OVERLORD: The Sacred Kingdom (2024)

What is quite clear from this fantasy adventure is that being behind thick stone walls is scant protection from the menacing "Jaldaboath" who is bent on destroying the Sacred Kingdom. Fairly easily, it has to be said, he manages to capture it's Sacred Princess and it falls to the young page "Neia Baraja" to work with what's left of their army to elicit the help of the undead Sorcerer King - the only creature who might be able to counter the powerful magic they face. Luckily, he agrees to help out and with the enthusiastic young "Neia" as his attendant, he must strive to rally the kingdom and face their nemesis and his maids. Yep, it's all a bit procedural, this, but it's still pretty much end-to-end action with loads going on and with the possible exception of the annoying "Remedios Custodio" - the Grand Master of the army, the characters are well suited for a slowly bubbling tale of good versus evil. The animation is very linear, the backgrounds have no movement at all and the characterisations rely very heavily on the facial features, but the episodic nature of their escapades marries the mysticism of ancient culture with the action scenarios quite entertainingly. It does dip a little towards the end - and some of the editing isn't the best, but I found it flew by for two hours and quite enjoyed the stand-alone nature of a narrative that has it's basis in a game but that doesn't impact at all on the plot.