Undead Horde isn’t the first game to put you in charge of a demonic horde, but it’s one of the most hyperactive.
10tons’ Undead Horde has more in common with Nintendo’s Pikmin than it does with Overlord or any other monster-commanding titles. As an evil necromancer you’re tasked with conquering the world by building an army of the dead.
It’s a lot easier than it sounds, since your Night King-esque protagonist can turn corpses into decaying minions in mere moments. The people your minions kill will then get up and start killing, flinging themselves against your enemies.
You do have access to an underground crypt, which lets you resurrect more varied units such as archers, clubmen, orcs and more. But for my money, the most satisfying part of Undead Horde is smugly turning my former foes into shambling followers; and then, when they die, resurrecting them a second time, albeit in a slightly less presentable state. Whereupon they were all murdered and I had to run back like the big chicken I am.
Speaking of chickens, Undead Horde will even let you add undead fowl to your army, though if your mob is made up entirely of zombie hens, it’s a sign you’re in trouble. Undead Horde is, as you might have guessed, a slightly silly game, though it’s not afraid of taxing you with respawning foes or the odd brain-scratching puzzle.
Success in combat can depend upon how you mix up your units, though when you’re being pursued by the enemy (since your Necromancer is always on the field) any corpse is a welcome sight. You can fling spells around and annihilate enemies with a variety of hand-to-hand weapons but your zombie horde is all that stands between you and a second death.
So it’s surprising, then, that the game gives you relatively little control over your troops. You can call them to you and order them to attack but splitting them up isn’t an option, nor is having them do anything other than fling themselves at your foes. Combat typically becomes a chaotic affair, with you struggling to resurrect your soldiers before the enemy turn their attentions to you.
Undead Horde is more frenzied than similar games, and if you’re looking for any real degree of strategy, you won’t find it here. But if zombies are up your street, or if you just want to be the bad guy, it’s a fun little corpse-raising romp.
