History VideoGame / OverLord

* Polyamory: Averted in the first game with the choice of mistress. Gnarl says that you must choose either Velvet or keep Rose as there is only enough room in the Dark Tower for one mistress. Played straight in the sequel where you collect three mistresses over the course of the game, are allowed to keep them, and chose any one to be your primary one at any point in the game.

* CoupDeGraceCutScene

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The minions.

* VillainousHarlequin: Quaver, though he is suggested to be NotSoHarmless in the first game. He's little more than your singing ButtMonkey in the sequel.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: being an EvilOverlord, you can easily tap into this. Although your horde of EvilMinions is your main weapon, you are much tougher and stronger than any one of them, and once you get access to the best gear, you become able to handle small armies singlehandedly as you are the Overlord!
** Averted in ''Overlord: Minions'' where you don't partake in the fighting.
*** Also mildly averted, though, by the fact that you'll really need your best armor and weapons to do that. Without it, the overlord is actually fairly weak. The first two thirds of the game are about letting your minions do all the job by themselves, while avoiding direct confrontation. Reversed with a fully imbued set of armor and weapons, as it become more interesting to do all the work by yourself, which is both faster and less difficult, especially considering that the final armor upgrades transform you in a MightyGlacier with a HealingFactor and an [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus One]] [[{{BFS}} Sword]] / [[AnAxeToGrind Axe]] / [[DropTheHammer Mace]].

* EvillyAffable: Gnarl.

* FaceHeelTurn: Quite the big one, infact. [[spoiler: It turns out that you were an "eighth hero" that suddenly showed up on the original seven hero's journey to defeat your predecessor. You, the eighth hero, killed your predecssor and gravely injured yourself, The overlord before you hitched a ride in the wizard's body, and serves as the game's final boss]]

* FaceHeelTurn: Quite the big one, infact. [[spoiler: It turns out that you were an "eighth hero" that suddenly showed up on the original seven hero's journey to defeat your predecessor, You, the eighth hero, killed your predecssor and gravely injured yourself, The overlord before you hitched a ride in the wizard's body, and serves as the game's final boss]]

* ScrewYouElves: Elves are generally a race of either idiots or jerkasses who continually get shafted throughout the series, either by the Overlord's antagonists or the Overlord himself if he so wishes.

Written by Rhianna Pratchett, daughter of TerryPratchett.

** ''VideoGame/OverlordRaisingHell'': An Expansion Pack to the first game, [[HellGate portals to Hell]] have opened up all over the land and there's only one thing to do: [[LikeABadassOutOfHell march in and take over!]] And you get to personally torment the heroes you previously sent there, as well!

* ''[[OverlordDarkLegend Overlord: Dark Legend]]'': A Wii prequel centered upon teenager Lord Gromgard (pictured above), a previous Overlord in a Fairy Tale setting.
* ''[[OverlordMinions Overlord: Minions]]'': A spinoff for the Nintendo DS. A cult called the Kindred is trying to raise the Dragon Kin so they can rule the world. Obviously, the Overlord won't stand for any competition, so he sends a squad of Elite Minions to stop them.

A [[{{Characters/Overlord}} character sheet]] is under construction and needs entries.

*** Also mildly averted, though, by the fact that you'll really need your best armor and weapons to do that. Without it, the overlord is actually fairly weak. The first two thirds of the game are about letting your minions do all the job by themselves, while avoiding direct confrontation. Reversed with a fully imbued set of armor and weapons, as it become more interesting to do all the work by yourself, which is both faster and less difficult, especially considering that the final armor upgrades transform you in a MightyGlacier with a HealingFactor and an [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus One]] [[{{BFS}} Sword]]/[[AnAxeToGrind Axe]]/[[DropTheHammer Mace]].

* {{Backstab}}: The Green's special attack is to jump upon an enemy's back and stab 'em until they die.

* BlackKnight: In the first game, your armor gets blacker the closer you get to [[{{KarmaMeter}} 100% corruption]], with SpikesOfDoom sprouting from your skin, you're more a KnightInShiningArmor at lower corruption levels.

** The Overlord of the second game carries more than a few passing similarities to [[{{WorldOfWarcraft}} The Lich King]].

* CatchPhrase: Gnarl's catchphrase is "Evil always finds a way."

* FallenHero: A staggering portion of the [=NPCs=]..

* GlowingEyesOfDoom: The Overlord. Interestingly, in Dark Legend and Overlord II the respective candidates have glowing eyes even before they become full-fledged Overlords, though the Overlad is justified since he is actually a FetusTerrible. Gromgard is apparently just destined for evil.

* KarmaMeter: Odd though it may seem. It basically measures PragmaticVillainy vs. StupidEvil.

** Which is lampshaded by Gnarl in the second game, "I remember my days as a young minion. Oh the things I used to put on my head."

* {{Mana}}, ManaMeter

* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: The Minions are fairly standard goblin-like critters - some of which are immune to fire, poison, drowning, and have natural affinity with various beasts.

* SurroundedByIdiots: your Minions are loyal to the point of willingly embracing death at your merest whim. They're also dumber than a sack of particularly dull hammers. Ah well, you can't have it all...

* TakeOverTheWorld: your main goal.
* TinTyrant

* UnicornsAreSacred: Justified; the whole forest is tainted by evil and you can (and should) mercy-kill them.

* HeelFaceTurn: Quite the big one, infact. [[spoiler: It turns out that you were an "eighth hero" that suddenly showed up on the original seven hero's journey to defeat your predecessor, You, the eighth hero, killed your predecssor and gravely injured yourself, The overlord before you hitched a ride in the wizard's body, and serves as the game's final boss]]

* Heelfaceturn: Quite the big one, infact. [[spoiler: It turns out that you were an "eighth hero" that suddenly showed up on the original seven hero's journey to defeat your predecessor, You, the eighth hero, killed your predecssor and gravely injured yourself, The overlord before you hitched a ride in the wizard's body, and serves as the game's final boss]]

->''Evil always finds a way...''

* SorcerousOverlord: depends on how you want to play the character in combat though you look mostly like the warrior type and rule over your kingdom like a sorceror.

* ''VideoGame/OverlordI'': The Overlord goes after the heroes that defeated his predecessor, who have each since been corrupted by one of the SevenDeadlySins.

Once again, it's time to put on your ([[NiceHat evil-looking]] and [[SpikesOfVillainy spiky]]) villain-hat... as might be suggested from the title, ''Overlord'' is a game that lets you step into the flower-stomping, minion-kicking, heavily-armored shoes of an EvilOverlord. With such a premise, it can hardly come as a surprise that the game uses or subverts half the entries in the EvilTropes index...

Basically, you've just been awakened from your dark slumber by a handful of loyal minions, and find - to your chagrin - that when your predecessor fell to a group of do-gooder 'heroes', they ransacked your Dark Tower, stole most of the magic objects, emptied the armory AND treasury, and generally made a mess of things. Well, it's time to roll up your sleeves and get up to some serious evil! Rebuild your Dark Tower, recruit a fresh army of suicidally-loyal Minions, regain your magical powers, forge new equipment imbued with the lifeforce of mortals, terrorize the peasantry, slay the heroes that thus inconvenienced you, and [[TakeOverTheWorld CONQUER THE WORLD]]!

Due to the game's playstyle, it's seen as a DarkerAndEdgier Medieval {{Pikmin}}, though they don't [[FandomRivalry clash]] as much as you would think.

* ''{{Overlord}}'': The Overlord goes after the heroes that defeated his predecessor, who have each since been corrupted by one of the SevenDeadlySins.

!!The entire Overlord Series contains examples of:

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!!The original ''Overlord'' game has examples of the following tropes:

* AdiposeRex: King Melvin has managed to become a spherical body.
* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler: your character is actually one of the heroes that slew the previous Overlord, but got left for dead by his comrades, and lost his memory.]]
* AnAxeToGrind: Your first weapon is a battleaxe, rather than a sword or mace.
* {{Anti Villain}}: the main character of the first Overlord game, especially if you follow the "Less Evil" path. Given that he turns out [[spoiler: to have been the Eighth Hero and the one who destroyed the previous Overlord by a HeroicSacrifice]], his actions in the game could be seen as a willingness to use evil to fight evil, turning the resources of the Dark Tower against the Fallen Heroes, which would technically make him an {{Anti Hero}}. It's mainly the fact that he doesn't give up his position and control over the Minion Horde after he defeats all of the Seven that slots him into {{Anti Villain}}.
* BarBrawl: You can earn corruption points for starting one in Heaven's Peak in the first game.
* TheBerserker: Khan, the Fallen Hero of Wrath.
* BigBad: The Wizard [[spoiler: Who is possessed by the previous Overlord.]]
* BlackKnight: your armor starts out metal-colored, but as your Corruption-level rises, it gradually darkens. With maxed-out corruption, you ARE a BlackKnight. And yes, the armor and helmet are permanent fixtures.
* BloodlessCarnage: Every death is clean and EverythingFades. In cutscenes centered on a death, the vanquished simply glow with red light.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[spoiler: The Jester is a textbook case. In the main game he starts worshipping the Wizard within seconds of his arrival, then he conspires to free the Forgotten God in the expansion.]]
* TheDragon: In the first game, [[spoiler: the playable Overlord serves as the unwitting Dragon to the Old Overlord.]]
* DoomyDoomsOfDoom: in the Evernight Abyss, you can find a mold for the 'Mace Of Doom'. Your adviser cheerfully comments that he hasn't seen an 'Of Doom' weapon in years, before explaining its powers.
* ElvesVsDwarves: following your previous 'fall', and prior to your awakening, the Dwarves attacked the elven forest of Evernight out of sheer greed, nearly annihilating the entire elven race, and taking the last survivors as slaves.
* EnemyWithin: [[spoiler: The Wizard was possessed by the evil spirit of your predecessor, and was slowly taken over by him. By the time you face him, The Wizard is long gone, and the True Overlord basically just wears his body 'till he can find something better.]]
* EnslavedElves: The homeland of the elves is a haunted forest littered with ruins, and the elven populace has been dragged off to slave for the dwarves. It's possible to free the elves, or ensure their extinction.
* [[EvilCounterpart (Even More) Evil Counterpart]]: [[spoiler:The Wizard, the Overlord you're technically usurping]] gets his own brand of Minions, darker and meaner than your own. Being attacked by hostile Blues is kinda sad, though.
* EvilerThanThou: The Wizard tries to pull this at the end, but of course, since YOU'RE the player character, you win anyway.
* ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow: One of the consorts.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Melvin in the first game, who is even implied to [[ImAHumanitarian have a taste for humans]]
** Note that in his particular case this isn't actually cannibalism, since he is a halfling.
* FaceHeelTurn: All of the heroes who defeated the original Evil Overlord. Including [[spoiler: yourself]].
* FallenHero: Worth special note, as an very unusual example of [[spoiler:an TomatoSurprise, with you being one of the original heroes who lost his memory. Also see AmnesiacDissonance.]]
* FatBastard: "Melvin ain't so small now! Squish food! Eat food!"
* FearMySquad: In the beginning at least, a full Minion squad is ''much'' more deadly than the Overlord himself.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Um, when you barge in on that succubus cult, [[ButYouScrewOneGoat why is there a sheep in there?]]
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:The Wizard got GTM'd by the previous overlord.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: Jewel doesn't actually ''need'' to steal things; she just can't stand other people having them.
* HeavySleeper: Oberon, the Hero of Sloth.
* HostileShowTakeover: [[spoiler:The climax has the Wizard steal the Overlord's title, tower, spells, Minions, Gnarl, and finally the ''main theme music''. Granted, they all technically belonged to him from the beginning, but finder's keepers.]]
* HulkSpeak: Kahn the Warrior drops into this whenever he gets angry. Which is most of the time, since he's an embodiment of the Sin of Wrath. His accent makes it sound absolutely ridiculous, but given the tone of the rest of this game, that's probably intentional.
* IKEAErotica: of the visual kind, up to the point where the scene with Rose suggests your tower is merely shaking from a headache or something. The implications were there, but the visuals didn't carry it - and the orgasmic 'pincer maneuver' was unadulterated {{Narm}}.
** Then again, with Rose being the stuck-up, stiff as a board mistress that she was, that was probably the joke.
*** Compare her sister, who just says it's time to get you out of your armor. Rose spends the whole time ''going over spreadsheets''.
**** Yes, but what kind of ''spreadsheets''.
*** On the other hand she ends up pregnant in the expansion pack...
* JabbaTableManners: Melvin's eating habits [[EvenEvilHasStandards disgust even ]]''[[EvenEvilHasStandards your minions]]'', who are pretty crude themselves.
* KarmaMeter: depending on your choices, your Overlord can range from [[AntiVillain Benevolent Tyrant]] to Incarnation Of Pure Hatred. Overlord II ranges from Domination to [[OmnicidalManiac Destruction]].
* KarmaHoudini: The Jester gets away scot-free for betraying the Overlord twice. Although considering that he's replaced in the sequel, he may have gotten his comeuppance offscreen.
* KickTheDog: if you want to achieve 100% Corruption, you'll have to kick a LOT of dogs.
** Committing an entire race to extinction for a bag of gold? Done. Wrecking every house in the peaceful farming village? Check. Killing hundreds and hundreds of innocent civilians? On it. Stealing the uber-holy Statue of the Mother-Goddess from the Tombs of the Elvish Warriors just 'cuz it'd look good in your foyer? Been there, done that.
* LadyMacbeth: both of the possible Mistresses fit the trope, each in their own way.
* LesCollaborateurs: when Kahn takes over the first village you conquered, most of the peasants switch sides in a hurry. Mostly because the dude is twice your size, and you're big to begin with. Once you've beaten back the invading forces, it's up to you what to do with them...
* LetsPlay: The FreelanceAstronauts did a pretty good LP of this. They abused the soundbites a little too much...
* [[NoCanonForTheWicked No Canon For The Really Wicked]]: The Overlord canonically chooses Rose and spares the lives of the Elven Race. It seems you did not take the corrupt route.
** Or at least not 100% corruption. You can get up to 80% without contradicting the sequel.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: [[spoiler: used verbatim by your former 'comrades' during a flashback, after you fell off a cliff.]]
* NobleDemon: An uncorrupted Overlord might actually qualify in the first game, with all the former heroes corrupted by one of the SevenDeadlySins.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Dwarves are basically angry beards on legs. Angry, ''beer-soaked'' beards on legs.
* OurElvesAreBetter: No they're not. They return in the second game as a bunch of hippies trying to protect the magical beasts from the Empire.
* PaleSkinnedBrunette: pretty much describes Velvet, the eviler choice in Mistresses.
* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: The Dungeon, which can create any enemy you've slain at least one of[[hottip:*:Except for Sandworms, Magma Giants and Beholders, since you can only beat those using GeoEffects.]]. You can't actually get experience there, since Overlord has no experience mechanic, but fighting beetle mobs there is an excellent way to grind for Lifeforce.
** Also, a series of places, including Understreets 2, The Brewery and Ruborian Desert that become great sources of Minion Equipment when cleared.
* SealedEvilInACan: could describe you, prior to your awakening at the start of the game. [[spoiler: Or so it would seem...]]
* SevenDeadlySins: each of the 7 Fallen Heroes represents corruption by one of the Seven Sins.
** In order, shall we?
** {{Gluttony}}: Melvin
** {{Sloth}}: Oberon
** {{Lust}}: William
** {{Greed}}: Goldo
** {{Envy}}: Jewel
** {{Wrath}}: Kahn
** {{Pride}}: [[spoiler: The wizard/old overlord, and the player character with 100% corruption]].
* ShoutOut: To Diablo, possibly. The plot is extremely similar to that of Diablo II, only with a different protagonist. The weapon and armor names are also reminiscent of the series.
** There is quite a bit of references to JRRTolkien in the game. The developers didn't even try to hide the fact that the halflings' home village is based on [[LordOfTheRings the Shire]], and with the human town next door being called Spree, it gets even more obvious.
** The Dark Tower bears more than a passing resemblance to Orthanc.
** And also (humorously enough) to {{StarTrek}}, what with the Wrath of Kahn...
* SlaveToPR: If you choose to go down the 0% corruption route. Inverted with 100% corruption, in that all your choices have to be evil ones to get there (slave to Evil PR?). Ironically, it's a lot easier to redeem prior evil choices with good ones than it is the other way around.
* SpeakingSimlish: The halflings and dwarves (although that might actually be {{Angrish}}).
* SpikesOfVillainy: you actually grow more and bigger spikes as you do evil things, as does your Dark Tower.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To DungeonKeeper.
* TragicHero: All of the villains to some extent [[spoiler: except the Wizard]], but [[spoiler: Oberon]] really fits this trope. Unlike the rest, he still tries to act for a good cause, but commits evil because he's not entirely in control of himself. He is also the only one to realize how his selfishness has destroyed him, while the others revel in their fatal flaws. This makes him the only antagonist that is [[SympatheticPOV portrayed sympathetically]].
* TrainingDummy: The Jester.
* UnholyMatrimony: [[spoiler: Having a Mistress doesn't just help you decorate your Dark Tower in various stylish ways... she'll also help you by upgrading your Minions, thus making you stronger, and towards the end whichever Mistress you chose will save your life when the one you scorned helps The Wizard ambush you and drain all your powers.]]
* {{Unicorn}}: you kill one that is eating a dwarf as you first see it.
* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Your minions can pick up the things of whatever they kill, but you can't. Justified in that you, as an Evil Overlord, deserve better than old steal-me-downs.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You can kick your court jester in the face. Repeatedly. Oh so therapeutic.
** VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Try this on any of the tower females, mistresses or servants [[{{ArmorPiercingSlap}} though...]]
* VillainProtagonist: That would be YOU. Maybe not so much of the former, but still...
* WelcomeBackTraitor: Humorously inverted by Gnarl who, [[spoiler: in the act of betraying you, calmly states that he'll gladly take you back if you beat the old Overlord]].
* WholeCostumeReference: Guess what the Overlords' armor is based on. But [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope for legal reasons]], you can't say it out loud.
* XanatosGambit: The Wizard and your predecessor, [[spoiler: who are one and the same have pulled off a truly impressive gambit.]]
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: The Overlords preferred method of expanding his Dark Realm is to roll in, find whoever is in charge, and kill them stone dead. [[spoiler: This is also how he became the Overlord in the first place.]]
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* ''OverlordII'': Follows the son of the first game's Overlord. The Glorious Empire is on the march in its quest to stomp out everything magical - pfft, like an Overlord is gonna let that happen.

** ''[[OverlordRaisingHell Overlord: Raising Hell]]'': An Expansion Pack to the first game, [[HellGate portals to Hell]] have opened up all over the land and there's only one thing to do: [[LikeABadassOutOfHell march in and take over!]] And you get to personally torment the heroes you previously sent there, as well!