https://www.techradar.com/news/skull-and-bones-is-an-action-packed-relentless-naval-adventure

In 2003, I developed a complicated relationship with Akella and Bethesda’s Pirates of the Caribbean. So desperate was I for a pirate game that offered a real sense of what it’d be like to swash and buckle with the best (or worst) of them I continually returned to this game, despite its frustratingly clumsy controls and unreasonable demands on my limited PC.

I was also a fan of Sid Meier’s Pirates! At the same time. But it offered a very different kind of experience – in some ways I wanted something with the more realistic visuals and intricate gameplay that Pirates of the Caribbean offered, but with the consistent action of Pirates!