Hood: Outlaws & Legends

Mechanically interesting Stealth-Action with loads of small weaknesses, but an interesting focus on teamplay and coordinate use of individual abilities. The better controls on PC give this version the edge.

I enjoyed the atmosphere, assassination-based combat, enjoyable bow shooting mechanics, varied character classes, and cool maps. The whole concept is great, but Hood needed more work, because numerous minor flaws and a sole game mode make it look like an early access title. I also believe it was possible to squeeze much more out of this darker twist on the Robin Hood setting. It is not an excellent game right now, but it is enjoyable enough to be addictive, and I’m looking forward to future updates, hoping they will unlock Hood’s full potential. [08/2021, p.76]

Whether you want to take the righteous route or become the true menace of Nottingham, Hood: Outlaws & Legends is certainly one of the best Robin Hood games to play. The art and world design care are impeccable, representing a grim and gory version of the English folklore. It’s empowering to play as legendary vigilantes and decimate the establishment or opposing forces with strategy and stealth. Although, it doesn’t come without its fair share of problems. The winching mechanic, and currently the only objective type in the game, is unmistakeably frustrating and poorly conceived. Without a proper refresh of the goals, the community might take their gold elsewhere. Not forgetting technical bugs that need squashing, Hood: Outlaws & Legends may let you steal from the rich but not without taking a little bit of your patience first.

Right now it’s still a good time, more so with a full group of friends, but it definitely becomes mundane quickly, especially after figuring out how and when to push spawn points and prepping for fights over hurriedly trying to winch for a desperate win. Those strategies need to be constantly challenged, though, instead of feeling like a to-do list each round. The introduction of a skill ranking system would also go a long way as playing with similarly skilled groups is like a whole different game than when completely crushing a team or getting grouped with those still learning the basics. I have high hopes for Hood. I’d love nothing more than to see a steady flow of engrossing changes to help build a solid community around it but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

I’m enjoying my time in Hood when I can get in the right environment. It’s fun to take down a whole team in a string of headshots with Robin, or assassinations as Marianne. But that fun is incredibly dependent on whether I’m playing with my friends or not. At its very core, Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a good game, it just requires good people around you to make it so.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends is an intriguing title that takes full advantage of the legend of Robin Hood by reinventing it in a dark fantasy style.

Overall, Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a strong effort that has a lot going for it. It's different and often fun, and when it works, it works. The current experience is dampened by a lack of meaningful content and a few balancing issues that frustrated me to a point where I had to stop playing — but I always came back for occasional matches. If Sumo Digital manages to keep the momentum going with much-needed updates and additional content and if the community stays active, Hood could be a very fun multiplayer title across the board. Until then, I'll wait to see which direction Hood takes over the coming weeks.

An accessible online heist game with some fun systems that wrestle with clumsy combat and an ugly presentation.

As we have repeated in the body of the review, the title is now taking its first steps and appears to have a good future ahead of it. Let it grow.

Hood: Outlaws and Legends features an engrossing setting and some good competitive play when two well-matched, coordinated teams collide. However, there are balancing and technical issues that need addressing, and despite the lower asking price, there seems to be a lack of content for long term play.

There’s still a lot to do — so far as amendments to the overall flow, as much base content to warrant the grind to get there — but Hood: Outlaws & Legends has at least found a way to fit sufficiently, if not entirely successfully, into the PvPvE mold.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends could have done better. If the experience offered corresponded to the multiplayer mode of a production with a single player campaign, we would be much more enthusiastic. But as a pure multiplayer game, Hood: Outlaws & Legends still lacks a bit of content, finishing, and balancing to really convince.

Hood: Outlaws and Legends can be a lot of fun. The heist gameplay is best when you have a party of friends who communicate and coordinate the attack, allowing the multiplayer heavy game modes to provide much of the enjoyment. Still, there’s a lack of polish in this adventure, but more importantly, a lack of content. Adding new weapons, levels, collectibles, and challenges could add value to the experience. For what is, Hood: Outlaws and Legends delivers an innovative multiplayer experience, especially for all those heist aficionados out there.

Smart combat makes you think about every move on the game’s impressively varied maps, but until Sumo adds more to do, it’s a tough one to recommend. For now, Hood is best enjoyed with friends or in small doses.

A game like Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a rarity: it takes some big swings to try and set itself apart from the pack. Unfortunately, it whiffs on a lot of them. There is a skeleton here that could turn into something really impressive, but it's hard to imagine a world where it attracts enough players to sustain itself long enough to evolve that far.

While the PvPvE-concept is great and the action is done well, the game gives away a ton of potential with only one mode and five maps. Additionally, the learning curve is quite steep and many mechanics only become clear through trial and error. If the developers stay true to their plans, however, this could become a great game in its genre.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a PvPvE multiplayer game that is based on a potentially interesting idea but which, unfortunately, suffers from a superficial technical realization and obvious balance problems.

Most baffling of all is the way each match concludes. [Issue#360, p.112]

Hood: Outlaws and Legends shows that it has potential, and with future updates it may show its best, but as long as it continues down this path, it's really difficult for it to take off and become the next success.