Hood: Outlaws and Legendsis an upcoming multiplayer PvPvE heist game set in a medieval world. Iy re-imagines the Robin Hood mythology as rival gangs battle for stolen gold while fighting each other and the forces of corrupt landowners.
Aesthetically, the game’s trailer may have reminded many gamers of theAssassin’s Creedseries, with hooded characters sneaking over ceiling beams and stealthily taking out guards as they approach their goal. However,Hood: Outlaws and Legendsis doing somethingAssassin’s Creedhas avoided in the series so far and can expand upon in a way the older series cannot.
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Assassin’s Creed’s Combat
TheAssassin’s Creedgames have been set all around the world, but due to the series’ focus on climbing and free-running, they have always been primarily set around urban centers in order to accommodate this, with the exception of the relatively limited forest-running sections inAssassin’s Creed 3. While thetrailer forHood: Outlaws and Legendsmakes it clear that climbing and stealth will be parts of the game, it also shows a big difference between the two games.
Hood: Outlaws and Legendslooks like it will focus far more on ground-level medieval-style combat, with characters being able to choose between different styles of fighter. Some appear to resembleassassins like Ezio Auditore, but others like the war-hammer wielding character seen getting the jump on a guard in the reveal trailer also show very different styles of gameplay will be available to players.
Indeed, theAssassin’s Creedgames have reached a point where the fundamental mechanics have to be similar despite games taking place hundreds of years apart, with an assassin inEgypt inAC Originsfighting and interacting with their environment in an almost identical way to an assassin fighting in the American Revolutionary War. This has meant that while enemies tend to be a bit more period-specific, the mechanics of the player characters have remained static. Even in the last games, despite hundreds of years, they both play very similarly.
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Period Specific Combat
The main action ofthe firstAssassin’s Creedgame takes place in the year 1191 AD and feels far more period-specific in a lot of its choices. Altair, for example, wears a white hood so that he can blend in with monks who dress similarly, whereas the rest of the assassins in the series do so because it’s the uniform of the Assassins as an organization.
By limiting itself to the influence of a single real-world time period,Hood: Outlaws and Legendshas potentialto feel far more focused in its aesthetic and combat designs than theAssassin’s Creedgames have been able to be since the first installment. Players might be able to expect the different between short bows and crossbows, and longswords and war-hammers to be significant enough to influence tactics, for example.
Hoods: Outlaws and Thievesmedieval setting isn’t just inspired by history, of course. The game expands on the fantastical elements of theRobin Hood mythologywith the introduction of the Wraiths, who appear to use magically infused technology as part of their heists. It has not yet been revealed how much these will have an effect on combat, or whether they will simply stand in for things like lockpicking in a fast-paced multiplayer environment where an actual lockpicking mechanic could be boring or frustrating.
What is likely however, is thatHood: Outlaws and Thieveswill deliver aPvP medieval action experiencethan theAssassin’s Creedgames have not been able to with their constantly shifting settings. With multiple gangs of players fighting for the same gold and against NPC forces, players could finally feel the weight and brutality of that combat first hand. Whether or notHood: Outlaws and Legendsis able to pull it off, however, remains to be seen.
Hood: Outlaws and Legends arrives on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2021.
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