Overlord: Raising Hell

93 reviews complain about controlling the horde or the camera, and most of them still recommend the game. Minions are sent by "sweeping" them in a direction or by locking on to a target, and both draw complaints: "you will often target a guard marker or spawning pit instead of an enemy and this will often get your little helpers killed". The camera draws its own complaints: "The camera controls are absolutely dreadful and are for a fact the #1 issue with this game." Pathfinding adds to it ("the minion path-finding is downright trash sometimes"), with minions stuck on scenery or ignoring orders. 22 of these reviewers single out mouse and keyboard, and two call the game unplayable without a controller: "It is, with a word, IMPOSSIBLE to play on PC with mouse and keyboard. You MUST HAVE a controller." Others report input bugs. One wrote that "Mouse input may straight up not respond if your mouse polling rate is too high", and another that the left button can stick so minions keep streaming out until a right click stops them. Several reviewers tell others to play with a controller, and a few defend both schemes: "The controls are very well done, both with keyboard & mouse and a controller".

Steam lists Raising Hell as its own game, and 53 reviews discuss how it is sold or what it costs. About two dozen reviewers say it needs the base Overlord installed: "This is just a DLC for the first game and won't launch if that's not installed". Several say that once installed, it takes over the base game's launch: "When you launch Overlord it just launches Overlord: Raising Hell". One buyer who paid for both felt they had bought the same game twice. Others advise installing both, and one buyer says to "ONLY launch the game with the Raising Hell icon". The rest of the complaints are about price. 20 reviews complain about it, 11 of them because Raising Hell cost as much as or more than the base game ("it's baffling that this costs more than the actual game itself"), and one points out that GOG sold the two together for the price Steam asked for Raising Hell alone. Most of these reviewers still recommend the game, and several advise buying it in a bundle, on sale or from GOG.

Crashes, failed launches and lost saves come up in 50 reviews, and the reports grew over the years: 1% of reviews written in 2010 to 2015 (4 of 289), 5% of those written from 2021 on (32 of 624). Players describe a game that "opens as a background process in my task manager" and never appears, and saves that fail or vanish, which hurts more in a game that only saves at checkpoints. One player wrote that on a new PC "It will launch just fine but refuses to actually save", and another lost an 18-hour run: "all my data is gone and can not be recovered." Others report crashes in the Raising Hell areas ("beating the expansion's final boss crashes the game"), and one reports missing voice lines. A few Steam Deck players describe a fiddly setup ("You have to go into the launch options, control tab and swap to controller.") and broken target lock and forge menus, and two Mac players report crashes within minutes. Experiences vary: other players say it "runs like a dream on modern hardware" and welcome its "native support for ultrawide (21:9) & super ultrawide (32:9) resolutions". Two reviewers also note that the online multiplayer servers were shut down, and a few miss Steam achievements.

There is no map or minimap, and 32 reviews complain about getting lost or losing progress: "There is no mini-map or waypoints. Even a directional arrow would have been a welcome addition." Another "spent hours and hours trying to find out where the missions/quests were located." There is no manual save and checkpoints can be far apart, so "a death can cost up to 30 minutes of progress in some sections". A few also complain about backtracking, and one notes that minions who die lose their equipment, which can mean going back to earlier areas for replacements.

For 22 reviewers, sending minions at things grows repetitive or dull: "It started greatly, then became repetitive and dull." Another found that "it got its novelty but become boring somehow".

Replacing lost minions takes life force from killed enemies and animals, and the best gear eats gold and minions; 19 reviews complain about the grind. One player wrote that "you have to grind forever to get gold and minion souls in multiple playthroughs", and another describes "a near grinding halt of the gameplay as you grind away in your dungeon on beetles and their ilk". Several point to Raising Hell's Harvesting Helm as the fix.

Raising Hell's final boss works more like a puzzle: players have to herd their minions to the right spots while the boss is drawn elsewhere. 17 reviews find fault with the fight and one defends it. Critics say stray minions and the controls decide the outcome as much as skill. "The last Boss is utter garbage", one wrote, adding that it deals random amounts of damage. Another never finished it: "The logistics of defeating him is hampered by the game's design, rather than actual difficulty." The defender says it brings "better closure to the game".