Ugh... I wouldn't have played it if it was not for PSN Plus. It was a rough one but still playable. I thought it could hook me cuz Sumo Digital was involved but they couldn't get the task done. DnD Dark Alliance was the same and probably now, Gang of Sherwood will be the same. These games, unfortunately, lack polishment and often left uninspired and even worse, unbalanced. Being highly dependent on cooperative work if people would leave your work you'll be left with nothing. Promote it as hard as you want to, it won't be long lasting. The fundamentals of the game is weak and that's all there is to it.

“A Multiplayer Hoodwink”

“Hood: Outlaws & Legends” is a PvPvE multiplayer game focused on class-based combat, stealth, and perk-based abilities. It revolves around two (or one) team of thieves attempting to steal a treasure from a castle/fortress, and whoever escapes with the loot reaps the rewards. Four classes - Hunter, Brawler, Ranger, and Mystic - are available to players, and each class has specific weapons and traits that they can contribute to the heist with. While it seemed like a good idea on paper, I don’t think the development team had any idea what to do after the initial gameplay concept creation, and instead lumped together poor live service elements in order to give players the impression that this title had ample content. Yet, “Hood: Outlaws & Legends” isn’t just a typical failed game - it’s one of the worst games from 2021.

The movement and combat in this game are extremely stiff and unfluid. Attacks are locked into long animations, and they awkwardly transition into future attacks. Moving the treasure to an exit point takes forever, and you’re unable to do anything else while holding it. Climbing around the environment takes a long time, and only specific staircases, ropes, or ladders are allowed for traversal. Everything just feels really janky, and there’s no satisfaction from getting kills or moving around each map.

The balance of this game is absolutely atrocious. The Hunter is easily the most overpowered character since she can just insta-kill anyone in front of her. The Ranger is incredibly weak as he only really has a bow as an option, and many melee characters can block the arrow shot at them. The Mystic and Brawler are neck and neck, but really weak compared to the one-shot potential of the Hunter. Fights last a few seconds and feel really poor, but respawns are frequent and take 10-20 seconds each time. It’s a slow drag with each match, and there is really no satisfaction with this gameplay loop.

The graphics are pretty much the only thing going for this game, and even then they aren’t “incredible”. There is a high amount of texture work going on, but shadows can look occasionally iffy and there’s a real lack of distinction behind the art design as well. Sound is weak in my opinion, as the crunch of combat feels nullified while directional audio is wonky. The presentation is fine, but does not hold up the entire experience by any means.

The microtransactions and live service model are just a slap in the face at the end of the day. Why would anybody want to pay for a poor battle pass or tune into lame events when the general gameplay loop is completely solved upon their first game? All anybody needs to do is wait for the other team to do everything for the other, and then scoop in at the last second in order to bag the loot. Balance is atrocious, game feel is poor, and the community is pretty much dead - yet there are many ways to give the developers more money after already purchasing the game. It’s a bad look and one reminiscent of many modern gaming failures, and leaves me with little to like in my experience with the game.

Overall, I really hated my time playing this. It had some promise with its solid tutorial and nice visuals, but actually playing the game left a different impression. It’s incredibly unbalanced, which is even more frustrating considering the game’s janky combat and movement systems. The loop is really simple and thus boring, especially when teams aren’t really incentivized to fight for the treasure except for near the end of the match. There’s a real lack of content here even a year out from release, though microtransactions seem to have been prioritized over game balancing and improvements. I would Not Recommend this one even if you were given it for free (I recently got it through PS Plus). It’s just another disappointment amongst the new wave of wannabe live service games turned disappointments.

Final Verdict: 2/10 (Bad)