"As a fan of Robin Hood mythology, let me be the first to say, “Enough with Robin Hood games!”, while Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders is not the worst Robin Hood game in recent memory, it doesn’t exite me, and based on how few copies it sold, it didn’t excite anyone else either."
Singleplayer. Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders has one major problem: it is incredibly generic.
Nothing about Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders excites or interests me. Combat is lacklustre, visuals are barely average, level design is passable, mechanics are serviceable, progression is basic, and performance is mostly acceptable. Still, Sherwood Defenders occasionally suffers from serious FPS drops, which appear to be caused by too many arrows hitting any unit carrying a shield, resulting in major FPS drops of around 75%.
In a recent playthrough, I enjoyed frame rates north of 120fps on ultra settings, even as I was swarmed by enemies. At least until three units with kite shields appeared, my fps dropped to the low 30s. Then, it bounced back and forth between 30 and 50 fps until all three shieldmen were killed.
While this would not be an issue normally, considering units with shields can turn up at critical moments, it took away all of my desire to play further.
Losing due to a challenge is one thing; losing due to an unstable FPS is something else entirely.
While some titles succeed in a few aspects and fail in others, Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders gets a C-minus from top to bottom, which somehow feels worse than succeeding in only a few aspects and failing in everything else.
While it is entirely playable, and there are far worse games on the market, thousands of better games are more deserving of your time and money.
Over the years, a few “Robin Hood” games have done marginally well and even turned a profit, but those days appear to be over. The green, tight-wearing freedom fighter appears to no longer attract developers with the experience, funding, and manpower required to release a Robin Hood game that a substantial number of people will want to play.
Multiple Robin Hood titles have launched to poor reviews since 2020, including. Hood: Outlaws & Legends, Robin Hood: Sherwood Builders, Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders, to name a few of the most well-known titles that failed to win over gamers.
As someone who loves the lore and mythos of Robin Hood and is a pretty serious gamer, I cannot help but wish developers would stop attempting to make a Robin Hood title if they do not have enough funding or prior experience to ensure a quality product.
Honestly, after a series of poorly reviewed titles set in Sherwood, I find it difficult to get excited about a setting that currently reeks of failure.
While the developers failed to create a game worth playing, I admire their courage in attempting something new, with a somewhat unique take on the tower defence genre.
While it didn’t work out this time, I hope they continue to improve as developers and that one day I can give one of their titles a glowing review.
Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders is a action video game developed and published by MeanAstronauts, it was released on 10 March 2025 and retails for $11.99.
Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders is available exclusively on PC.
The following peripherals are officially supported:
Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders is unrated and contains:
Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders has one major issue, and that is it is devistatingly mediucore in a time when gamers have more amazing games to play than time to play them, and while Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders is not terrible, and it has its good points, ultimately I see no reason to buy or play it, when there are so many better games out there at a similar price point.
Ultimately, it’s the type of game you get as filler in a fanatical bundle, and play once or twice before moving on to something else, so I cannot recommend it.
We found Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders to be a mediocre game, meaning that while it has some redeeming qualities, it's held back by noticeable flaws that prevent it from being truly enjoyable.
