I recently revisited Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood, and I forgot just how amazing the environments were. The details, the lighting, the hand-painted backgrounds—everything just oozes atmosphere.
For a 2002 game, it really holds up visually, especially compared to a lot of the 3D games from that era. Anyone else remember playing it?
Oh man, I loved this game as a kid! I grew up on Commandos, so discovering this and Desperados felt like magic.
Arden said:
Oh man, I loved this game as a kid! I grew up on Commandos, so discovering this and Desperados felt like magic.
Same here! The story, the dialogue, the unique combat system—it all made for such a great experience. Plus, the number of ways you could take down enemies with different character abilities was so fun.
Arden said:
Oh man, I loved this game as a kid! I grew up on Commandos, so discovering this and Desperados felt like magic.
Just found out they’re making a new Commandos! It’s supposed to release in March. The trailer looks sick.
@Hollis
If you like Commandos, you should check out Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and Shadow Gambit. They’re basically spiritual successors.
Unfortunately, the studio behind them shut down recently, but their games are top-tier.
This is going to be my next Valheim build! Thanks for the inspiration, dude!
Grace said:
This is going to be my next Valheim build! Thanks for the inspiration, dude!
You’re welcome! If you finish it, you should share some pics. Would love to see it!
Grace said:
This is going to be my next Valheim build! Thanks for the inspiration, dude!
You’re welcome! If you finish it, you should share some pics. Would love to see it!
Deal! 
This game was my introduction to tactical strategy. For 2002, the graphics were ahead of their time. The character models, the environment design—everything had so much detail for what was basically a mid-budget game.
Games with hand-painted backgrounds from 2000-2005 have aged so well.
They’re advanced enough gameplay-wise to still be fun today, but they also don’t suffer from that low-poly, early 3D look that a lot of games from that era have.
Whoever decided to go with that art style made the right call.
I’m playing Baldur’s Gate 2 again right now, and it still looks fantastic.
@Zan
Yeah, I remember when everything started switching to 3D. A lot of games lost their charm.
Early 3D models looked so much worse compared to well-done 2D art.
Was this a static image background? Looks great for its time.
Dara said:
Was this a static image background? Looks great for its time.
Yeah, it’s a static multi-layered background with animated characters. This style looked amazing back in the day and still holds up really well.
@Mackenzie
What made it even better was how smoothly the characters and objects blended into the environment. It all felt so cohesive.
Dara said:
Was this a static image background? Looks great for its time.
If it’s anything like Commandos, then yeah, everything that should move probably did.
I played Commandos 3 a lot, and it had such a strong atmosphere. I imagine this was similar.
This looks like something you could recreate in Tiny Glade.
Is it weird that I recognize exactly which mission this is? Given where your characters are standing, I’m pretty sure this is the one where you can’t kill anyone and have to knock them out instead.
I remember this mission! Honestly, the AI in this game was ahead of its time.
Also, I still think it’s cool how they programmed walls and obstacles to actually block projectiles.
This gives me Stronghold: Crusader vibes.
I had the demo of this game and played it endlessly as a kid.
Living in the countryside with no internet or malls, this and Desperados were my entire world.