I went into Open Beta knowing nothing. Didn't even play Black Flag. I have over 1000 hours in Atlas.
This is not Atlas.
This is 1/4 of GTA, but Pirate Edition. The ship combat is fast and deadly. You can take on ships 1 rank, maaaaybe 2 ranks higher, if you're a boss.
We have yet to see Territory Control where you assign ships from your fleet to protect trade routes. Or the PvP to capture resource outposts for your pirate empire.
We've only been shown the ship combat, resource gathering, and one PvP mode.
(Edit to add: All the people griping about harvesting resources are completely missing the point. Go plunder a POI and quit crying about some mini games)
All the reviews I'm reading are people with expectations that were let down. I had zero expectations and I had fun. Played solid, all Open Beta, and bought the game to play it on live.
I want to see more.