Undead Horde is an interesting case. It’s easy to get into, you can turn your brains off but not so much that there isn’t any strategy. There are actually enough things to consider but the pacing is good and you always feel like you’re making some progress. You control your minions with 2 stances, you support them with your equipment & magic, you can attack enemies yourself, you will be able to summon different minions and there is lots of loot to find. Loot is either dropped from enemies, broken buildings or found in one of the many secrets (48). The point is to claim areas (38) from humans by killing all of them and destroying the buildings/towers so they don’t spawn either. You’ll speak to many NPC who will guide you in terms of progress and you can do quests for them. Some give valuable loot or they will start selling you stuff at the base. There will be different shops than can be upgraded with money. The loot itself has different rarities and passive skills. The player levels up and then gets to pick one of the three cards that focuses on some stats more (health, command, attack and mana). All of this took me 12-13 hours to 100% including achievements. But, you can also do new game plus if you want more.

Let’s start with the good stuff. As mentioned, the game is engaging so that it’s easy enough to get into without being complex. The gameplay is fun and works well for the most part. The progression system is fine. There are lots of different units to control including unique heroes who are a bit more OP but require more command to summon. The music is decent and I LOVE the voice actor of the character you play as. He’s awesome when he talks in that evil and macho way even though the game kind of looks cartoony. It really works. The game is kind of being evil in a funny way and you get to notice that with the dialogues as well. It doesn’t go too far with the humor though. It just adds a bit of charm. The game doesn’t overstay its welcome and the achievements are enjoyable with a caveat.

The caveat being many of them can be considered missable if you start a new era (new game plus). So make sure you do all quests (40 including touching the urn), find all secrets, claim all areas (including optional ones), etc. in the current run because that stuff is not carried over. From what I noticed, only your level and what you have equipped or in your inventory is carried over. Other con is the graphics being basic. While they’re charming and do the job, they’re not going to wow you. The control of your units and the way you claim areas need a bit of getting used to. You might die a lot early on when you don’t know that you can use the teleporter to heal and come back while keeping progress of the current area you’re in etc. For the ones who crave lots of strategy and thinking, this might be too simple and therefore boring to them.

I’ve decided to play Undead Horde 1 as a demo for Undead Horde 2 since that one was part of a bundle and I wasn’t sure about getting it. UH1 not only made me get 2 but it’s also a good game in its own right. It’s definitely a game worth taking a look at, especially when it’s on sale. It can surprise and hook you for a while without being super amazing.