I love me some Overlord. I might not love it as much as Jim does but I think it would be a close race as to who has a bigger tent for the upcoming sequel. Now that I’ve had an opportunity to play it on the show floor at E3, I’m even more excited than ever.
Hit the jump and check out why it feels so good to be so bad.
If you haven’t played Overlord — and you should, since you can pick it up for either 360 or PS3 for under $20 now — the basic gist of the gameplay is as follows: Control a horde of evil gibbering minions and use them to wreak havoc over all that you survey. It’s not unlike Pikmin but the adorable plant creatures collecting discarded junk have been replaced with the unholy spawn of the underworld acquiring demonic artifacts to fuel your malevolent powers.
Overlord 2 is more of the same with some new features and a new story. Responding to criticism about the somewhat strange moral choice mechanic in the first game, the sequel provides the player with a different sort of choice. As it was described to me, you can be evil or you can be more evil. No more do you have to demonstrate generosity to earn the love and adoration of the populace, you can merely hypnotize villagers to do your bidding, which makes the whole building of a vile empire much easier.
The tale picks up decades after the first Overlord. After a long period of time without evil at work to undermine all that is good, the Glorious Empire has arisen and the world is enjoying a golden age of peace and prosperity. The Empire seeks to eliminate all magic in the world, something that could really put a damper on the forces of chaos making a comeback. Meanwhile, a protest group has cropped up that opposes the Empire’s aim, elven hippies which fight to protect the magical entities that are at risk of extinction. As the Overlord, neither of these groups can be allowed to live.
The Overlord’s minions remain much the same as they were in the first title. Different colored minions have different abilities and weaknesses. They do get a few new tricks, though. Mounts are can be found in many areas for your minions to ride which help them navigate some types of terrain and give access to secret areas. And the Overlord can place his soul inside a minion’s body and run about in places that his godly physique would prevent him from reaching.
From my perspective, we have an already great game that’s getting a fresh coat of paint in the graphics department, a few refinements and a couple of new gameplay elements. Coupled with the great writing of Rhianna Pratchett, it’s a slam dunk for me and I’m looking forward to its release on PS3 and 360 in just a few weeks on June 23rd.
