Overlord: Fellowship of Evil Announced, Fans Not Convinced [Update: Developer Responds]

[Update] The script writer for Overlord: Fellowship of Evil, Rhianna Prachette, has responded to the negative fan reaction to Codemasters new venture in the series. Approximately 75% of the votes on the YouTube announcement trailer are dislikes.

As I suspected, through various Tweets, she wants to clarify that Fellowship of Evil was not meant to be Overlord 3:

Shame folks are getting angry on YT abt OL:FOE. We never claimed it was OL3. It's it's own entity & certainly doesn't stop a OL3 happening.

So we have done a few different things with the Overlord franchise in the past and explored different gameplay avenues.

I do hope that there's a full Overlord III one day, but for now I am really happy to be working on something Overlordy again.

[Original] It's been six years since Codemasters, the developer now more known for its racing simulations with both the F1 and DiRT franchises, last released the last entry in the Overlord series with Overlord II. But now it's weaving its darkest necromancy to resurrect it with its announcement of Overlord: Fellowship of Evil.

Slated for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC in 2015, Overlord: Fellowship of Evil will pit players in the role on one of four Netherghūls, undead servants who wish to destroy all the goodness of the world (bleck!). Since there are four of them, players can join forces in co-operative play to invade the peaceful kingdom with hordes of minions.

Rob Elser, Executive Producer Minion (official title?), has been "scheming about a new Overlord for some time" with the ability for players to "be evil alongside our friends."

The self-described humorous script has been written by Rhianna Pratchett, responsible for the Tomb Raider reboot and Heavenly Sword, and the wise master Gnarl will be voiced by Marc Silk (Gran Senator Aks Moe, Johnny Bravo).

However, one look at the launch trailer and fans would seem very displeased, with many saying that it looks more like a Diablo title than the single-player, third-person strategic gameplay more traditional to the franchise.

Codemasters will need to tread lightly here since it may fall into the same camp as Sacred 3 (*shudder*) which had little to do with its open-world role-playing predecessors. It may be better to call this game a spin-off from the Overlord series and not label it as Overlord 3 or an entry in the main series.