Gangs of Sherwood is a baffling thing. You are the quartet of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, and Friar Tuck. Together you’ll battle the Sheriff of Nottingham in a wild dystopian ancient England full of science bordering on the realms of magic. It’s a steampunk neon fantasy take on the IP that matches the all-over-the-place gameplay. Gangs of Sherwood made me feel a mix of appreciation that it exists and befuddlement at some key design decisions. It’s a 2008 Arcade game with no extra depth added to the home port, yet it isn’t. It’s a brand new 2023 console and pc title, and it’s one of the least enjoyable things I have ever reviewed.
The Premise
As previously stated, you’re Robin Hood’s gang and you’re going against the Sheriff. It’s a wild version of these characters, with a setting that is Medieval Cyberpunk. Major Oak is your home base where you’ll spend time in-between each mission leveling up, changing outfits, and that’s about it. Every part of this game has the feeling of an old arcade title. Levels are short with a few checkpoints in each. Throughout everything there is this feeling of dark misery that has been steeped in vibrant neon colors. It’s a tonal mismatch, with every character doing their worst Marvel-style quips as the townsfolk are murdered by the dozen. Dead men hang from trees as Robin says a stupid line and it’s one of the most mind-numbingly boring experiences I can remember.
It’s a shame as technically the game has some chops. It is a bit fuzzy on Series X but runs at a steady 60fps. Animations look good though you’ll see the same ones roughly 15000 times if you play through the entire campaign. That’s not a given with just how repetitive it all is. The tone is matched by a story that is flippant about the horrors going on around it, because everyone can’t stop cracking awful jokes. Occasionally one of Maid Marian’s 40+ brothers (who are most of the named bosses) will have a funny line or two. Outside of that it’s dreadful, and I had to play the game in short bursts because I found it so unpleasant to experience.
There are three main acts with a handful of bosses to take on. Replayability comes in finding enough gold to upgrade each character. You can change between them in-between missions but gold is only earned for each as you play them. You’ll use gold to buy moves and upgrades. Normally this type of progression is great. My issue with it is how they held most of the fundamental parts of a game like this behind them. You’ll spend your first 5-10 hours pressing light attack until you built up a combo then using right trigger to set it off. How this works varies between each character but it is the same monotonous feeling no matter who you play as.
The Dreadful Combat
Gangs of Sherwood is a mission based brawler with up to 4 players able to join up in co-op. Robin and Marian are smol and can squeeze into tight places. Little John and Friar Tuck are big boyz, and can smash open or lift up certain areas. Most levels have side areas off the beaten path that give you chests filled with either per-run buffs or gold. Outside of that you will run, jump, and hit your way though a 10 or so hour campaign until either you fall asleep or smash your console out of frustration. Not that the game is difficult, nay it is the frustration of missed potential.
With a little more depth to its combat system, and entirely rewritten dialogue, this game would have had the potential to be a solid time with friends. Instead, even on heroic difficulty, it is the easiest and most boring thing I’ve played in 2023. I’ve played Gollum, and some truly awful shit this year. None of them were as annoying to me as this one was because you can see the talent. At times it looks fantastic, and early on some of the combos look and feel awesome. Once you’ve done that same combo attack 450 times though, with no reason to ever try anything else, it’s miserable.
After a few levels, even on heroic I could one or two shot most bosses with a full stack of Marian’s magnetic daggers. Huge end of act bosses died in 15 seconds on heroic whether solo or in co-op. The difficulty balance pass in the review version of the game is the most baby-bitch difficulty I can remember. I just played a lot of Super Mario Wonder and it was miles more difficult than Gangs of Sherwood. Even if the game was more difficult though it wouldn’t make up for how repetitive it all is. I changed characters often to try and fight it off. I gave up and just played Marian though as it let me get through the monotony more quickly. Robin Hood builds up golden arrows, Little John builds up a Fire AoE, and Friar Tuck just smashes things insanely fast with his big hammer.
Eventually you get unlocks like Rebel mode which make the game even easier. I had more damage output, more heals, and the enemies were the same. As you progress through each level you’ll have a Gang Power meter that goes up as you murder or hit checkpoints. By the time I was at 3 power (out of 4) I could one shot any mob with a full combo. It should be fun, all the trappings are there. I could mute the voices and just talk with friends if the combat had any depth, but it doesn’t. Nothing in this game has any depth, and with shorter levels I honestly think it would be an ok time at the Arcades.
Everything Else
The music is well done, though bright and cheery in a way that doesn’t match the horror going on in front of you. The game ignores that though with all of its writing and major plot points. Marian’s quest to murder her entire family is a joke, a lark that she wants to end the familial bloodline. Townsfolk strung up in trees or burning in their homes? Sorry can’t help you, we need to run from spot to spot joking as we go about how many guards we’re killing. It’s a “have your cake and eat it too” issue where the game wants the Sheriff and his lackeys to be pure evil but the tone of the game is bright and cheery.
The voice acting is fine, let down by god awful writing. Quip after quip after quip and none of them land. It’s never funny, but I could feel the talent of the people behind it doing their best to make it so. I didn’t run into any real bugs, because again it feels like a well-made and polished product. It’s just one let down by some infuriating design choices that sabotage something that had the potential to be at least an OK co-op game. There are some wonderfully talented devs and voice actors that worked on this title. I hope to see more from them with a better wrapping around it all in the future.
Wrapping Things Up
Gangs of Sherwood was fun for 15 minutes. Every second after that was a dreadful monotony that I cannot recommend to anyone living or dead.
Gangs of Sherwood
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Occasionally Looks Great
- Competently Coded
CONS
- Repetitive Everything
- Terrible Quip-Filled Dialogue
- Weird Tonal Shifts
- Baffling Design Decisions
- Lacks Depth in All Areas
Oof. Staying away from this one.
What a bummer was debating on this for a slow week but I’ll wait until it’s fairly cheap.
Thanks for the review!
So many stinkers this year. Poor Jesse. I can’t believe this actually came out. I thought it died.
Morbidly curious to know what some of these quips are, but not enough to actually look into it. Thanks for the review, Jesse.
I did not jump on a hate bandwagon. Myself and other people on the site played it and we’re shocked at the shoddy design choices. Terrible repetition and insane ease. There is also no first playthrough on a character. You can change your character whenever you want. There is no incentive to just play one character. So what are you even talking about?
Weclome to the community @Blood - glad to hear you’re enjoying the game!
You didn’t “explain” anything to me. You simply enjoyed a game that I did not. I’m glad you did and I hope more do.