OVERLORD II

Review: Dave Kozicki

A sovereign’s work is never done. Just when you think you’ve got a moment to spare, some Centurion knob-jockey in a breastplate talks a little smack, and boo-yah, you’re off to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women. Sigh.

All we want is a touch of order in this chaos, a tower to call our own and a cackle of dark minions to cater to our every whim - we don’t bother getting our hands dirty now, do we? Is that so goddamned much to ask for? Carrying on directly from the prequel, the original dark Overlord is done and dusted, with his faithful minions left wanting and waiting in the Netherworld for someone to commandeer their services and let them indulge in mischief and mayhem.

That’s where you come in as Overlad, mysterious demon child that appears in the charming village of Nordberg. It appears you’re the Overlord’s progeny, so after a fairly simplistic “getting to know you” session, you throw off the trappings of childhood, and embrace your inner demonic self. You’ve got four classes of minions at your disposal, each with unique attributes and as you’d expect, you unlock new ones as you progress.

There’s an almost RTS element to each skirmish, as you take on the faerie realm, various legionnaires and a coupla pesky elves. You can get one type to hold position and let loose a ranged attack (red’s are useful with their fireball flinging abilities) and green and browns can mount spiders and wolves respectively (not in that way…). The most fun you’ll have, however, is holding the right trigger and letting these crazy wee buggers go hell for leather. They’ll jump on wolves’ backs, decimate houses, smash up markets and club any enemy to death, all in the name of their dark prince, yours truly.

But, no campaign for world domination would be complete without a sanctuary, a scurrilous den of iniquity, an evil lair to call one’s own, possibly near molten mag-ma? You got it baby. As you reach the Netherworld, your tower is in dire straits indeed, yet as you gain territory and power an under construction motif begins, and the trappings of your victories surround you.

Here, you use treasure and life-force (from downed foes and clubbed baby seals… we kid you not) to get the old homestead up to scratch, whether it’s a few extra guards, a spiffy new blade or even resurrecting your fave fallen minions at the graveyards, and once you’ve freed Nordberg (or destroyed it), you get a saucy bit o’ crumpet inhabiting your dark domicile, cause every malevolent mastermind needs groupies, right?

The flavour of the month is this whole “good vs. evil” dichotomy… now as an Overlord, good isn’t necessarily out of the question, though we prefer to think of it as “less evil”. In each township you take over you can either leave your subjects alone, subjugate them with subtle mind control converting them to malleable drones or destroy them by wiping them off the face of the earth, looting and burning their domiciles and collect their swag for your own narcissistic purposes. Each choice unlocks different powers emulating the decisions you’ve made…

The Overlord series has always been far more fun than it should be, and goes beyond the sum of its parts. Though the frame-rate sputters now and again, watching dozens of mounted little gremlins scurry about causing havoc at your bidding is an absolute riot. It’s a guilty pleasure.

Don’t worry, we won’t tell if you don’t.