Hood: Outlaws and Legends was one of the most anticipated multiplayer titles of 2021 (May), promising an exciting mix of teamwork, stealth, and medieval combat. Developed by Sumo Digital and published by Focus Home Interactive, the game aimed to offer players a unique experience within a reimagining of Robin Hood’s world. While it had its moments, the game missed the mark in several key areas, leaving behind many disappointed gamers, and ultimately, a dead title.
The Promise of Teamwork
Hood: Outlaws and Legends aims to emphasize teamwork as its core gameplay mechanic, and it does succeed to some extent. Coordinating with teammates to plan and execute the heist requires communication and cooperation. The thrill of pulling off a successful heist with a well-coordinated team is a highlight of the game. Not to mention teammates luring enemy players or guards into an area where Marianne can perform an assassination, or Robin a well-placed headshot. However, there are some issues that hinders the teamwork aspect:
- Lack of Incentives: While the game encourages teamwork, it often doesn’t reward it adequately. Players occasionally find themselves in situations where lone-wolfing is more effective, particularly when using certain characters. This undermines the central theme of cooperation.
- Communication Challenges: Effective teamwork often relies on clear communication among team members. Unfortunately, the game lacks participation with in-game voice chat, making it difficult for random matchmaking players to strategize effectively. This forces players to rely on external voice communication platforms, or in-game pings.
Gameplay
Hood introduced a blend of stealth, combat, and strategy. Teams have to infiltrate a heavily fortified castle, steal a treasure chest, and then escape with it. This encouraged players to consider their approach to each match, but there were some shortcomings:
- Repetitive Objectives: The game’s objectives, while initially engaging, quickly became repetitive. Steal a treasure chest, get it to the wench, repeat. Not to mention, if your team happens to wench 99% of the way, the opposing team only needs to get the last 1% and they win.
- Limited Strategy: Although players have the freedom to choose between stealth and direct combat, those are really the only available strategies. This goes hand in hand with the objectives, because you’re either trying to stealthily kill guards to get the chest, or on a running rampage to get to it as quickly as possible before the opposing team. A broader range of mission types or varied win conditions could have added more depth and replayability to the game.
Useful Skills of Each Character
The game features five distinct character classes, each with its own unique abilities and skills. Here’s a brief layout and mention of one of each character’s available perks to choose from:
Robin: The team’s leader, Robin Hood, is skilled with a longbow, making him the primary ranged damage dealer. His special ability, “Spotter’s Insight,” allows him to mark enemies and provide valuable information to the team.
Marianne: Marianne is the support character, specializing in healing and reviving teammates. Her “Inspire” ability can provide a crucial advantage in tough fights, keeping the team in the game.
John: John is the brawler of the group, excelling in close combat. His “Wrath” ability allows him to go berserk, dealing massive damage to guards and enemy players alike.
Tooke: Tooke is the stealthy rogue, capable of sneaking around and disabling traps. His “Scout” ability reveals enemy positions and provides vital recon.
Eidaa: Added in the Season 2 release, Eidaa is the hybrid warrior, her prioirty on defense and area control. Her “Purifying Aura” ability can come in handy by protecting those who are wenching the treasure from the all-too-fatal headshot from Robin.
Even from the start, there seemed to be an imbalance between characters. The perks didn’t seem to aid enough to truly make a difference.
Why It Missed the Mark
- Lack of Variety: As previously mentioned, it’s a bit repetitive. Steal the chest, escape with it, repeat. You’re stuck doing the same thing match after match. With Season 2 came “Gold Rush”, a new game mode where teams build a stash of 2000 gold at a spawn point. Not quite different enough to make it compelling in any way. Another effort that fell flat.
- Balancing Issues: In the beginning, certain characters, such as Robin and Marianne, felt overpowered compared to others. This led to an imbalance in team compositions, making some matches frustrating for those who didn’t choose the “meta” characters. Once players discovered the ins and outs of the combat and objectives, John became a popular choice. With no regulation on team character choices, players began running a full “Team John”, and there’s nothing you can do against 4 of them.
- Performance Issues: Many players experienced technical problems and glitches, affecting the overall enjoyment of the game. These issues included crashes, connectivity problems, and graphical bugs. There was a major matchmaking bug at launch, resulting in 5-10+ minutes of waiting. The developers took too long to address the issue which caused the game to lose players very rapidly.
- Limited Progression: The game’s progression system feels a bit lackluster, offering minimal rewards and incentives for long-term engagement. Each character has 3 perk slots, and a few options to choose from to place in each one. Personally, I never felt much advantage with any of these other than some of Marianne’s, which allowed for faster movement and quicker assassinations. Even so, John is so overpowered that if you face him, it’s not likely you’ll survive.
Shortly after launch, they did release a new hero – Eidaa. It was too little too late. In what seems like a last-ditch effort, they released Season 3’s “Ostara” the following year (April 2022). “New content” in the form of cosmetics and weapon skins within the Battle Pass. No inclination of another hero, new map, or fresh game mode. With no other updates or exciting news in sight, along with the other issues mentioned above, the game was all but dead.
Personal thoughts
I was excited when this game first came out. It was an awesome new take on a team vs. team vs. enemy based multiplayer game. I didn’t experience too many of the bugs it seems, but I remember difficulty with communication. Everyone just wanted to do their own thing, or just kill the enemy players a hundred times.
This was also before the aforementioned idea of running as a team of John’s. Players chose mostly based on their preference and excitement for a specific character. At least that’s what I did. There was really no better feeling than hitting a one-shot headshot as Robin from across the map. Or, as Marianne, sneaking up on an enemy player for an assassination as they’re bashing one of your teammates.
It was exciting for a time, but that quickly wore off.
Overall
Hood: Outlaws and Legends had all the ingredients to be a great multiplayer experience: teamwork, unique character abilities, and a fascinating setting. However, it quickly fell short of expectations due to technical problems, and eventually character/team balance. While it had its moments, it ultimately failed the gaming community in not addressing issues early. It had the potential to be a much better game if only with some early and speedy adjustments. It serves as a reminder that even promising concepts need careful execution to succeed in the competitive world of gaming.
Happy gaming nerds!
–Available on all platforms. Here are links to purchase/download Hood on Steam and the Epic games store. Visit the Official website to learn more–
For an update on the Spider-Man/Super Mario Bros double-feature, set to release on October 20th, head over and read the TGON Preview.
