Overlord

Overlord is a satirical action-RPG that hands you the role of the antagonist. You are the Overlord — a resurrected armored warrior with incredible power and a horde of evil-minded minions ready to do your bidding. Your goal is to conquer the world, defeat the seven fallen heroes who currently rule its corrupted lands, and impose your will on its people. How corrupt you become depends on how you handle each situation.

The core mechanic is minion control. Intuitive controls let you direct a crowd of impish creatures to smash, destroy, kill, steal, intimidate and otherwise execute your evil bidding. Minions come in different types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses — some attack directly, some sabotage, some can do things no Overlord could manage alone. The interaction between your physical presence on the battlefield and your remotely commanded horde is what makes the genre's mix work.

The game's signature mechanic is the corruption system. Similar to the Fable games of the same era, certain actions and choices shift the Overlord's alignment between merely evil and really evil. The game's tone is satirical throughout — it's a parody of traditional fantasy plotting and characterization, and the writing leans into impish humor alongside the dark deeds. You can choose to be a relatively benevolent tyrant or commit fully to villainy; either path produces a different experience.

The campaign progression handles loot, equipment and Overlord powers. Forge loot from the battlefield into powerful weapons and armor. Gain unique Overlord abilities like making enemies burst into flames or cower before you. Defeat the seven fallen heroes one by one. Triumph Studios — the team behind Age of Wonders — built Overlord as a genuinely funny inversion of the fantasy genre's standard scripts, and the combination of strategy, action and dark comedy holds up well decades after its release.