Overlord and Overlord 2 are now backward-compatible on Xbox One
Bad heir days.
Codemasters' comedic action-strategy games Overlord and Overload 2 are the latest titles to receive backward-compatibility support on Xbox One.
The original Overlord was developed by Triumph Studios and released on Xbox 360 and PC back in 2007, turning up a year later on PS3 in its expanded Raising Hell form. As Kieron Gillen put it in his review for Eurogamer, "Overlord's probably most succinctly described as Fable meets Pikmin with Dungeon Keeper's plot, with splashes of Diablo and Sacrifice." Which sums the core experience up pretty much perfectly.
Essentially, Overlord combines good old-fashioned third-person adventuring and action with a real-time-strategy-like system in which you command your ever-increasing horde of minions to do you nefarious bidding - usually in the name of chaotic combat or puzzle solving.
Your general goal, however, is to play as evilly as possible - although Overlord's comedic tone means your heinous deeds tend to be closer to pantomime villainy, than actual sadism - whether they be in single-player, multiplayer, or co-op modes.
The original Overlord managed to secure itself an 8/10, and ex-Eurogamer editor Kristan Reed was equally kind when the sequel rolled around in 2009. Despite a few legacy issues, Overlord 2 did plenty of things right, successfully reviving its predecessor's engaging dark humour and pleasing strategy action, while expanding the core formula with welcome new wrinkles, and rectifying some earlier flaws, namely in the control and AI department.
"Overall, in what has been a pretty underwhelming year for games so far, Overlord II feels like a shining beacon of quality," said Kristan. "Not only is it a distinct improvement on the original, but the new features add greatly to what was already a superbly entertaining game. It manages to strike an excellent balance between being challenging and rewarding, and does so throughout with a wicked smile on its face. If the original was something of a sleeper hit, then the sequel ought to wake people up to its deliciously evil charms."
If you've an original Xbox 360 disc copy of Overlord or Overlord 2, you just need to pop it in your Xbox One for the console's backward-compatibility magic to happen. Both games are also available to download digitally on the Microsoft Store, each priced at £8.99/$9.99USD.