Xbox Series X|S review copy provided by 505 Games
The time has come. The newly released Robinhood-inspired multiplayer heist game, Hood: Outlaws & Legends is here. What I expected to be one of my games of the year turned out to be more of a middle-of-the-road title that still has some room to grow. What holds the game back, what does it do great, and how does it actually shape up in its current form? It’s a game worth investing time into but know what you’re heading into before taking the plunge.
Gameplay
The game is set up in 4-player co-op heists in which your team of 4 will compete against another team of 4 as you try to get the gold and head out of the level. It’s easier said than done and the game will test your team’s might as there is much more going on than meets the eye. The majority of my time with Hood really had me paying attention to what was needed of me in any given situation. It never lets up, making its sole mission to crush your spirit. It’s not quite the best game for ragers and even worse for players with no team spirit.
The heists are the game’s only real mission type with the other just being training. In the heists mode, players are allowed to choose between any one of the four selectable characters, all inspired by Robinhood characters. There’s Robin The Ranger, Marianne The Hunter, Tooke The Mystic, and John The Brawler. Once the match starts, your first goal is to locate The Sheriff who spawns randomly within the match. A cool thing about him is that he’s a huge guy that can’t actually be killed, only stunned. If he gets his hands on you, you’re dead.
After you pickpocket the key he’s holding then it’s time to locate the vault in which the chest of gold is hiding. Locating these chests isn’t too easy as it could’ve spawned on the other side of the map from you. Once you have the chest, it’s time to bring it to one of the level's many exits where you will pull it over with a winch. From there, up to 2 players will have to crank that winch, hitting checkpoints and hopefully finishing before the other team swoops in and steals it.
All of this sounds easy enough but as you’re trying to get all of this done you still have to worry about the other team that’s trying everything in their power to turn the tide in their direction as well as the roaming NPC guards. The roaming guards have their own tricks as well. If someone on your team or the other team is spotted, guards will lock down that area and call out the person spotted. This can either work in your favor or against you whether you’re spotted or not. There have been many times where I’ve gotten spotted on purpose solely to ruin the other team’s plans.
I assumed that this game was difficult but there are so many ways that a match can totally be swayed just by paying attention to what’s going on and finding the correct opportunity for you to seize. It all depends on your team’s coordination and whether each player is utilizing the correct character. I notice that I personally play much better when I’m using a brute character as opposed to one of the stealthier ones. When I play as Robin, I’m horrible but when I play as Tooke, I run the show.
Each character has a unique set of skills, making them extremely important in specific circumstances. Robin and Marianne are stealth characters that are designed to clear the battlefield of policing enemies so that the brute characters of John and Tooke can go in and deal with the bigger ones. All of these characters can also be extremely useful in opening new routes for getting in and out of the castles. Robin for example can shoot arrows that’ll drop a climbing rope and John can lift up portcullis’ to get players directly into the main areas. All characters have different throwables as well that they can pick up throughout levels such as grenades, stun grenades, or smoke grenades.
One thing I should mention is that players on either team can choose whoever they want to be. For instance, it’s not limited to one Tooke per team. If a team really wanted to, all of them could play as him. That’s one of my complaints about the gameplay. I’d rather it be locked where players couldn’t be the same characters on the same team. Sometimes a match can be extremely tough due to there not being a specific character in play for your team.
Once you get out of a mission, you can go back to your outlaw camp which you can upgrade with your winnings. Here, you’ll be able to upgrade your characters with perks that’ll give them new abilities or cosmetic items such as weapon skins or clothing. There’s enough customization here to make it fun and not too cumbersome. I really only focus on the perks as the cosmetic items are just that. They don’t offer new abilities or any leg up on the competition. It should also be noted that everything is expensive in this game so be ready to grind your heart out.
Something that really wore on me as I continued to play Hood was the fact that it takes forever to find a game most times. You should expect to wait at least 5 minutes to find a match even at peak gaming times. For a game that’s crossplay across all 5 available platforms, it’s really sad that it takes so long to find enough players to play most times. I hope that this is just temporary and that more people will start to play but it could also be a sign that maybe there aren’t enough players interested in it.
And that’s a real shame because this is a game that has real promise to grow. I remember being one of the first people to play Rainbow Six: Seige when servers were low at launch. Hopefully, this will follow suit and grow into something gigantic. Only time will tell but I’m hoping that more players will consider investing the $30 into it.
Visuals
I was honestly blown away by how some of the visuals that I came across in this title. I did have some chugging points on my Series S here and there but otherwise, this game is beautiful. The lighting balances extremely well with the heavy gloom that surrounds every map and its characters. You should definitely balance your video settings when going into this one because it’s one of the titles where it really pays off to let the dark contrast take over for once. I’m not usually a fan of dark games but this one just works it so well.
Audio
The audio area of the game is pretty awesome but my favorite aspect is when the chest is placed on the winch. Every time you get to this point the music hits just right with drums pushing the gameplay forward and getting the blood pressure to rise. For the players operating the winch, it’s just another layer to the anticipation knowing that a player or the Sheriff could be rounding the corner at any moment. For the pursuers, it’s a race to get to that winch and take out the competition as quickly as possible.
Replayability
Through its character upgrade system, hardcore fans are going to really try their best to max out these 4 characters. As far as gameplay goes alone, I can see where some may say that this is kind of a one-trick pony. The heists can start to feel samey and it really just depends on what kind of player you are. If you like heists where the PvP competition is heavy, then this is for you. If you’re a player that thinks this is mostly player versus NPC with a little PvP thrown in, then you’re going to have to adjust your expectations.
What It Could Have Done Better
I personally feel that this game’s marketing didn’t really show that the majority of it was going to be PvP. A lot of the gameplay to me always looked to show these characters interacting with NPCs. So getting into an actual match could seem like a curveball to some. I like the gameplay loop a fair bit but I personally thought that the missions were going to be carried out differently.
There’s a huge imbalance when it comes to some of the characters that you can play as and it makes it difficult to really enjoy yourself at times. Something else that really grinds my gears is that you can sneak attack someone at any time as long as you’re slightly behind them. You could be fighting someone on another team and just as you’re about to kill them, their teammate sneaks in and kills you instantly. Sneak attacks normally work correctly when put into games but here it seems like players are exploiting it way too much and it honestly made me question whether I wanted to continue playing at times.
I also think that there should be other gameplay mechanics in play to mix it up a little bit. To me, it feels like there’s the bare minimum present. It definitely seems like a game that will grow in time but as it stands now, it can get pretty stale. I think that a year or so from now we’re going to see a very different game and for the better. I’m thinking positively about this one. It also helps that the devs are actively fixing issues brought to their attention by the community.
Verdict
Hood: Outlaws & Legends while not meeting my expectations, introduced me to a game that has the potential to be a truly unique experience. Possibly even better than what I had hoped for. Even in its current state, there is fun to be had given you are aware of what you’re going into. It’s a beautiful looking piece of art that hopefully keeps players’ attention long enough to wow us when it finally finds its stride. It’s a pretty unique game and I’d definitely say to give it a shot as its price is right to try something new.
