Unicorn Overlord Overview – Overview

Unicorn Overlord impressed in its 2023 reveal trailer with beautiful visuals and that unmistakable VanillaWare fashion that made 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and Dragon’s Crown so memorable. Channeling Hearth Emblem to an extent however Ogre Battle much more so, Unicorn Overlord is an extremely deep and rewarding expertise that real-time tactical RPG followers will fall in love with. After 20 hours with the sport, I’ve solely seen half of the world map and even much less of its secrets and techniques, however there’s little question in my thoughts that VanillaWare has one other stone chilly traditional on their arms. Given the sheer depth and customizability of Unicorn Overlord, I’m holding off on assigning a remaining evaluate rating at the moment, however I’m stoked to share my impressions so far.

The overarching story follows protagonist prince Alain, who turns into chief of the Liberation military after his fortress and homeland of Cornia are besieged years earlier by the Zenoiran military and its villainous emperor Galerius, a former basic of Cornia. Little by little, Alain should bolster the ranks of the Liberation military by recruiting buddies and even defeated foes alongside the way in which. Throughout 5 kingdoms, you’ll encounter a wide range of story beats involving Alain and his retinue of followers, and as his military swells, so too do your probabilities of lastly taking the struggle to Galerius and releasing the world of his tyranny. Thus far, the narrative parts of the sport have been buoyed by glorious voice appearing and writing and frequent however brief cutscenes earlier than and after most battles. I’m fairly desperate to see how Alain’s story concludes, and I’m making an attempt to savor each minute of it.

There are successfully two major gameplay modes in Unicorn Overlord. The primary entails traversing the overworld to come across characters, cities, forts, occasions, and battles, along with accumulating gadgets and discovering hidden secrets and techniques. The semi top-down view makes for straightforward navigation, however the digicam could make discovering each shiny spot (which denotes an merchandise pick-up) a little bit of a thriller. It’s value being thorough, too, since objects you discover within the overworld may be traded in at cities to accumulate gold, tools, and Honor, however extra on that shortly. You’ll be able to quick journey to cities, forts, and battles you’ve beforehand unlocked, and so it’s possible you’ll wish to again monitor to collect extra assets to enhance your troops. At forts, you’ll be able to develop your items, rent new troops, and promote your particular person characters to upgraded lessons. The overworld segments present a pleasing distinction to the extra annoying fight conditions.

Once you enter a battle–a few of that are small and final just a few minutes; others can take upwards of half-hour–you’ll begin by seeing the win and loss circumstances after which deploying particular items to the battlefield. Every unit initially holds solely two particular person troops, however this quantity can develop as much as 5 (perhaps even six?) by cashing in your amassed Honor. More often than not, you’ll click on on a unit you’ve deployed after which choose an enemy, garrison level,or different space on the map to which you need the unit to journey. When your unit is available in contact with an enemy, a fight encounter takes place, however what may be jarring at first is that you simply don’t truly do something throughout such encounters. As a substitute, all troops in fight take turns in keeping with their initiative quantity and the talents they’ve outfitted. Sometimes, you’ll win a battle by reaching a selected enemy chief and taking them out; nonetheless, you’ll lose the battle in case your beginning garrison is taken over by an enemy, you run out of time, or (in some circumstances) if a particular character is killed.

To organize for fight, you may not solely must outfit your troops with their very own tools, however you’ll be able to even set particular parameters on their particular person skills/assaults. For example, you’ll be able to set your healer’s healing spells to focus on an ally with the bottom complete protection or the one who has the bottom proportion of well being remaining on the time when the flexibility goes off. One of many closest analogs I can title is the Gambit system from Ultimate Fantasy 12. Furthermore, you may want to decide on which troops to fit into which unit positions, which encompass a 2×3 grid. Placing a closely armored class in entrance of an archer or witch can defend them from some (however not all) assaults, however that is only a easy instance; the truth is extra complicated. There are dozens of lessons, and I am nonetheless discovering extra. Advertising supplies for Unicorn Overlord boast greater than 60 characters all advised, and I’ve discovered nearly half of them. It is an enchanting experiment simply enjoying round with all of the totally different class mixtures inside a unit. Once you think about talent customization and even how ranged items can help different items in fight, you begin to perceive simply how deep this properly is. And that is with out mentioning the separate powers every character can name upon throughout the battle map to spend Valor Factors on particular buffs and debuffs and out-of-combat strikes and spells. It is loads to absorb, I do know, however the sport doles it out steadily and offers many, many alternatives to check your limits.

Among the best moments I’ve skilled have come from seemingly innocuous discoveries within the overworld. Exploring a few of what look like deserted temples, ruins, and cities, I got here throughout a small occasion the place I found an enemy catapult that I promptly dismantled. Partway via a subsequent battle that I entered close to the place the occasion occurred, the enemy chief–hoping to show the tide of their favor–was shocked to find that their hidden catapult was not the place they’d positioned it. A random and probably minor interplay on the time for my squad ended up having noticeable repercussions in a while, and that speaks to the center of Unicorn Overlord: small selections probably having main ramifications. On the battlefield, you could adapt rapidly and with out hesitation. Whilst you can pause the battle at any time to arrange your items, use gadgets, and decide everybody’s place and path, you’re additionally working towards the clock and what is usually a close to countless provide of enemy items; for those who’re not commonly saving your progress throughout a battle, one misstep may end up in a complete loss on your aspect, forcing you to start out over from the start. There are actual penalties to the selections you make out and in of fight, and it’s a pleasant steadiness between trial and error that makes this sport so onerous to place down.

Whereas a lot of the gameplay makes Unicorn Overlord really feel like a non secular successor to Ogre Battle, there’s positively somewhat little bit of Hearth Emblem thrown in as properly, primarily seen within the character interactions and morale constructing that happens between pairs. Once you accrue a specific amount of Rapport, you unlock transient vignettes between characters that shed a bit of sunshine on their previous or their connection; a few of these scenes are extra lighthearted whereas others are extra emotional. Characters with a stronger bond are rewarded with stat bonuses that make them extra succesful, and along with forging bonds on the battlefield, you can too accomplish that at metropolis taverns by spending some coin on a meal to share with a number of invitees. There are lots of meters, hidden or in any other case, to handle, however the feeling of seeing your items develop stronger and extra succesful and at last overcoming a beforehand insurmountable problem is relentlessly satisfying.

I’m not accomplished with Alain’s marketing campaign to revive his kingdom and set the world to rights, however there’s no denying how thrilling and charming Unicorn Overlord has turned out to be. It’s a love letter to deep, complicated tactical RPGs and can more than likely attraction to those that recognize the Hearth Emblem and Ogre Battle franchises, however as somebody who solely has very sparse reminiscences of the latter, I’m nonetheless enthralled by what VanillaWare has accomplished right here. The Change efficiency is superb, and the artwork fashion stays one of many clear strengths of this developer. I count on that I’ll want one other 10-20 hours to see the primary story via to completion, and much more to find the entire secrets and techniques hidden around the globe map. As soon as these duties are full, I’ll be updating this evaluate with a remaining rating. Till then, I really feel assured in saying we’re taking a look at one other candidate that’s positive to take residence some end-of-the-year accolades.