Music is such an important part of so many video games, and honestly if it wasn’t for gaming I likely wouldn’t really listen to anything other than podcasts. There are dozens of different soundtracks that I can’t imagine life without, ranging from those first Mario chiptunes I heard as a kid to orchestral epics from modern Final Fantasy games. Despite music being a huge part of gaming, there aren’t really a whole lot of gaming musicals. Etrange Overlord is here to do just this, blending Disney movie musical interludes with demons and hell.
The start of Etrange Overlord is pretty dramatic, as our hero Princess Etrange is brutally beheaded after being labelled as a traitor. This princess isn’t one to back down from a fight though, so when she awakens in hell she dusts herself off and plans some revenge. The evil minions of the underworld try to stop this, but Etrange has magic powers fuelled entirely by candy. She quickly recruits these demons and begins her quest to take back what’s hers, all while terrifying everyone she meets.
The characters of Etrange Overlord really bring the game to life, with the protagonist absolutely leading the charge. The princess has no fear, and is always confused about why her new allies find her so intimidating. Each member of your team has their own personality too, and you’ll learn more about hell through them. Whether it’s eating spicy underworld food or being served candy by your devoted maid, the antics are a lot of fun throughout the game.
Etrange Overlord isn’t just a game about story though, there are also stages to complete. These have various objectives, with the common theme of fighting off demonic enemies. Each character has a basic attack they can use, which might involve firing magic or smacking nearby foes. You can also dash about to avoid incoming offense, which is often rather necessary. This combat is all admittedly pretty simple, but there is a rather big twist throughout.
The big twist is that stages almost all feature a revolving lane, which is a moving path that’s loaded with different power ups. There are pretty standard things like attack boosts and healing items on the lane, as well as more exciting offerings like bombs you can throw and items that grant you a special attack. Some stages even allow you to ride the lane across gaps, so you get to truly experience what it feels like to be sushi on a conveyor belt.
Most of the early stages you’ll play with simply expect you to kill all the enemies to win, and they don’t really take long to beat. As you progress though the variety starts to appear, with things like boss fights that require more strategy. Eventually you’ll end up having to capture more items than the enemy team and other such tasks, which is a welcome change really.
In between stages when you aren’t watching conversations play out, you can make yourself stronger. There are plenty of ways to do this, like improving weapons, customising your lane with preferred and upgraded items, and eating delicious meals. This extra depth makes the game feel like more than just an easy-going arcade-y romp, and is a lot of fun to dive into.
I had a lot of fun during my time with Etrange Overlord, but there’s a real imbalance of story to gameplay. Playing a few minutes of the action RPG gameplay sandwiched between two five minute cutscenes just feels a bit much, and when you take into account the side quests being nothing more than more bonus story that’s even more time spent avoiding the combat. The songs only serve to add extra length to the cutscenes, and because they’re sung in Japanese language only it’s tough to enjoy the daftness of them. It’s also hard to get invested in all the ways you’re upgrading Etrange and the gang when a couple of minutes of easy enemy killing is the only time you get to notice it, and early on especially that’s really the case.
In some ways you might prefer this balance though, as there really isn’t that much to action stages. The variety of objectives and slightly different characters help with this somewhat, but even with the story distraction it does get a bit samey. It’s a shame because I really love the idea of the game, but the pieces don’t quite come together the way I envisioned.
Etrange Overlord is certainly an interesting game, and one that blends together some interesting ideas. The mixture isn’t quite perfectly smooth, but it’s hard to deny the charm of the world and characters. This musical won’t be replacing Grease as “The One That I Want” any time soon, but it’s sweet enough in its own right.
