Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders is a new survival or horde spinoff from the same franchise. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Review Overview

What is Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders?

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders is a standalone survival game developed by MeanAstronauts, the same developers for Robin Hood: Sherwood Builders. Play as Robin Hood, where you defend your allies against the Sheriff of Nottingham and his cronies. The game features a horde-defense gameplay where you position troops, build structures that defend or produce resources, and engage in combat directly.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders features:
　⚫︎　 Robin Hood
　⚫︎　 Horde-Survival Gameplay
　⚫︎　 Building Defense and Production Buildings
　⚫︎　 Same Action RPG Controls From Original
　⚫︎　 Unlockable Buildings and Other Rewards

For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders’s gameplay and story.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders
Steam

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Straightforward Gameplay	Unengaging Gameplay Dated Visuals and Bad Voice Acting Not Much Strategy Involved

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Overall - 40/100

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders is a painfully below-average survival defense game that highlights the weakest aspect of the original game it’s based on: the combat. To top it all off, you’d have already experienced 70% of the game after playing for a few hours, which isn’t all that great to begin with.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Story - 2/10

If you were looking for a story, you wouldn’t find it in this standalone survival defense game. With a non-existent story and only the Robin Hood name to carry it, there’s not much else to talk about regarding the narrative aspect. In fact, it's particularly insulting to just have the famed thief's name and not at least have something to loosely tie it to the legend.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Gameplay - 4/10

Based on the action RPG from the same franchise released a year ago, Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders shines a spotlight on that same game’s big flaw: the weak combat. The repetitive combat and tanky enemies make for an unpleasant attack-mashing fest. Not to mention that the buildings and other troops don’t really add much but just act as walls to the enemy troops for you to do most of the heavy lifting.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Visuals - 5/10

Since the visuals are based on the assets of the original game, the same problems arise. Character models and textures look dated, and animations are clunky and sluggish. The highlight of visuals before was the lush greenery and the different environments you can explore, and that’s nowhere to be found in this game.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Audio - 5/10

The overall audio design is decent, but the voice acting is still a gigantic anchor that holds it down for the most part.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Value for Money - 4/10

Priced at $11.99, the game doesn’t offer much compared to the rest of the games that are available at the same price. There’s a certain novelty with how you can approach different stages with different strategies with tower placement, production management, and the like. But that’s not enough to warrant a recommendation.

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Review: A Waste of an Asset Flip

Last year, MeanAstronauts released Robin Hood: Sherwood Builders, which was a pretty decent action RPG based on the titular folk hero. This time around, they decided to release Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders, a standalone survival defense game using the same assets from the previous game. With the use of its existing base-building mechanics and the mix of its combat tweaked to a survival-defense game, is it any better than the original game? Sadly, it isn’t.

Straightforward, Easy to Understand, and That’s About It

If there’s a good thing to take away from the gameplay, it’s that it’s a very easy-to-understand game. The game lets you play as the titular Robin Hood, equipped with a sword and bow that you use to take down the enemy forces. There’s a set number of waves to complete for each map, and each wave is split into two phases: the Building Phase and the Combat Phase. Without going into much detail, the Building Phase lets you spend your resources to build defensive or resource gathering structures to combat the enemy forces.

There’s not much nuance that goes into the balance between defense and resource gathering, as I found myself prioritizing upgrading my archer units, walls, gates, and other ranged towers. After enough time has passed, or if the player wishes to start it, the Combat Phase begins. To no one’s surprise, your goal is to simply kill all the enemies in that particular wave.

Simple right? That’s pretty much the whole game.

Boring and Uninteresting Gameplay

Straightforward as it is, the wave-to-wave gameplay doesn’t have enough variety or difficulty that warranted a change in strategy on my end. Most maps were finished by just using the same-old walls, gates, and archers strategy that doesn’t involve much planning. The constructed buildings and hired forces are just there to stop the enemies in their tracks, as you use Robin Hood to do all the heavy lifting.

In the end, it all boils down to you either pelting tanky units with arrows and then swooping in and mashing the different attack inputs to defeat the different enemy types. Sure, there are different arrows and traps that you can purchase and use. But ultimately, the game is just you running around the different structures you built to kill the enemies that come at you from different areas.

A Cash Grab With No Potential

The game is an asset flip. Everything is just retrofitted to fit a different genre. One could even say that this is just a cash grab, since everything you find here are existing features in the previous game without anything new added. Not to mention that there’s not enough variety for both the player and the enemies that really offers anything new for you to tackle or strategize around. It’s sad to say that there isn’t much Robin Hood representation nowadays, and that trend continues till now.

Is Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Worth It?

No. Buy a Different Game.

It’s painful to say that this game isn’t worth your time, especially when the original game has tons of content, even if the game is average at best. Yes, the game is definitely on the cheaper end at $11.99, but the gameplay as a whole doesn’t offer enough to warrant interest. It might be best to look for other games in the same genre, especially if you’re under a strict budget.

Digital Storefronts
Steam
$11.99

Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders FAQ

Does Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Have Multiplayer?

No. It’s a single-player survival defense game.

Do You Need to Purchase The Previous Game to Play Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders?

No. It’s a standalone game that is a completely different genre based on the same IP.

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Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Product Information

Title	ROBIN HOOD: SHERWOOD DEFENDERS
Release Date	March 11, 2025
Developer	MeanAstronauts
Publisher	PlayWay S.A., Ritual Interactive
Supported Platforms	PC (Steam)
Genre	Action, Strategy
Number of Players	1
ESRB Rating	T
Official Website	Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders Official Website

Michael Gerra-Clarin

Resident fighting game nerd, avid FFXIV fan, and enjoyer of mostly anything gaming. He is currently addicted to gambling in TFT and dying to Light Rampant in Futures Rewritten Ultimate.