The official cinematic trailer for Hood: Outlaws and Legends was revealed earlier this month during PlayStation’s State of Play. In development with Focus Home Interactive and Sumo Digital, the upcoming game puts a dark twist on the tale of Robin Hood where a group of magical outlaws known as Wraiths reclaim money stolen by a corrupt government.
Though it has some key differences, judging by the trailer’s tone alone, Hood: Outlaws and Legends might be the game some fans of The Witcher have been waiting for.
What We Know So Far
CD Projekt Red does not have a plan for another Witcher game with Geralt of Rivia as the protagonist after the end of his story in The Witcher 3. Hood: Outlaws and Legends’ magical outlaws, however, might be right up fans of the series’ street.
At first, the game more closely resembles a medieval installment of Thief or Assassins’ Creed, until the chilling lullaby being sung over the trailer sings “there’s a wolf in the night.” The line sounds like it could be about Geralt of Rivia himself, implying similarities between the games’ characters and how their worlds perceive them. The song is also stylized a way reminiscent of The Witcher’s “A Night to Remember” trailer and its song, “Lullaby of Woe”.
The style of armors shown in the PlayStation State of Play trailer also show that the game’s visual design is at least partially aiming for historical realism, while the thick pine forests shown resemble the Northern European-inspired backdrops of the Witcher series. It seems likely that the developers are going for the same dark twist on English folklore as The Witcher did with Polish myths.
The game’s combat looks quite different from The Witcher, however, with a greater focus on magic and range, as well as what appears to be greater variety in the combat styles available, including everything from stealth and subterfuge to wielding a giant two-handed warhammer.
The nature of the Wraiths themselves seems somewhere between Ubisoft’s Assassins and The Witcher’s magical mutants. The trailer also reveals that while some are grateful to the Wraiths for fighting injustice, others seek the treasure for themselves and see the Wraiths as rivals. It’s unclear whether anybody in the story is distrustful of the Wraiths for their magical abilities just as they are in The Witcher, but judging by the grim aesthetics of the setting, it would not be surprising.
How Hood: Outlaws and Legends Will be Different
It is unlikely that Hood: Outlaws and Legends will have the same singular character focus of The Witcher series. The game will be a multiplayer 4v4 game, where two teams compete to heist the riches stolen by the government while combating hostile NPCs, making any focus on a singular narrative like in The Witcher quite unlikely despite the tonal similarities.
The voice over in the trailer is heavily implied to be the main hooded figure, who is heavily implied to be Robin Hood or the game’s analogous equivalent. It is unclear whether or not that character will have any unique role to play or whether there will be a meaningful division between the characters available on the rival outlaw teams.
For gamers who enjoyed The Witcher’s tone and style and are looking to see that same tone realized in a fast-paced multiplayer game, Hood: Outlaws and Legends might be the game for them. With hotly anticipated RPGs like Avowed and Cyberpunk 2077 around the corner as well, the coming generation of games seems likely to give those players an exciting RPG fix as well. Players who miss exploring a world like The Witcher’s in a more intimate single-player setting, however, will have to wait.
Hood: Outlaws and Legends arrives on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2021.
