Overlord: Fellowship of Evil Review

Overlord Fellowship of Evil Review Screenshot 1

Overlord: Fellowship of Evil is an action role-playing  game and unlike Overlord and Overlord II, the perspective has shifted from third-person to an isometric top-down perspective seen in Overlord: Minions on 3DS. Fellowship of Evil is considered to be a spin-off in the series instead of a proper sequel to Overlord II because the team wanted to introduce some drastic changes to the franchise’s formula.

Overlord: Fellowship of Evil is set after the events of Overlord II, when the world is plagued by goodness. In order to reclaim their world and bring back the evilness, Gnarl, the chief warriors, resurrects and awakens four fallen servants of the dark arts who are tasked to recover the world.

You start by choosing one of four Netherghuls. These include two melee fighters and two that use ranged attacks. I played as Infera, who uses a large sword and fire power. You can also play as Cryos, who uses ice. The dwarf known as Hawken uses an axe and Malady is a necromancer that fires bolts. Each of the characters has upgrades throughout the game, but are fairly limited and uninteresting. You have three types of attack, which include fast, heavy and specials.

At first I thought that the gameplay seemed ok, but I soon realised that it is extremely repetitive. I’m a huge fan of Diablo 3 and this tries to emulate it, but really falls short. Diablo is simple, fun and addictive, whereas Fellowship of Evil is tedious and at times frustrating. The puzzles are boring and have been seen many times before. They include things like standing on switches, ordering minions to areas you can’t reach and getting through pointless obstacles.

Overlord Fellowship of Evil Review Screenshot 2

The main thing I enjoyed about the game was the minions and the ability to swap out followers with different attributes. Browns are basic attack creatures; blues will hang back in combat but heal you if you stand still. Greens teleport and perform sneak attacks. Reds explode. I feel like the game missed out on a great opportunity here to use this idea to create better gameplay situations. They are never used in any unique or interesting way. The combat feels a bit weak and after thirty minutes I soon realised how limited it actually was. I also found the game froze and stuttered a lot, which is always disappointing as it affects combat and pulled me out of the experience.

Another negative about the game is the AI. I found that my minions would attack empty spaces, rendering them useless or they would simply disappear altogether! You will get to checkpoint markers, where gates will close of some of your followers. This was especially irritating as enemies become increasingly more damage resistant and you really need the help of your minions. The larger enemies seem to take a ridiculous amount of damage, meaning you have to continuously button bash before you beat them.

There is currency to collect throughout the game, which unlocks upgrades and weapons. Another thing I would have liked would have been a mini map to help guide me through levels. Sure the paths are fairly linear in style, but there’s too many dead ends and pointless areas that could have been cut out.

Overlord Fellowship of Evil Review Screenshot 3

The best things about Overlord: Fellowship of Evil is the overall style and presentation of the game. The script was written by Rhianna Pratchett, who also wrote Overlord II. The game is voiced by Marc Silk and at times is extremely entertaining to listen to. It’s a shame the gameplay really isn’t that good because Overlord is genuinely funny, quirky and has some really interesting dialogue. I enjoyed the vibrant colours used, characters have good designs, but overall the game is a bit of a mess.

Overall the gameplay feels sluggish, repetitive and frustrating. I can see how it has tried to draw inspiration from Diablo 3, but Overlord: Fellowship of Evil is really nothing near it in terms of quality. The levels are linear and annoying to navigate and at times the game stutters horribly. I can’t say that I could recommend this game as it was a real let down. I was excited to play this game, but ended up just wanting to load up Diablo 3 for some real quality.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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