black Flag remake should be what we expected Skull & Bones to be, ironically enough.

I'm excited to see the sales numbers after it releases

I've never really been into pirate games, but the way my friend described it made it sound really fun and I was honestly a little excited to see what it was all about. When he finally go to play the open beta he was very disappointed and uninstalled it in about 20 minutes.

I think the best thing this game will do is get more people back into Black Flag again.

Only naval and no actual boarding of ships is a huge turn off. Thought I could fight against opponent online crews with my buddies and actually feel like a pirate. I completely agree that this is not what we should’ve gotten. We also could’ve gotten ac follow-ups to Edward or Conner if this is what they decided to put all their efforts on. Just disappointed.

The fans: make black flag but its all pirates open world and has multiplayer as an option! That should be pretty easy. Ubisoft: we just dont know what the fans want. We cant read minds

nah, I'll replay Black Flag for 100th time instead

This Ship is going to sink 😅

this game reminds me a lot of pirates of the Caribbean online, but with even less gameplay

Not being able to ride pirate ships with friends is crazy.

Sailed around the world/islands looking for wood/trees. The wood/tree were all gone. I was not able to find any wood/trees that were not already chopped down. Sailed around for a solid 30 minutes. Boy was that a lot of fun.

The fact that you can’t fight and look for treasure is just a waste of a pirate game

now this was the brutally honest review i needed... thank you man for the real advice! If they spent more time working on a grounded pirate life, this would be so much better. Hopefully Ubisoft takes the criticism and tries to make something better out of it in the future.

I just wanted Black Flag but with multiplayer, man...

I have a friend that said (while we were playing sea of thieves), that theres a game coming out like black flag. I knew what he was talking about and wouldnt listen to me to not get it (if it stays like this of course). Tbh, he did get MW3 (mw2 dlc). He was also saying "Some people we know would be asking to get and play it", and that he'd be "forced" to play it. I don't think he knows how bad of a game this is, and to top it all off- This is "Not" Black Flag or anything even close. OH WAIT, I know what this is like! It's like that one pirate game on mobile, that tried to copy the Mobile version of black flag. "*tried*"

I was excited to play this when it was announced, and randomly got a code to play the beta. After less the two hours I realized I could be playing Sea of Thieves instead….and I’ve never played it before. So I’m now 10 hrs in to becoming a Pirate Legend. Thank you, Ubisoft!

Our expectations were low but holly shit it just keeps sounding worse and worse

This really seems like something that should of been released a year or two after black flag with a 40 dollar price tag. Or maybe just a multiplayer DLC for Black Flag in the vein of Red Dead Online or some such. Sinking 10 years of time and money into this seems like such a collosal waste

Was hyped for this game and you just saved me money. Thanks

Cheers for the grounded review. It has been interesting seeing the various reviews for this across KZfaq, it sometimes feels very much like there are 2 versions of the game out there and being played depending on the review. It was going to take something extraordinary to kindle interest in the game, nothing about it seems to suggest you can live the pirate life. Sea of Thieves scratches that itch, even with all the bugs it has.

same thing dude. thats exactly how i felt when i tried it too. it was so outdated for a game that suppose to be released on 2024. i mean come on black flag was a decade old and feels way better than this.

sounds like... some kind of cheap smartphone game

Whew!! Thank You for helping me avoid this sea faring catastrophe. I was really looking forward to a newer version of Black Flag with full immersion. I was about to go full send with the pre-release $99 bucks.

My little conspiracy theory is that Ubisoft wanted to scrap this game YEARS ago but didn't, because they are contractually obligated to complete this game due to a deal they made with the Singaporean government.

Imagine a pirate game made by Rockstar

It’s impressive how the first hour of the closed beta gameplay was a loading screen simulator

I wouldn’t mind another delay if they added melee combat. I wanna jump on someone’s ship and go wild.

I got invited to the closed beta of this, I was kinda curious but didn't even bother cos I knew exactly how mediocre it would be. Happy to be proven right.

Bro you could do more things in ac 3 with the ships like getting on and off and more

Even AC Odyssey has better ship fights and onboarding fights than Skull and Bones I reckon.

Honestly most people could sit down and give a proper list of features to make Skull and Bones great. 6 years of delays would be forgiven if it delivered on them but the fact they're giving us what looks to be a half arsed Black Flag multiplayer is going to kill this game in it's crib. -> Hand to Hand combat. -> Ship Boarding/Battling. -> Open world with less loading screens (We all know it's possible at this point) -> Interactive NPC society (Gambling, brawling, ladies of the night, dueling, crafting etc.) -> Ship upgrades. -> Different ships, ranging from small to gigantic. -> Missions that can be done alone, all the way up to larger missions that may need entire fleets. -> Land missions. -> Ability to share a ship, perhaps withmultiple people which may increase one ship's efficiency in firing/repairs. -> Possible player driven settlements with a passable building system. -> Naval combat of Black Flag but smoother and with less bugs. -> Cosmetics for ships and players. -> Clan system. -> Ability to control forts, but would need to defend them. If there's anything I'm forgetting off the top of my head I'm sorry, I might come back and add them, but seriously 8 years of development and that list, long as it is, should be well within limits. That's what makes me sad.

I've never been less interested in a pirate themed anything, ever.... Why tf aren't they listening, more importantly, why the fuck are they still bothering 😅

I much prefer the ability to have each friend control their own ship I personally hate that in sea of thieves I get a I either steer the ship or shoot a single cannon when war ships are supposed to have dozens of cannons. Even the galleon in sea of thieves feels pitiful because the deliberate decision of making everyone work on one ship

Tbh i stil want to play this. Yes i love being a pirate fighting with swords, walkin around a ship. Things like ac black flag. But for me this looks good. And this is MY opinion

Ubisoft hasn’t made a truly immersive assassins creed since black flag, an immersive far cry since far cry 3. Or an immersive watchdogs since watchdogs 1. This pink hair, firework rocket launcher, arcade style Ubisoft gotta go

How do they do fk this up? They accidentally make assassins creed the best pirate game at the time, then make a generic pirate game. You made a game that has a complex but fun sword fighting mechanic (for honor). What is Ubisoft thinking rn?

The naval combat looks pretty cool to me. Maybe that doesn't make for a good game overall, but at least it looks good.

I played the first fucking mission and that was it 😂

Sadly Ubisoft is finished. This is the nail in the coffin. I miss the good days of assassins creed.

Props to you for lasting 6 hours! I played the beta as well. Gave up on it after 3 hours. Agree 100% with this video, SO SO BORING!

I feel horrible for anyone who had to work on this game. Imagine putting in chunks of your life to make a game that was doomed from the start.

I played in the closed beta that was from the 15th to the 18th and I had a lot of fun

Pretty much everything you mentioned is exactly what I felt about it when I played. To me, Skull and Bones looked more like that the devs of AC:Black Flag used as influence by saying "Hey...this looks like a cool idea. Let's amp it up and fix all the ways it screws up"

we gamers are simple, we just want black flag with more options, like choosing ship, crews, basecamp, and way of life

I mean it looks great, the ship battles seems great from the looks of it. But, knowing you can even board and fight and its automated and there's not that much freedom which they could've done but, it's not like we thought so

Odyssey had the best combat for ships with no cutscenes and the melee is fire

Played the alpha in December. Based on that gameplay and the roadmap, it's not worth a purchase. They explained to us on the side when we tested it that rare cosmetics will affect gameplay, season passes, and a warthunder-like grind for non premium users.

Ubisoft management is a complete mess. They seem to ditch things people like, attempt making things that people did not want to b e made years ago and so on.

Forgot bout this. Mirage made Valhalla so much better. & I had more fun in Valhalla too.

The one of the things I don't like about it is it's more focused on multiple player

Ubisoft: this AAAA game not (AAA) will be our greatest game so far! Players: can we walk on our ship? Can we board ships? Can we fight pirates hand to hand? Are there different guns and crews to unlock? Ubisoft: no... thats for the previous AAA games... This is AAAA game! You can only use canons function from black flag!

I played in the open beta and I enjoyed it more than most games I've played. I definitely want to buy it (and will do so when it's discounted, as I do with all games I buy).

Thanks for the honest review. Saved me a lot of money.

I also got a private beta code and I very happily declined

How can anyone trust game that have been delayed so many times...people want this type of game,but it doesn't mean it's gonna be good.

A Game with no campaign, no sword fight, no jumping, no climbing, no swimming or diving, no island exploration and no boarding... sounds like a pretty trash open world pirat game. And the best thing is that it costs 80€ plus future battlepasses. Im so sorry for everyone who bought this game.

Ubisoft should hire this guy for all of the ideas and creativity for all of the new games, just looking at one tenth of his videos and there's already a ton of exciting and intriguing ideas and content for new Assassin's Creed games and even some others like Watch Dogs. Ubisoft should start asking the fans for opinions instead of just choosing and hoping for the best, and what other guy is more fit for this?

I legit want to cry right now.......

Now imagine this, Skull & Bones but with full on black flag gameplay mechanics.

It’s been delayed for years and years, in development for too long, and it’s not even the game that we’ve been asking for smh

How do you expect consumers to engage into a Pirate game with no Sword/gun play?

The best thing Ubisoft could've done is remake black flag on today's technology with the previous ac titles formula of a huge open world, character customisation, unique pirate myth/ legendary weopons and items along with sea creatures making what would've been the best pirate fantasy instead of this tragic mess there charging us for including dirty microtransactions 🤮🤮

I'm 99% sure Ubisoft will miss their audience with this game. They put way too much work into the game and didn't listen to the community, what they actually want. All Ubisoft had to do was to take black flag, extract the pirate game play out of that AC game, iterate on that to improve it even further and then create a new pirate game out of that. What we got is a studio starting from scratch, not doing their market research and creating something, that nobody wants with sub par quality. Wtf Ubisoft?!

Thanks for the honest review bro.👍

i played the beta and i had so much fun playing. swapping between things to do, doing quests, then hunt for blueprints for upgrades, get my resources, and sometimes just going around aimlessly and hunting random ships. I even did some trading! but most fun of all for me was, configuring your ship, your look, the customizibility just worked for me.

Give it a minute it’ll come around. It’s got promise. Beta was actually fun as hell, getting better and better ships felt rewarding asf. First time setting sail in the best they’d allow for the beta was a very proud moment

Ubisoft is like that company I just desperately want to do good. Like a disappointing sibling who you see making all the wrong decisions in life but you still want them to get better. They have some of my favorite IPs with so muchhhhh potential Assassins Creed is literally my favorite franchise Far cry is one of my favorite shooter franchises And For Honor is my most played Multiplayer game of all time. I can go on about how much I love the series they’ve created but holy crap have they just missed and missed. They need a new direction or CEO or something. I know they’re talented developers but they just can’t help but make mediocrity. Not cuz they’re not good, but because they don’t seem to have the right direction. I really want Ubisoft to succeed. But it’s hopeful

Personally I enjoyed it. Could be better but based on its own merits I thought it was good. I hope future content comes after release though

nah i liked it feels like an mmo and im boring like that

I just wasted three hours of my life on the open beta of this mess. The last hour was trying to get acacia logs, that were taken by other players before I could get to them. I am grateful that I got to see how crappy it was in time to cancel my preorder.

Me : So it's a pirate game ? Ubisoft : Yes Me : Can you get shitfaced with rum ? Ubisoft : No Me : You know nothing of pirates.

I personally know devs and artists that worked on this disaster since 2016. They've now moved to other studios, got married, had kids AND STILL this game hasn't seen the light of day yet lol

Literally all they had to do was revamp black flag with multiplayer and people would have been happy, wtf is this

Ubisoft had a fucking GOLDEN EGG right here! Instead they remade Black Wake. In Black Wake, you can at least board other ships and slice them with your sword, or blast their heads off with your gun. What in the hell were they thinking?! They had the opportunity to make a pirate masterpiece. Give it a good story. Make it open world with islands, caves, and buried treasures, hell even fucking vaults. And they could make a badass combat system. If they did this game right, it could rival Sea of Thieves, but NOOO, they had to go with the classic Ubisoft method, and fuck it up.

Release it in like April. Add sword fighting and flintlocks, add treasure maps. Add a way to actually BE a pirate…

So basically, if you want a pirate game, replay AC4: Black Flag and Black Flag: Freedom Cry.... I really had high hopes for this game. The teaser trailers made it seem like you would be immersed in a gritty pirate world on and off a ship, not this one dimensional ship game. I'll give it a miss sadly

The only thing this game has over Sea of Thieves is the fact that your ship upgrades actually affect the stats of your ship rather than being purely cosmetic. I haven't played SoT in a long time so maybe I missed an update that fixed that issue.

As a person who only played black flag for the naval combat this looks pretty good to me

Once you said there is only naval combat in the game that so quickly turned me off to getting it 100% lmao, thank you for saving me money!!

I installed yesterday, and the moment I realized I couldn't do anything besides roam with the ship and hit stuff, I felt like uninstalling right away. I still gave it a chance, "MAYBE it gets better" I thought, but I'm on my tier 4 ship and shit is the same, just tankier enemy ships... This game belongs on mobiles, definitely not a fully fledged PC/Console game. Feels more like a minigame. I'd play the hell out of it if they simply took all sea content from Black flag and made it an MMO, that should include naval battles, exploring islands, out of ship combat and all the shit you mentioned in the video. Doubt I can play this even if it goes free.