Overlord (PC) review "Lord of the Rings meets Ghoulies meets Pikmin meets interior decorating"

Two types of mechanics cause me to hesitate when starting a title—and yes, sometimes for up to two decades, as is the case here. One of these factors involves trusting a game's AI when I have to command a whole group of little creatures. The other element revolves around escort missions. I despise the idea of leading around someone who's practically pining for a painful death, which is nearly always the case with guiding anyone controlled by a computer. Put those two together and you're looking at me dragging my feet with games like Overlord.

In the late twenty aughts, I would've eaten up all of its content and ignored some of its issues and limitations, and why not? It's really not a bad piece and is definitely worth a spin even now, but all the same, it hasn't aged entirely well. Now, though, I can view this one without the rose tint a shiny, new copy would've brought.

This adventure opens with you rising from the grave and taking command of a bunch of a little, brown, impish creatures simply called “minions.” No, we're not talking about the little yellow guys from your aunt's Facebook memes, but destructive, obedient little goblins. These guys do your bidding, be it murder or mayhem. Best of all, they spring into action with the press of a single button, dog piling and slaying halflings, humans, killer bugs, succubi, or whatever else sits in your way. They also throw switches, grab items, or break barrels full of goodies, containing riches for you or tiny upgrades for them.

Of course, these guys are 1) not immortal, and 2) not always the brightest. Either your opponents find ways to squash them, or your buddies step a little too close to hazards like lava or poison while moseying about. Thankfully, nearly everything you kill coughs up the life force needed to birth new minions. Yes, even little beetles and lambs supply you with energy. Still, it's annoying when you send a whole platoon to fight off a troll, only to see them perish after a massive butt drop. Of course, if you're quick with calling your cronies back, most of them avoid suffering such a doubtlessly smelly fate.



Assuming they don't get a touch of the dumb...

Sometimes, your units will engage in things you didn't ask them to do, like run off to grab a nearby item or pick a fight when you're trying to be stealthy. It doesn't happen often, but it's no less frustrating when it does occur.

I will admit, though: troop-commanding mechanics here function way better than I could have hoped. Though games like this can make strategy elements an unnecessary pain in the ass, Overlord simplified them enough to make them quick and easy to pick up. Yeah, your men occasionally croak due to stupidity, but such is to be expected with AI.

Plus, you get more than just brown minions. As you advance, you find red ones that are immune to fire and utilize long-ranged attacks, green dudes that deactivate poisonous clouds and execute stealth kills, and blue beasts who swim, revive fallen minions, and handle magical obstacles like nothing else. Sadly, though, the blues are so weak they struggle to even break wooden objects and die any time a foe so much as looks a them.

There's got to be a reason you're doing all of this, right? As the title implies, you're a wicked lord who looks suspiciously like Sauron from “Lord of the Rings.” A big part of your quest sees you reuniting with the minions you lost, not to mention rebuilding and decking out your lair. You also get to forge and upgrade equipment, the latter of which requires you to send dozens of minions to a fiery death as they gleefully hop into the molten metals of your smelter. Browns, for instance, upgrade a weapon's damage rating, while greens boost your chances of landing a critical strike. In this way, the game almost functions like an RPG, only you farm souls for additional troops and statistical increases instead of grind for experience.



Like Pikmin, you search out wares to add to your tower, which your henchmen carry to portals found throughout the world. And yes, you must escort them, and yes, sometimes it's a drag either because they always take the most dangerous route or because following them to ensure they don't run afoul of hazards grows tiresome quickly. This especially rings true when they stop for seemingly no reason, leaving you to try to figure out what could be obstructing them.

Sometimes, the obstruction in question is a foe for you to slice up, but combat for you presents little more than dull, basic combination attacks. Were it not for the commanding mechanics, Overlord would have come across as a run-of-the-mill, pre-Devil May Cry action affair that would've lined a PS2/original Xbox-era bargain bin. Thankfully, throwing your own weight into battle not only helps turn the tide for your creatures, but also mitigates losses. Plus, scaling back your own martial prowess allows the game's core elements to take more of a spotlight. Still, there's no denying that watching your overlord take basic swipes feels like a pulled punch.

The early proceedings of the campaign bring enough freshness that you're able to overlook the occasional misfire. It also helps that you don't acquire all of the minions right away, allowing the adventure to drip feed you new problems with divergent solutions. After a while, though, some challenges become either repetitive or tedious. Yes, it's fun taking a whole contingent into a whorehouse to wipe out red-cloaked cultists working for a horny paladin, but this sensation becomes less satisfying by the time you bump off dwarves, fight assassins in a desert, or take on respawning adversaries in the final dungeon. Plus, some puzzles require drawn-out tactics to solve. For instance, one problem involves a sea serpent blocking a wheel for your army to turn, which itself is surrounded by water and requires the weak blues to activate. Only one solid method presents itself for dealing with the beast: sending a blue to grab the nearby egg of a nasty, flightless bird, using it to lure them to the serpent, and letting them fight. The thing is some of these avians refuse to follow you and head back to the nest, resulting in maybe one or two (if you're lucky) slowly chipping away at the serpent for a few seconds before it one-shots them. This process takes forever.



Also, late-game locales come with their share of technical issues, such as minion spawning points positioned next to environments that indefinitely trap them. One hole sits next to some plants that prevent a newly summoned soldier from moving, basically holding one of your finite units hostage. Other areas feature their share of walls your creatures or opponents clip through, which causes a whole slew of other, smaller problems.

Just the same, though, Overlord remains entertaining enough to play through it. Some of its content hasn't aged well, including your combat mechanics, but most of its material presents enough engaging moments to keep you occupied and get some giggles out of you. Sure, it's probably not the powerhouse now that it was in the twenty aughts, but at least it accomplishes the task that any good game sets out to do.

Staff review by Joseph Shaffer (April 02, 2025) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.