Be My Horde Review – Necromancy Has Never Been Funnier

For decades, video games have cast us as the heroic saviour: the one who swings the sword, defeats the monsters, and saves the realm. Be My Horde asks a far more delicious question: what if you were the nightmare everyone else feared? What if, instead of destroying the undead, you were the necromancer raising them?

Be my horde – Humour and necromancy

In this roguelite survival game by Polished Games, you step into the dark boots of Moriana—a powerful, alluring, and dangerous necromancer—who is determined to drown the world in death.

Unlike the nameless skeletons you usually mow down in fantasy RPGs, here you are their creator, turning every battle into an opportunity to swell your ranks. What follows is a game that feels familiar in structure yet refreshingly twisted in execution: a survival roguelite that thrives on chaos but places the villain at its heart.

Graphics – Dark Whimsy and Undead Style

Be My Horde doesn’t try to sugarcoat its world with bright colours or false cheer. From the very first moments, its aesthetic sets the tone: cartoonishly grim, drenched in shadow, and painted with exaggerated strokes of blood and decay.

The concept gives the feeling of “Undead-style” even before you tear through them, peasants carry a look of pitiful doom, and every battlefield is destined to be a grotesque carnival of death. It’s not realistic horror—it’s stylised, deliberately exaggerated, and almost mocking in its portrayal of violence. This blend of comic-book brutality and dark fantasy makes the game’s world instantly recognisable and surprisingly fun to lose yourself in.

The more you play Be My Horde, the more you notice this tension. Watching a sheep explode into gore or a noble knight fall only to rise again as your loyal thrall is both absurd and satisfying. This playful grotesque gives the game personality—charming enough to smile at, brutal enough to take seriously. The fact that the world changes under your influence makes every run feel unique, as though Moriana truly leaves a mark wherever she goes.

Music – Doom, Metal, and Necromantic Riffs

If the visuals dance between whimsy and horror, the soundtrack plants Be My Horde firmly in darkness. Composer Davi Vasc delivers a pounding score that fuses doom-laden heavy metal riffs with hints of classical grandeur. It’s the sound of apocalypse, a relentless energy that keeps battles driving forward, escalating based on the level of the battle.

Adding to this atmosphere is Moriana herself, voiced by the talented Amber Lee Connors. Her performance is enchanting and venomous, painting the necromancer as both dangerous and irresistibly charismatic. Every taunt and whisper adds flavour to your runs, giving Moriana more personality than most roguelite protagonists ever get.

Mechanics – Death is Your Resource

The genius of Be My Horde lies in how it reimagines the enemy. In most games, foes are obstacles—something to be cut down and forgotten. Here, they are your resource. Every peasant, every warrior, every knight, or every demon imp that falls can be resurrected to join your ranks. Even sheep are not safe; their souls can be devoured, their bodies reanimated, and their eventual bloody demise can turn into comedy amidst the chaos. It is funny that the first boss, the king, has an interesting love for sheep that you can get based on the well-placed dialogue.

This mechanic reshapes every encounter in Be My Horde. Do you chase down peasants to quickly pad your numbers, or do you risk fighting tougher foes to gain stronger recruits? The decision-making doesn’t stop there—between runs, Moriana grows stronger through a perks and progression system. The souls you gather can be spent to unlock new abilities, expand the size of your horde, or reveal darker secrets of necromancy. Even in defeat, you move forward, building toward future domination.

Environment is a key factor as well. Each level has its own issues. Trees that boost speed or urns that give souls and buffs. Possibly the opposite as well. Lava fields and meteor showers that damage you and your minions. Movement is really important!

By blending roguelite progression, top-down action, and horde survival gameplay, Be My Horde creates a rhythm of chaos and strategy. The longer you last, the more powerful Moriana becomes—not just in numbers, but in options. It’s not just about surviving; it’s about thriving in death’s embrace.

Gameplay – A Symphony of Chaos

Once you’re in the thick of it, the gameplay is a glorious mess. Moriana herself is fragile, so you’ll rely entirely on your minions to shield you, fight for you, and overwhelm your enemies. The thrill lies in watching your army grow: what begins as a few peasants soon snowballs into a terrifying tide of undead paladins, grotesque sheep, and twisted knights.

This is just the first layer, though. In the next level, you end up in hell fighting grotesque creatures with the Devil as a boss, who has a magnificent, unique dancing combat style. Why, you ask? Because it’s awesome and funny as hell. It is incredible how such a funny image can become extremely difficult based on your character build or battle mechanics that you have selected at this point in your gameplay.

Each run feels like a miniature saga. Maybe you’re wiped out early by an unlucky mob, or maybe you survive long enough to flood the battlefield with dozens of corpses under your control. The roguelite design ensures variety—perks, upgrades, and the randomness of enemy spawns make experimentation natural. A few of those are an undead aura, life force drain, freezing circles, and exploding corpses. All approaches can lead to victory or disaster, and that unpredictability is what makes the game addictive.

About the Developers – Polished Games

Behind Be My Horde is Polished Games, a small independent studio based in Poland. Founded by Krzysztof Dadełło, the team is made up of ten dedicated members, ranging from programmers to artists and designers. Their philosophy is simple: create engaging, fun experiences free from the influence of large corporations or shareholders.

The studio first gained recognition with the RPG Realms of Magic, a well-received title that established their love for detailed mechanics and rich world-building. With Be My Horde, they’ve taken that spirit and poured it into the roguelite survival genre, combining humour, darkness, and chaos into something that feels genuinely new. At the same time, they’re working on a sequel to Realms of Magic, signaling that their ambition is only growing.

Be my Horde Verdict – Join the Horde

It is a fantastic, humorous, addictive, literally bloody game.

Be My Horde doesn’t just give you control of a villain—it lets you become the nightmare. With its mix of grotesque humor, chaotic battles, and a progression system that rewards both victory and defeat, it’s a roguelite that stands out in a crowded field. Its visuals charm and unsettle in equal measure, its soundtrack is a pounding march of metal and doom, and its core mechanic—raising every fallen foe—never stops being satisfying.

Yes, repetition can set in, but not as you might think. It is really enjoyable even after many plays. As an Early Access game, there’s still room for expansion, but it already is so well designed and interesting that it’s hard not to get hooked on the chaos. Every run becomes a story of growth, corruption, and eventual downfall—until the next one begins.

For players who want something both familiar and twisted, Be My Horde offers a refreshing, fiendish experience. Moriana is waiting, and the graveyards are full. All that’s left is to raise your hand, claim the dead, and join the horde.

The game was showcased at Gamescom and is set to release soon.

We would like to thank Polished Games for making me raise an army of the undead humorously.