Today, during the latest State of Play presentation, Focus Home Interactive announced Hood: Outlaws and Legends.
This ” multiplayer heist game” will come to PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2021 and it’s in development at Sumo Newcastle.
Do keep in mind that this is possibly going to be multiplatform. We’ll update this post if it turns out to be so.
You can check out the trailer presented during the show below.
Here’s an official description directly from the Playstation Blog.
Hood is a multiplayer heist game that blends combat, stealth, and strategy. You will assemble a team of Outlaws as you attempt to steal treasures from an oppressive government known as The State in a dark and gritty reimagining of the Robin Hood legend.
This is a PvPvE game that pits two 4-player teams against each other as they attempt the same daring heist in environments populated with enemy AI guards. Without going into spoiler territory (this is a reveal, rather than a deeper dive – more to come soon), we have a wide range of game mechanics and features that can be used to help teammates or hinder rival players.
Stealing a treasure chest from a State stronghold is your main objective, but locating and escaping with it will require teamwork and tactics. Our game world is realistic, with believable interactions and consequences. Treasure chests are heavy and must be carried. Ammo is limited to what you can carry, salvage, or recover from your fallen enemies. Noise attracts attention, both from the AI guards and rival players. Combat can be brutal and deadly, so using stealth can often be the optimal approach.
Using the unique and varied playstyles of each outlaw will be key to your success. Some are specialised in ranged combat, while others are far more deadly up close in a melee brawl. It’s entirely up to you how you configure and combine your skills. This is a heist after all, and no heist would be complete without assembling the gang to discuss the plan before cracking the vault and making good on your getaway!
Who is Hood?
Hood is not one person. It is an idea. A symbol to the people. A legend.
Because we are retelling a legend rather than being historically accurate, we have created our own version of Dark Ages Britain, a time when old world myth and superstition compete with man-made power.
In this time of feudal law, a powerful authority known as The State is trying to bring order to the chaos. But this comes at great cost to people’s liberties, and many consider The State to be as brutal as the ruthless militia who are fighting against their rule.
With any legend, the deeds and actions grow with each retelling and so it is with our game. So, while our version of Robin Hood does wield the classic longbow that you would expect, both he and other outlaws have some unique skills and abilities not found in the classic tales. We took inspiration from popular folklore, but introduced elements of grounded fantasy, which you’ll see in the locations, designs and characters imbued with magic. We’re eager for you to discover this gritty, brutal universe where myths seep into every corner.
Beneath the Hood
Hood is being developed at Sumo Newcastle, and we have been in production for a little over 18 months now. Our studio is a mix of highly creative industry veterans and the superstars of tomorrow. We started our journey as a tech studio that grew into a small, more multi-disciplined team focusing on cutting edge technologies. After releasing EVE: Valkyrie we continued to grow and became part of the Sumo family back in January 2018.
Using our experience and passion for creating compelling team-based multiplayer games, we are incredibly excited to be announcing our first new title for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. We’ll have more details to share later on how the game will be optimised for each platform, but I’m sure you can guess that we’ll be making full use of the improved haptic feedback now possible with the DualSense controller. Creating intuitive inputs and empowering sensations between a player and their virtual bow just become a whole lot more achievable thanks to that new hardware.
If you’d like to see the rest of the games revealed during today’s State of Play presentation, you can find the recording on-demand in our dedicated article.
