Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood

Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood is an adventure game by Sierra On-Line released in 1991 and is the second and final game in the Conquests series. In the game players take on the role of the famed Robin Hood with the goal of restoring King Richard I to the throne of England. The game uses Sierra's SCI game engine and features a point and click interface similar to the one first used in King's Quest V.

The story for Conquests of the Longbow follows the legend of Robin Hood and includes a fair amount of historical and cultural details in the plot and game puzzles. In the game opening, King Richard the Lionheart is captured by Austrian Duke Leopold and being held for ransom. Prince John, the king's brother, is not attempting to rescue Richard and prefers to take the thrown for himself. Robin Hood is driven to be an outlaw and along with his men are attempting to acquire enough money for the ransom to return Richard to his throne. Robin Hood will need to avoid both Prince John and his men for if he's caught he'll be hanged. To complete the game players need to find a way for Robin Hood to collect the ransom.

The story in Conquests of the Longbow is broken up into different days. Each day begins with Robin Hood waking up in his cave and ends with the group discussing the day's events and challenges ahead. There are 13 days in total with each day having a variety of tasks that need to be completed in order to move on (it is possible to skip some challenges and tasks, however this can make the game more difficult later or even prevent players from reaching the end). Tasks include exploring, acquiring disguises to sneak into town, meeting and saving Maid Marian, acquiring items, and more. Several mini-games also appear which include archery, fighting, escaping, and a game of Nine Mens Morris. The difficulty level for the mini-games can be adjusted, however points aren't awarded at the easiest level.

The game features four different endings which are shown depending on how the player proceeds through the game. Many puzzles and situations have different solutions that allow players to complete the entire game, however not all lead to the optimal conclusion. The possible endings are Robin being hanged for his crimes, Robin being given a pardon, Robin being pardoned and offered a job in the king's service, or the best possible scenario of Robin being offered a noble title and marrying Maid Marian. At several points players may take an action that prevents them from completing the game entirely, such as if Maid Marian is allowed to die.

The IBM version of Conquests of the Longbow was released in both a 16 color version and a 256 color version. The 256 color version provided much better graphics, however it required a faster computer and high density disk drive. Players with an 8088/8086 processor or a low density disk drive would need the 16 color version. An Amiga version was also released which used 32 colors.