Etrange Overlord just launched its chibi tactical chaos

Etrange Overlord is now available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Steam. The latest action RPG from developers Gemdrops and Broccoli drops players into the afterlife of a falsely executed villainess who decides to simply conquer hell instead of suffering in it.

I appreciate a protagonist who looks at eternal damnation and sees a real estate opportunity. It is a fitting setup for a game published by NIS America, a company that built its entire brand on games about terrible people doing terrible things for comedic effect. This fits perfectly alongside their other chaotic strategy titles.

Hell is a tactical grid

The game leans heavily into bright, chibi-style art direction and chaotic combat encounters. You control Lady Étrange von Rosenburg and a party of four subordinates in bite-sized skirmishes. The core hook here is a "revolving lane" mechanic that circles the map. It acts like a sushi conveyor belt for combat. It delivers items, buffs, and occasionally other characters straight into the fray.

It is a strange mix of action RPG pacing and tactical positioning. The screen fills up fast with damage numbers, area-of-effect warnings, and special attack overlays. Players have to manage their party's placement while keeping an eye on the edges of the screen to grab power-ups before the enemy does. The whole thing moves at a frantic pace. You do not have time to sit and ponder your next move like a traditional grid-based strategy game. You just have to react and hope your positioning holds up.

Despite taking place in hell and starring an executed protagonist, the game carries a Teen rating. The violence is purely fantasy-based. The darker themes are completely overpowered by the upbeat music and pastel color palette.

Familiar names in the credits

The game's sense of humor makes perfect sense when you check the credits. The scenario was written by Sohei Niikawa, best known for his work on the Disgaea series. That explains the lighthearted approach to the underworld and the obsession with eating hell's most delicious treats between battles.

The character designs come from Shinichiro Otsuka, the illustrator behind Re:Zero. Translating those designs into 3D chibi models for combat works well, especially during the over-the-top special moves. The 2D/3D hybrid animation pops during combat. Sometimes Étrange is casting her Inferno Triangle spell. Other times someone is firing a giant cat-themed cannon that shoots a massive energy beam.

Developer Gemdrops has been on a hot streak lately. They recently handled the excellent Star Ocean The Second Story R remake. Moving from a massive Square Enix property to a quirky, original IP about a dead villainess is a hard left turn, but the studio clearly knows how to build engaging combat systems.

Multiplayer mayhem

The development team also included a separate multiplayer mode that supports up to four players online. Action RPGs with tactical elements do not usually bother with co-op. It is a nice addition for a game that already throws so much visual noise at the screen. Trying to coordinate lane pickups with three other people sounds like a recipe for absolute disaster. That is exactly what the developers intended.

NIS America has a free demo available on all platforms that covers the first few hours of the campaign. Save data carries over to the full game. The demo is the easiest way to find out if you actually want to spend your weekend managing a revolving lane of hell-sweets and firing feline artillery.