This is basically just Overlord with some changes to it, but none of those changes make it anything else but a different Overlord. Same focus on non-human races being the subjects and major units, same city being teleported idea, same idea of it being a game albeit a different genre, I could go on and on. And that's kinda one of the major problems I have with it, Overlord wasn't some niche thing when this was published, it would have had three seasons of anime and many volumes of the manga released. I doubt the author thought they could get away with ripping it off soblatantly.
But how is it outside of being an Overlord-clone? It's honestly not bad, but it has an obsession with swapping between the more noblebright ideas of Alchimaira and the frankly grimdark situation the outside world is in. They go deep into it too, with some panels really selling the misery of the captured elves and half elves situations, not to mention the ending chapter. And I get it, Nazarick was dark while the outside kingdom was lighter, so for your clone you invert it, cool concept in theory. But Nazarick's darkness served a purpose to showcase that these beings aren't human and aren't beholden to the morals we'd ordinarily ascribe to them, alongside showing how far they were willing to go to ensure Ainz stayed on top of the world. Alchimaira's light is really only there to show us they're the good guys we should be rooting for, while the darkness of the outside world is there to say "these are the bad guys, they're bad cause they do X, anything we have happen to them is now justified".
It's bad villain writing 101, if you can't explain why they're bad, have them be either racists or rapists or racist rapists, because these things are seen as unforgivable to a modern audience and we'll root for them to die horrifically while smugly going "Serves them right" no matter what. It's darkness for darknesses sake, there's no reason for them to be like this, it's purely so they're seen as evil.
And that sort of thing takes away from the story a lot, and there's a decent story here of a young man in a situation way out of his control clinging to the control he felt in the game by roleplaying a part to not lose himself to despair. That's a GREAT setup right there, and it's something that Overlord really only hints at so having this being a major selling point helps differentiate you from it. It's a more grounded human story being told, and one that a lot of people can relate to. We've all been in situations where we're out of our depth and grasp at anything that gives us our control back.
However, the interesting writing of the MC cannot save what is ultimately going to be always seen as an Overlord clone. And with only three volumes here while being discontinued before it could really set itself apart, that's kinda all it's ever going to be. I do wish the author would pick this series back up again but after so long I think that ship has long since sailed away.
There's some interesting ideas here that could serve as an interesting thing to read in between other larger series, but honestly with only three volumes and no hope of any more you should look elsewhere for something to get invested in.
