Hubbry Logo
search
logo

Overlord (2007 video game)

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Overlord (2007 video game)

Overlord is an action role-playing video game developed by Triumph Studios and published by Codemasters for Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Linux and PlayStation 3. It was released in 2007 in North America on 26 June, in Europe on 29 June and Australia on 6 July.

Development on the game began in early 2006 and the game was announced in May of the same year, with gameplay demonstrated at E3 2006. After over a year and a half of development, its release in 2007 was met with generally favourable reviews, and helped boost overall sales for Codemasters that year. An expansion pack entitled Overlord: Raising Hell was released in late 2007 (Germany only) and February 2008 (worldwide), along with additional multiplayer maps and a local split-screen co-op mode. Raising Hell was also released for the PlayStation 3 in June 2008, bundled with the original game. A sequel, Overlord II, was released in June 2009, followed by a spinoff for the Wii, entitled Overlord: Dark Legend, and a Nintendo DS game called Overlord: Minions.

Overlord is set in a fantasy world, where the player takes the role of a resurrected warrior known as "The Overlord" who has control over hordes of gremlin-like creatures known as "Minions". The player must defeat seven corrupt ruling heroes in order to reconquer the lands and establish his lordship over its inhabitants. The game features a corruption feature, similar to that of the Fable games, but allowing the player to "be evil… or really evil", where certain actions and choices affect different aspects of the story and gameplay. While the Overlord is controlled in a third person perspective, the way minions are controlled brings elements of real-time strategy and upgrades bring those of role-playing games. The game uses dark humour, and is a satirical parody of the traditional fantasy setting and plot. The story was written by Rhianna Pratchett.

The game centers on simultaneously controlling the Overlord and an army of goblin-like minions to traverse the 3D gameworld and defeat the seven heroes who slew the Overlord's predecessor, and who have since been corrupted by power. Each one represents one of the seven deadly sins.

There are four minion races, each of which have their own colour and abilities:

Minions are summoned from the spawning pits found scattered throughout the game. The player needs to pay life-force, which can be gained by killing creatures, like large bugs, to summon minions. At the start of the game only five minions can be summoned at once; as the game progresses this can increase to a maximum of fifty. In addition to controlling minions, the player can sacrifice them at altars of blood and magic to restore the Overlord's health or mana. Once a forge is acquired, they can be used to imbue weapons and armour to increase the Overlord's abilities.

The player begins in an old ruined tower that has been plundered of its magical artefacts and acts as a central hub for the player. As the stolen tower objects are recovered, new rooms and spells become available for use, and the Overlord's maximum health and mana increase. The player also needs to recover the blue, green, and red minion hives to summon the respective minions. The player can customise the tower with a variety of visual items such as banners and statues; the available visual items differ depending on in-game actions. Armour and weapons can be purchased or improved in the forge. Most defeated enemy types appear as opponents in the dungeon, an arena where the Overlord can fight them again (excluding bosses such as heroes and one-of-a-kind beasts).

While the game claims that the Overlord is evil, the quests show him being more of an anti-hero.[citation needed] It tracks how corrupt the Overlord is in accomplishing his goals. During the game the Overlord is tempted by each of the deadly sins while trying to kill their corresponding heroes. The player's choices will influence your corruption level, either raising or lowering it. Slaughtering inoffensive townsfolk, stealing gold and other activities can increase the corruption level. The corruption level changes the way townsfolk treat the Overlord and will also change his appearance, a system similar to Fable. As corruption increases, the Overlord's armour will become more devilish with horns protruding out of the back, shoulders, elbows and knees and he will acquire a black aura. The corruption level determines which game ending the player sees and which high-level spells they can cast.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.