After years of delays, reported reboots, controversies and numerous studio departures, Skull and Bones is here. As a $70 "quadruple-A" live service title, it's all about sailing around during the Golden Age of Piracy and making a name for yourself.

Unfortunately, you're one of many other Kingpins in this forgettable story, with most of your tasks revolving around delivering items and destroying other ships. While the combat and sailing are decent, the gameplay gets repetitive quickly due to a lack of variety, unimaginative objectives and tedious back and forth, and that's before the end game.

When the best thing you can say is "not a complete mess," you know there are fundamental problems.