Overlord (2007)

Overlord is an amazing game. I loved the concept of the game, the originality, the humor and the overall feeling of this game so much.

You play as a badass half dude; half demon called the Overlord. You are resurrected from your tomb by your loyal subjects, simply called Minions. It is your responsibility to take up arms, overthrow all the seven worthless leaders in the kingdom and establish yourself as the ultimate ruler of the lands. To achieve this, you need to gather all your Minion types, expand your horde size, retrieve your stolen artifacts and improve your weapons and armor. I really liked the simple concept of the story, yet every corrupt ruler represents one of the seven sins that you must overcome. Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, Envy, Wrath and Pride.

You can make various choices throughout the game. Evil or good; let someone live, give back the treasure to the people etc. It affects the ultimate ending of the game and this way; you can play the game again to see what will happen if you do it different this time.

I really liked the story throughout and the epic plot twist in the end, in which the previous Overlord takes control over your army, and you are on your own, was epic. You were the eight hero that was supposed to slay the old overlord but got banished to a tomb, from which you were resurrected at the start of the game. When you defeated the old Overlord, you reclaim your title, tower and army and based on your choices, one of the eight different ending cut scenes will play.

In your army, you got four different types of Minions. The brown Minions are your fighters and deal heavy damage to enemies in close combat. The red Minions are ranged fighters who throw fireballs and set stuff on fire. The Green Minions are assassins and use backstabbing attacks on unaware enemies. The blue Minions are the healers and can resurrect fallen Minions. Combining the right Minions in your army is crucial for success and can determine victory or defeat. You collect different forms of life energy from slain animals and enemies to increase the number of Minions that you can summon from the pits.

On your conquests, you can find weapons and armor scattered around. Your Minions can pick it up, proudly displaying it above their heads and then put in on. This way, you increase their damage and resistance to damage. To top it off, they look badass when they are in full armor. However, your Minions will put everything on their heads so a sheep hat or a pumpkin is not uncommon and looks ridiculous.

You also find different relics that your Minions must pick up and drag to the nearest tower portal, so it is stored safely in your castle. These upgrades consist of Health upgrades, Mana upgrades and horde size increase. They are, of course, heavily guarded and not easy to obtain.

I still think that Overlord looks very pretty. The art style, the soft shaders and the landscapes still look fantastic in my opinion. The animations are still very nice to look at and I really like the interaction with almost all the objects around you.
The sound and music in Overlord are really well done. It uses trumpets and other blow instruments to signal commands, recall your minions or to send them into battle. The ambient music is nice and calm and adapts perfectly to the situation or scene.

In the end, Overlord and its expansion, Raising Hell, still stands in my personal favorite top ten games of all time and when writing this review, I suddenly feel the urge again to play it once more.

Definitely recommend it.