Overview

Embodying the bad guys is a role that has always found its followers in the world of video games. Here you will be Overlord, the Almighty Lord of Evil. Many others have tried to take your place, but Evil is not so easily acquired, and the Minions have understood this in vain. Under their spiritual leader's guidance, they will gather the necessary powers to bring you back to life. In doing so, they will immediately present themselves as your most faithful servants, an undeniable fact that will find its charm throughout the adventure. But is the Overlord's experience an adventure? If it means bringing back terror and suffering to a kingdom where peace and joy of life flourished, then yes. However, the realm is inhabited by humans, as other creatures such as Halflings or Elves sometimes come to play the troublemaker. In short, you have to put everything in order, of course, as you wish.

It's in this will to take power over the kingdom that the game's full potential results. As a Lord of Evil, the peasants will quickly see you as a leader who must be respected and entrust you with several quests to guide you throughout the game. At the same time, you'll collect various items and slaves to build your tower of Evil. The quests follow one another in a very similar gameplay pattern that consists, most of the time, of sending your Minions to fight and get killed for you, moving objects, breaking everything in their path, terrorizing the population, bringing back the coveted item and returning home.

Gameplay

After two hours of gameplay, the game no longer holds many surprises in store for you in terms of gameplay, with dozens of battles against all sorts of creatures, untimely comings and goings to retrieve the items you need for your progress, and the customization of your castle and weapons, which is complete, by the way. Despite this lack of novelty and depth, Overlord efficiently manages to stick us to the controller with its enchanting universe, its dozens of quests and its Minions, as funny as they are useful during battles. However, it's a pity that the gameplay isn't more varied, both in terms of the Minions' actions and the blows you can give to your enemies. But you are limiting Overlord to a poor hack & slash would be a big mistake as the game is more like a real RPG in some of its aspects, especially the tower and Minions management aspect that we have already discussed above.

On the progression side, the game takes as a nerve centre the tower of your castle, where you will start the adventure and will often be brought back to discover new quests, customize your weapons or improve your castle. From this point of view, the player can conquer the world thanks to relatively few portals but are nevertheless cleverly laid out. Once you have passed through the portal, you will be able to summon various Minions, depending on the orbs at your disposal. Managing the orbs will be of paramount importance in your adventure since, without them, there will be no minions and, therefore, an almost impossible level of difficulty. Let's mention in passing that if you run out of energy at a given moment, you can always order one of your henchmen to commit suicide to give you back some vitality or a little magic that you will use to cast various spells on your opponents. A somewhat useful concept that nevertheless suffers from a first-rate flaw: the linearity of the adventure. For if the world you'll cross is relatively vast to explore with many hidden treasures, territories and strongholds to discover, the missions you'll be given have to be carried out in a precise order. By this, we mean that if you tackle a more advanced mission than the previous one, you risk being stuck in a particular place due to the absence of Minions of a specific colour in your ranks. You'll have to turn around to get back on the right track and get back to the adventure. But contrary to what you might think, this linearity isn't necessarily constraining, as the game is fun to play, and your progress is exciting to follow.

On the side of good ideas, the hilarious design of the Minions, which are not without reminding the Gremlins, but also their numerous mimics, the few feints released here and there and this so funny caricature of the world of fairy tales. The Minions will surprise you by running to you with a bag of gold or various offerings, by sacrificing themselves to regenerate your life or your magic, by adopting daring postures in front of young ladies, by disguising themselves with accessories stolen from houses or by fighting savagely in front of your enemies. It may be an exaggeration to say that these creatures alone are the main focus of the game, but they contribute significantly to the game's success.

You'll need about 12 hours to complete most of the quests in the single-player adventure in terms of lifespan.

Graphics & Sound

Overlord has a lot of trouble from a purely technical point of view, making us forget that it is a small game without pretension. For if the graphics are correct on the whole, the game is no less pale in comparison with the competition, especially in terms of minimal animations and collision bugs. Despite this, the game manages to touch us with its endearing universe, its charismatic characters and its fairytale atmosphere. Indeed, it's hard to get away from the world of Codemasters' game, which exerts a real enchantment on us.

It is a pity that this positive observation is marred by the camera's management, somewhat destabilizing at first glance, given that it lacks precision. To have a clear view, you will continually pull the left trigger to re-centre the vision axis.

As for the soundtrack, Overlord is adorned with a few first-rate musical themes and voices that are entirely satisfactory for small production. Admittedly, it is not the year's soundtrack, but overall, Overlord manages to assume its direction thanks to judicious artistic choices on the part of the developers. So the goal has been achieved.

Conclusion

As they say, so often, hell is paved with good intentions. This is all the more true in Overlord because it was designed by a small development studio that worked on the title. A title may seem simplistic at first glance, but it reserves a real richness for those who will go beyond the hour of play. Funny, amusing, beautiful and charismatic, Overlord has serious arguments in its favour. There are still a few minor flaws that denounce the developers' lack of ambition, and above all, somewhat awkward camera management. Despite this, Overlord proves to be a pleasant surprise that certainly deserves the investment, provided, of course, that you like Action-RPGs.