These sound to me like projects where the programmers wrote tests without thinking about the purpose or value of those tests. Maybe they were only starting to learn. Maybe they were being instructed to write tests without understanding the reasons. Maybe they felt too much pressure to ask helpful questions. Maybe they worried that nobody would be able to answer those questions.
Customer Tests can help us understand what the system is trying to do. It sounds like this specific purpose interests you a lot right now. I hope you find your opportunity and that those tests help you. They don’t even need to be Cucumber-based tests, but as long as they are examples written from the point of view of someone using the system, then I imagine they will help you.
Good luck.