Info about Robin Hood - Sherwood Builders - Bandit's Trail:

Official game description:
**_Bandit's Trail_ is a FREE prologue version of Robin Hood - Sherwood Builders. Become the legendary outlaw of folk tales, explore Barnsdale, the first region of the game's world, and face its challenges.**  
Robin Hood: Sherwood Builders is an action-adventure RPG with city-building elements, where you take on the role of a classic hero who stands up to the tyranny and injustice that haunts Sherwood. As Robin, you’ll fight, hunt, craft, steal, and of course help the local people thrive to spite the Sheriff of Nottingham and his ruthless regime – all within an open-world environment that can be freely explored.  
Robin Hood is a famous hero of medieval English folk tales, believed to have during that time roamed the forests of Sherwood with his band of loyal outlaw companions. In the game you’re going to meet those legendary characters as well, such as Lady Marian, Little John, Friar Tuck, Allan-a-Dale, and Will Scarlet.  
Robin's main goal is to help a fledgling community of refugees and rebels advance and expand. Starting with what could be described as a small forest settlement, with a bit of care, hard work, and good luck, it can end up as a town full of people. Recruit local peasants, rebels on the run from the law, and even the citizens and guards of Nottingham themselves as your new outlaw settlers.  
You start your adventure with building a forest camp, which can soon be expanded following the arrival of new residents. You will be responsible for properly managing the space you secured for yourself within Sherwood Forest to build up the village.  
Another important part of taking care of the settlement will be to manage the community members’ professions and tasks, training them to become craftsmen, hunters, or guards, and to manage the settlement’s resources, either gathering them yourself or stealing them from convoys and noble estates.  
As Robin's people grow large in number and strong in sword arm, an uprising in Nottingham may just become a reality, ending the Sheriff's tyranny once and for all.  
Can Robin Hood and his Merry Men survive and put an end to injustice? Their fate is up to you!

Release date: 9 Aug, 2023

Categories: Action RPG, City Builder, Open-World Exploration, Crafting, Resource Management, Base Building, Survival, Real-time Combat


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging & Promising Demo (weight 0.73): Players found the demo/prologue to be highly entertaining, engaging, and a great introduction to the game's potential. Many appreciated its free availability and the significant amount of content it offered for a demo.
- Impressive Graphics & Visuals (weight 0.42): The game's graphics and visual design received strong praise, with players noting the beautiful landscapes and overall aesthetic quality, especially considering it's from a small studio.
- Strong Genre Blend & Crafting (weight 0.39): The game's blend of RPG, city-building, survival, and crafting elements was highly appreciated. Players enjoyed the intuitive crafting, base building, and resource gathering, finding these systems refreshing and well-integrated.
- Enjoyable Puzzles & Exploration (weight 0.19): The inclusion of puzzles and secrets within the exploration was a delightful surprise for players. They enjoyed discovering hidden areas, solving riddles for loot, and found these elements added depth to the gameplay.
- Pleasant Audio & Music (weight 0.13): The game's audio, including music and sound quality, was well-received. Players found the music fitting and pleasant, contributing positively to the overall atmosphere.
- Engaging Missions & Quests (weight 0.11): The missions and questlines were found to be engaging and interesting, with players appreciating the well-crafted initial quests and the inclusion of voice lines.
- Appealing Characters & Progression (weight 0.06): Players found the characters appealing and the character progression system to be interesting, contributing to the overall enjoyment of the game.
- Enjoyable Hunting Mechanics (weight 0.06): Hunting was specifically mentioned as a fun and easy-to-master activity within the game, adding to the overall enjoyment of the gameplay loop.

Common complaints:
- Combat system is unpolished (weight 0.47): Players find the combat system to be dull, basic, and unengaging. Issues include repetitive mechanics, poor AI, clunky controls, and a general lack of polish that makes combat feel slow and unsatisfying.
- Clunky game mechanics and controls (weight 0.42): Many core game mechanics, including general controls, menus, crafting, and item usage, are described as cumbersome, clunky, and unintuitive. This leads to a frustrating user experience and a feeling of unpolished gameplay.
- Intrusive tutorial system (weight 0.2): Tutorials are frequently criticized for being intrusive, poorly timed (even during combat), and overly verbose. This disrupts gameplay flow, especially when combined with demanding survival mechanics like hunger and thirst.
- Underwhelming and short prologue (weight 0.17): The game's prologue is seen as short, uninspired, and offering limited content and resources. Many feel it's inferior to the previously offered demo, suggesting a rushed or underdeveloped introduction.
- Presence of bugs and glitches (weight 0.12): Players report various bugs, including minor glitches in puzzles and optimization issues. There's a general sentiment that the game still requires significant bug fixing.
- Boring and repetitive story (weight 0.12): The game's storyline is perceived as repetitive, boring, and unengaging, with dry dialogue. Some players feel the narrative serves merely as an extended tutorial.
- Poor deer AI behavior (weight 0.12): The AI for deer is specifically highlighted as problematic, with animals exhibiting unnatural behavior like running directly into the player and requiring excessive hits to kill, impacting hunting mechanics.
- Subpar voice acting quality (weight 0.12): The quality of voice acting is consistently criticized for lacking enthusiasm, sounding unnatural, and generally being below par. Some suggest replacing parts of the voice cast.
- Translation errors present (weight 0.1): Significant translation errors are reported across multiple languages, including incorrect word usage and swapped controls, indicating a lack of proper localization.
- Difficult building interface (weight 0.09): The building interface is described as terrible and difficult to use, with issues like annoying camera movement, excessive tab space, and insufficient explanations for construction.
- Game feels unfinished (weight 0.08): A common sentiment is that the game feels unfinished and lacks sufficient content for a full release. Players doubt it will offer many hours of gameplay.
- Inconsistent looting mechanics (weight 0.07): Looting mechanics are inconsistent; not all items (like enemy weapons or items on racks) are lootable. Additionally, wildlife can only be killed with specific weapons, limiting player choice.

Gameplay feedback:
- Multi-genre gameplay blend (weight 0.17): The game attempts to blend multiple genres, including survival, base-building, RPG, action, and adventure. This multi-genre approach is a core aspect of its design, drawing comparisons to games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
- Simple base building mechanics (weight 0.14): Base building is present and described as simple and typical. While functional, it doesn't appear to offer deep or innovative mechanics, serving as a standard feature.
- Easy to learn, hard to master (weight 0.12): Players found the game's basic mechanics easy to grasp within a short period. However, mastering the game's deeper systems and overall gameplay presents a significant challenge.
- Extensive skill tree progression (weight 0.11): The game features an extensive character progression system with large skill trees, offering various upgrades for combat, health, resistances, and inventory. This allows for significant character evolution.
- Tedious early game travel (weight 0.09): Early game exploration involves a lot of running, which can feel tedious due to a lack of engaging scenery or events. Fast travel is available and functions similarly to Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
- Basic stealth mechanics (weight 0.07): Stealth mechanics involve hiding in tall grass or bushes to perform takedowns. Some players desire a more emphasized and refined stealth system, akin to games like 'Thief'.
- Average grind level (weight 0.07): The game has an average level of grind, which some players attribute to the need to level up early skills. The demo provided a substantial amount of content for a few hours of play.
- Positive initial ratings (weight 0.07): Initial player ratings for gameplay, graphics, and controls are generally positive, indicating a solid foundation in these core areas.
- Inventory management improvements (weight 0.05): Players suggest quality-of-life improvements for inventory management, specifically requesting direct item transfer functions and sorting options for the warehouse.
- Multiplayer/co-op potential (weight 0.05): The game includes a multiplayer mode, with suggestions that a co-op experience could enhance the gameplay.
- Familiar combat system (weight 0.05): The combat system is not innovative, featuring basic sword attacks and parry-based counter-attacks, suggesting a familiar approach to melee combat.
- Weapon durability and upgrades (weight 0.05): Weapons have durability and cannot be repaired, with upgrades only increasing attack power, which impacts long-term weapon management.
- Specific enemy hit reactions (weight 0.05): The game features specific hit reactions for enemies, such as limping from leg shots or helmet removal from headshots, adding a layer of tactical combat.
- Abundant but unclear loot (weight 0.05): There is an abundance of loot in the game, but its ultimate purpose and how it will be utilized in the full game are not yet clear to players.
- Large but dense map (weight 0.05): The map appears large, but players quickly encounter enemy camps, suggesting a potentially dense world despite its size.
- Limited city-building depth (weight 0.05): The city-building aspect seems to be a secondary mechanic with limited resource variety, suggesting it's not a primary focus.
- Unclear puzzle hints (weight 0.05): Some puzzle mechanisms lack clear hints for their solutions, leading to trial-and-error, while others can be solved simply by interacting with them.
- Weak special attacks (weight 0.05): Special attacks are not significantly more powerful than normal attacks and have long recovery times, making them less appealing to use.
- Connected storage system (weight 0.05): The game features a connected storage system between the campsite and the player's house, streamlining item management.
- Day/night cycle present (weight 0.05): The game includes a day and night cycle, though some players felt its duration was too long, impacting pacing.
- Dynamic weather changes (weight 0.05): Dynamic weather changes, including electrical storms, are present, adding to the environmental immersion.
- Simple mini-dungeons (weight 0.05): Mini-dungeons and secret areas primarily serve as locations for acquiring treasure and opening chests, featuring simple puzzles.
- Low fall damage threshold (weight 0.05): Fall damage is present, but players noted that the height from which it triggers is unusually low, leading to unexpected damage.
- Monotonous NPCs/environment (weight 0.04): NPCs and environmental elements like trees and animals are described as monotonous or mechanical, suggesting a lack of variety or dynamic behavior.

Performance notes:
- Poor performance and optimization (weight 0.2): Many players report significant performance issues, including low frame rates and stuttering, even on high-end hardware. Some note that adjusting graphics settings has little impact on performance, suggesting poor optimization.
- Smooth performance for some (weight 0.1): A smaller group of players reports a smooth and well-optimized experience on PC, with no significant lag or control issues. They praise the game's performance.
- Game startup issues (weight 0.03): Some users experience issues with the game failing to boot correctly, requiring multiple attempts to launch. This indicates a potential startup bug.

Recommendations:
- High anticipation for full game (weight 0.99): Many players are highly anticipating the full release of the game, expressing strong intent to purchase and play it. They see significant potential in the demo and are eager for further development and content.
- Strong appeal to genre fans (weight 0.14): The game appeals strongly to fans of medieval settings, RPGs, and specifically those interested in Robin Hood themes or archery. There's a desire for the game to lean more into its historical aspects.
- Improve tutorial presentation (weight 0.09): Players found the tutorial system cumbersome and disruptive. They suggest smaller, less intrusive text prompts or side notes instead of large pop-up screens, and a 'back' button for navigation.
- Refine movement and combat (weight 0.08): Feedback indicates that both player movement and combat mechanics need significant refinement. Current combat is perceived as overly simplistic, and improvements in these areas are seen as crucial for the game's success.
- Add full controller support (weight 0.07): Players are requesting full controller support and simplification of controls to enhance the gameplay experience, suggesting current controls might be complex or not optimized for all input methods.
- Add more language options (weight 0.05): Players are requesting additional language support, specifically Portuguese BR and Chinese localization, to make the game accessible to a wider international audience.
- Clarify game genre/mechanics (weight 0.05): There's a concern that the game might be misrepresenting itself, with some players expecting an RPG but finding city-building elements, or being put off by overly punishing mechanics.
- Optimize full game performance (weight 0.03): There's a clear expectation and hope for significant optimization improvements in the official release, suggesting that performance issues might have been present in the demo.
- Prioritize game polish over speed (weight 0.03): Players prefer that developers take more time to ensure a high-quality release, rather than rushing the game out. This indicates a desire for a polished and complete product.
- Enable custom map markers (weight 0.03): Players desire the ability to place custom markers on the map, particularly useful for tracking puzzles or points of interest.
- Show upgrade visuals and stats (weight 0.03): Players want more transparency and detail regarding upgrades, specifically how they look visually and the statistical benefits they provide.
- Allow magnification adjustment (weight 0.03): A suggestion was made to allow players to adjust magnification for comfort, implying that current camera settings might cause discomfort or dizziness for some.
- Add mute on unfocus option (weight 0.03): A quality-of-life feature request: an option to mute game sound automatically when the game window is not in focus.
- Improve animal AI reactions (weight 0.03): A specific suggestion for animal behavior: deer should react to the player with fear, or if attacking, should have a more significant impact like knocking down the character.
- Suggest optimal graphic settings (weight 0.03): A specific recommendation for players to configure game settings for optimal visual experience, implying that default settings might not be ideal.
- Questionable game value (weight 0.02): One review suggests the game's value is limited, indicating a potential concern about pricing relative to content or quality.
- Anticipate non-AAA pricing (weight 0.02): A player speculates that the final game's price will not be as high as AAA titles, possibly setting expectations for a lower price point.
- Game not for everyone (weight 0.02): A direct negative sentiment from one player, indicating the game is not for them.
- Suggest alternative games (weight 0.02): A review bomb-like comment suggesting players buy another game instead, which is not constructive feedback for the current game.

Other player notes:
- Reviews based on demo/prologue (weight 0.21): Many reviews are based on the free prologue or demo version of the game, which limits the scope of feedback. Players spent varying amounts of time in this limited build, typically completing the prologue within a few hours.
- Game has potential, needs polish (weight 0.16): Players see potential in the game but note that there is significant room for improvement and optimization. They express hope that these issues will be addressed in the full release or through future patches.
- Desire more content and variety (weight 0.09): Players desire more content, specifically hoping the full game expands beyond repetitive tasks like clearing enemy camps and village building. They also wish for more diverse weapon drops and meaningful rewards from challenging encounters.
- Request for more language support (weight 0.05): Players expressed interest in purchasing the game if specific language supports, such as Japanese and Ukrainian, are added. This indicates a demand for broader localization.
- Compare to realistic simulation games (weight 0.05): Players compare the game to titles like Medieval Dynasty and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, suggesting a desire for more realism. While acknowledging its unique features, some find it simpler than these comparable games.
- Motion sickness concerns (weight 0.05): Players prone to 3D motion sickness are advised to move the mouse slowly, and there's a question about canceling camera movement smoothing. This indicates potential issues with camera controls causing discomfort.
- Unsolvable puzzles reported (weight 0.03): Some puzzles within the game were reported as unsolvable. This indicates potential bugs or design flaws that hinder player progression or enjoyment.
- Improve sword fight animations (weight 0.03): There is a specific request for developers to enhance the quality of sword fight animations. This points to a desire for more fluid and realistic combat visuals.
- Gear progression tied to crafting (weight 0.03): The game's progression is heavily tied to crafting and building to acquire better gear. This suggests a core gameplay loop focused on resource management and item progression.
- Grinding not required (weight 0.03): Players noted that grinding is not necessary for progression. This is a positive point for those who dislike repetitive tasks to advance in a game.
- Requires decent PC (weight 0.03): The game is noted to require a decent PC, implying that it might be graphically intensive or demanding on hardware. This is important for potential players to consider.
- Request third-person view (weight 0.03): A request was made for the ability to switch to a third-person view. This suggests a desire for different camera perspectives during gameplay.
- Improve story personalization (weight 0.03): A suggestion was made to make the game's story more personal and engaging, specifically by involving a character like a girl for Robin to rescue. This indicates a desire for deeper narrative elements.
- Long game playtime (weight 0.03): The game's playtime is described as long, which could be a positive for players looking for extended engagement. This contrasts with the prologue's shorter duration.
- Unclear repair tool crafting (weight 0.03): There is uncertainty among players regarding the ability to craft repair tools. This highlights a lack of clarity in game mechanics related to item maintenance.
- More Xbox control settings (weight 0.03): A player hopes for more Xbox control settings in future updates. This indicates a need for more customization options for controller users.
- Specific graphics settings recommended (weight 0.03): One review provided a detailed list of recommended graphics settings. This suggests that players are actively trying to optimize their experience, possibly due to performance concerns.
- Weapons found in-game (weight 0.02): A player noted finding an axe from bandits or in a settlement, indicating that weapons can be acquired through gameplay rather than just crafting. This provides context on item acquisition.
- Add unique character catchphrases (weight 0.02): A unique suggestion was made for Robin Hood to have distinct mocking catchphrases. This indicates a desire for more character personality and flavor.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.26): Players expressed satisfaction due to the game's overall quality, engaging gameplay mechanics, and well-implemented features such as combat, crafting, and base building. The positive reception of the demo, visuals, and audio also contributed to a high level of enjoyment and a sense of value, especially for an indie title.
- Frustration (weight 0.2): Frustration stemmed primarily from technical issues like crashes and poor optimization, as well as clunky controls, problematic camera behavior, and unintuitive UI. Specific gameplay mechanics such as inventory management, resource gathering, and combat were also sources of annoyance due to their tediousness, lack of polish, or unfairness.
- Disappointment (weight 0.19): Disappointment arose from the game not meeting player expectations, often due to unpolished core features, bugs, and a perceived unfinished state. Specific issues included clunky combat, restrictive base building, and a lack of depth in graphics or story, leading to a feeling of lost potential.
- Excitement (weight 0.1): Excitement was driven by the game's immersive story, engaging gameplay elements, and overall potential, particularly as a free-to-play title. Players anticipated the full game's release, looking forward to more content, unique skill systems, and continued development based on their positive demo experiences.
- Hope (weight 0.09): Hope was primarily tied to the game's future potential, with players expressing a desire for significant improvements in optimization, combat mechanics, and quality of life features. There was a strong anticipation for the full release to address current issues and fulfill the game's promising concept.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.04): Enjoyment was a general positive feeling derived from the game's laid-back and fun gameplay, engaging mechanics, and overall quality. Players found the experience entertaining and creatively stimulating.
- Anticipation (weight 0.03): Anticipation was focused on the prospect of playing the full game, with players looking forward to more content, upgrades, and specific localizations. There was a general eagerness for the game's continued development and release.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger was expressed due to a highly negative overall game experience, specifically citing terrible combat, poorly designed puzzles, and frustrating camera and control issues. The intrusive tutorials and abysmal gameplay design also contributed to this strong negative emotion.
- Discomfort (weight 0.01): Discomfort was caused by specific game mechanics such as turn movement and realism, as well as physical symptoms like dizziness resulting from the camera view.
- Interest (weight 0.01): Interest was sparked by the game's potential after playing the demo and the overall content presented. Players were curious to see how the game would develop.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Surprise arose from the unexpected fun experienced in the prologue and sudden action sequences within the game.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom was a result of repetitive story elements and a generally unengaging gameplay experience.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion stemmed from difficulties in understanding how to proceed due to bugs or challenges in figuring out puzzle mechanisms.
- Optimism (weight 0.01): Optimism was based on the perceived potential of the game and its future development. Players believed in the game's ability to improve.
- Shock (weight 0): Shock was specifically caused by the game's price, indicating it was unexpectedly high for some players.
- Uncertainty (weight 0): Uncertainty was related to unclear utility of loot items and an unknown density of quests, leaving players unsure about game progression and value.
- Caution (weight 0): Caution was expressed as a decision to wait for fixes before fully engaging with the game, indicating a desire for a more polished experience.
- Patience (weight 0): Patience was required for the camp building process, suggesting it was a time-consuming or deliberate mechanic.}