The Overlord is not too happy about this and has to free and then use these creatures to further his own diabolical ends. Amongst the creatures used are the minions themselves who now have mounts depending on their colour: brown, burly brute minions get wolves to tear into Centurians on; red minions get to throw fireballs off the backs of fire salamanders; your green back-attacking minions get wall-climbing spiders and the blue, Zen-healing minions.....that, apparently, is a surprise for release day.
There is a feeling that Codies has listened to the fans intently when it comes to fixing bugs and issues with
Overlord. As well as sorting out the camera so that the player has control (rather than it being left in one direction), a mini-map has also been added on-screen at all times so that the player can find their way around and between the areas, the minions who have grown popular with an Overlord can be brought back to life individually and the minions on mass have evolved into much more intelligent beings.
They level themselves up by picking up weapons and armour (as well as silly hats) and go into battle in the correct order: browns taking most of the flak, greens going for a more subtle approach whilst reds attack from a distance. The number of minions themselves has been capped at 50, not because the processor couldn't handle more (it had coped perfectly well with up to 250 in testing) but because it simply made the game too easy with that many.
Sam is incredibly excited about all the new features such as minion possession, as well as the dialogue penned by Rhianna Pratchett after her award winning success on the last
Overlord. She's writing for all three platforms' versions this time, meaning the style and humour passes equally into all the different games. Sam gigglingly repeats “Enter me gently, master!” as the Overlord possesses a minion and he's able to sneak into the Glorious Empire's fortress.
At various other points we've seen such mischief as the minions sweeping villages for useful stuff and returning after a rampage drunk, pissing and puking into the snow, then battering a large group of baby seals. “It's a 16+ again”, Sam says, “We'd love to get it (out to a) younger (audience).” But it seems the draw to make the minions evil is too powerful. “We don't think we'll get complaints. There's a reason given for everything: the seals eat the 'fishies' so the minions eat the seals. And it's funny. The Overlord is supposed to be evil! Rhianna asked if we wanted her to tone it down but we said 'No! Go for it!' Humour in games is always very difficult.
“The feedback we got back last time was that the Overlord wasn't evil enough.” Sam smiles, killing a bunny that hops past. This time you can choose between 'destruction' or 'domination': do you kill the villagers straight away, gaining all their tasty life-force in one go, or enslave them, letting them follow you, zombie-like, seeping life-force gradually? These are your, it must be agreed, evil options.
