I've recently replayed this for the first time in many years, and I daresay, Overlord still holds up well, barely showing traces of aging (unless you're the kind of person who needs their graphics specs so high that even the human eye can't tell the difference anymore, lol). Honestly I think the visuals are still great, and I imagine the cartoony style of minions and humans helps in the game not looking archaic too soon. The sound is definitely propping the whole thing up as well. And there is nothing quite as satisfying as that little jingle when you successfully looted an object or fulfilled an objective. That gets the evil serotonin flowing!

In Overlord, you let your minions do the fighting for you (though you yourself can get involved in the action as well, with either Axe, Sword or Mace and a variety of upgradeable spells, as well as options to enhance your gear). Don't get too attached to the buggers because you're bound to lose a bunch along the way, be it because you made a mistake or a necessary sacrifice. Playing strategic is recommended if you wanna minimize losses, but with plenty lifeforce options to make new minions abound, don't worry about the occasional loss or error in judgement.
Sweeping minions is fun and relatively intuitive. I recommend sweeping them over loot more than once, since there might be the one or other treasure or armor piece your minions haven't picked up yet. They won't always pick up armor and weapons if those don't improve their horde power, but if you recently had to replenish a bunch of them, it's a good idea to guide them over to any equipment that aids their survivability.

There is a karma system, and while most of the good options are pretty evident (return stolen goods instead of keeping them, choosing to save people over grabbing loot), it is also easy to stumble into some evil options by accident (accidentally killing a shepherd who took offense to your minions killing his sheep for lifeforce, or burning a sacred tree because your fire minions attacked enemies hiding in high grass...) - and as such I recommend always stepping into your tower when you hit a gate, to trigger that autosave in case you mess something up and want a redo. On that note, accidentally triggering an evil event when you want to do a 0% corruption run isn't the end of it all, as your good actions can bring your corruption back down. Just be aware that you can't have negative corruption, so the scale is always 0 to 100%.

Autosave often! Seems like an oxymoron if you have to do it manually, but essentially, not every important action or progress triggers an autosave. Retrieving an object that gives you a boost for example is one of the actions that does not autosave, so it's better to revisit your tower than to run into a problem and having to redo that later. I think that's also about the only gripe I have with this game, that the time between autosaves can mean a lot of progress is potentially lost if you die or have to reset.

While Overlord is for the most part more of a linear progression, there is some freedom in how you tackle things. For example, I tackled the boss in the Elven Forest before the one in Haven's Peak, and apparently the recommended/standard order is the other way around. And while the twist of the fallen heroes might not seem anything new by today's standards, back then I absolutely loved how the story played out and what it had in store not just for the heroes and their vices, but also the final phase.

I always recommend getting games on sale, but even if you purchases this game at no discount (currently 5€/USD) you get a lot of bang for your buck. Especially if you wanna try out 0% and 100% corruption runs, and conversely see the consequences of your actions if they differ from the first time you played. Or if you wanna hear the Jester insult/praise you differently, as the titles he bestows upon you also depend on your progress as well as your choices. Likewise, as you can choose between two different ladies to inhabit your tower, you might wanna see what kind of decor options you get with the other madame. Just me? Oh. (But yes you can, to a degree, upgrade/customize your tower as well!)

I have not yet tried out what the Raising Hell expansion adds to the table, but I imagine I'll be doing that soon.

10/10 would disappoint my parents all over again.

Last update: 29.11.2020

In all seriousness though, it is quite a charming and funny idle clicker. The writing is witty without taking itself too seriously, and the voice actresses are well chosen for individual characters (Nina's accent is the best, period). The in-game achievements (of which there are tons more than steam ones) keep you going back to try this and that, and it's up to you whether you wanna be in it for the long-haul to accumulate reset bonus or reset sooner and reach other things faster.

There's always some LTE or other going on for outfits, pinups and even new girls to keep you checking back at least once a day even if you capped out on everything else - and it means you can obtain all the bonus outfits without sinking money into it (and sometimes they are cycling through older LTEs again in case you missed them previously).


If you want some of the uncensored action, there's resources outside of steam to unlock it for your steam version, but you'll have to pay for it. Update: With Valve's change in stance, you can now purchase the uncensored mode as DLC directly on steam. However there is currently no alternative for people who previously purchased the Panda Pass offsite; while you can still enjoy the uncensored mode, the DLC will taunt you as unpurchased in store (which sucks if you're the collector type).

There are in-game DLC characters, and though I would consider them worth the investment given the advantages of their respective package deals, I realize not everyone's a fan of that.


Achievement hunters worry not, the devs said that there will not be additional Steam achievements added for the DLC characters since they'd consider that unfair to those who cannot afford it.
Likewise, any new LTE characters following after the initial achievement set have not received Steam achievements, only in-game ones.


Another fun new addition is the so called Phone Flings, where you get to flirt via text messages with different girls to feast your eyes on the pictures they eventually send you. Some of them are pretty hilarious, and I welcome the return of Generica, who had been teased but never dateable so far. The phone dialogues are pretty fun, with some minor choice options (that don't affect the overall progress). Peanut was the first Phone Fling to become a date option, others have followed since.


It's nice to see that the team behind this game continues to pour some love into it. And it's free to play, so you have no excuse not to check it out!