Developed By: Gemdrops, SuperNiche
Published By: NIS America
Category: RPG, Action
Release Date: 03.26.26
Price: $49.99
*Game Download Code graciously provided for the purpose of review
When I saw the first artwork for Estrange Overlord, I immediately thought it looked like a cross between Disgaea and Re:Zero. The art style itself had the Disgaea flair, while many of the characters looked like they were ripped right out of the Re:Zero world, especially the protagonist. This was good news for me because Disgaea 7 is one of my top 10 games of all time, and Re:Zero is one of my favorite anime. I was immediately hyped for the game because of this.
Could you imagine my surprise when I found out that people from both franchises worked on Estrange Overlord? Sōhei Niikawa, the creator of Disgaea left Nippon Ichi Software to create his own company and work on this game. Shinichirou Otsuka, the original illustrator for the Re:Zero light novel did the character designs. Estrange Overlord already had everything I could ask for before I even played the game.
Lady Étrange von Rosenburg is accused of a terrible crime and is executed right at the start of the game. We quickly learn that she’s been framed, but her personality and views on herself don’t really help her case. She’s basically an anti-hero who thinks she’s the hero, but in an enduring and humorous way. Oh, and her entire existence runs on sweets. When all is said and done, she wakes up in hell, but the demons residing there aren’t too thrilled with her attitude.
The demons begin attacking her for not conforming to the laws of hell. But because she’s Étrange von Rosenburg, she’s able to overpower them easily. Slowly she amasses an army of subordinates, with her goal being to live as luxuriously as possible, even if she’s in hell. The story is rather simple but there’s a ton of clever character writing and the dialogue is full of the classic Disgaea humor and flair.
The game is also a musical. Note that I said musical and not a music game. It’s not a rhythm game or one of the other kinds of games you’d expect from the music game genre. This one’s a full-blown musical in the same vein as a Broadway show. Characters will spontaneously break into song and dance every few minutes. A lot of extra story stuff and character personalities are revealed this way.
One thing that I really liked about the story was the pacing because the chapters are fast-paced and bite-sized. Do a quick battle that takes a few minutes and then see a bit of the story. Then it’s off to the next segment. The game doesn’t bog you down with long chapters or a million tasks before you get to see story progression. It’s a similar structure to that of Disgaea 7, and I love it.
The gameplay loop starts off slow, but it really picks up after the first hour or so. Each character has their own kind of attack, and you just spam it over and over. You can swap between characters as frequently as you like, and the ones you aren’t controlling will fight based on the commands you give them. Lanes are introduced after a few battles, and they’re a game-changer.
They’re like strings of musical notes that revolve around the stage. All sorts of things are placed along the lane and move with it. The majority of the items will be buffs that boost your character like increasing your attack or letting you use your special attack. But occasionally, you’ll find things like hazards and other surprises that will shake up how you fight.
The lanes add a level of randomness to the fights. Unless you’re playing on the story mode, playing the game without the use of these buffs will be difficult. But finding the right items scattered across the lanes as they appear can change everything and is an integral part of making sure you can win. Add in a timer and the occasional extra challenge, and each stage feels somewhat fresh.
Once you’ve beaten a level, you earn money and items, but you can redo each level as much as you want by running around the overworld. By redoing levels you can keep racking up rewards and some levels will unlock extra surprises by doing them over again. As you explore the map in between battles, you can also find a bunch of items just lying around. These refresh after each battle, so it’s always worth taking a look across the world if there’s stuff you need.
As for the visuals and sound design, the game is great. When you’re in cutscenes, the backgrounds and environments look good. When you’re in combat, the world is simple but effective. The character models are okay, but the actual designs are great thanks to Otsuka. As for the sounds, I thought the soundtrack was great, and there’s lots of Japanese voice acting. I just wish there was English voice acting too, especially because some of the casual chatter in battles gets overlooked since I’m focused on the combat and can’t read.
Overall, Estrange Overlord is a fun and quirky title. I personally thought there wasn’t enough in terms of combat because it’s just a loop of button mashing and looking for the right power ups. But the humor, story, and characters were interesting enough to keep me going. The Switch version costs $50, and there’s a multiplayer option, so you’ll get your money’s worth if you’re a fan of the kind of content that Niikawa previously worked on.
8/10