Overlord review

Despite a lack of originality in the settings (elven forests, dwarven mines, swampy caves… yawn), some good artistic design largely saves the day. The forest of the elves is a particular highlight, with its misty waters, pulsating roots, giant frogs and luminous toxic plants. Connecting these levels is open countryside, populated by inbred peasants (we assume by the fact that there’s only a handful of different character models that they’re all “well acquainted” with one another) and a lot of sheep. Strangely though, the game is devoid of a map, leading to a fair bit of aimless wandering - a real issue in a game where you’re free to go where you want.

The enemies are another highlight, especially the boss battles. From the halfling leader who’s eaten the entire village’s food supplies and now rolls around like a beach-ball (and who, rather disgustingly, has to be finished off by popping him), to super-violent unicorns, cackling succubae and aquatic serpentine menaces, some real thought has gone into creating these and the different methods required to defeat them.