Unicorn Overlordwastes no time letting you know what it’s all about. The sweeping shots of maps, the close focus on royalty, the doomed hometown, theaesthetic- it’s a medieval-style strategy RPG with an expansive cast and themes of amassing an army as you march across the world. It’s a proven formula - theFire Emblemand Ogre Battle series showed it works in the long run, andFinal Fantasy Tacticsis still one of the most highly regarded SRPGs of all time, whileTriangle Strategyproves that there’s still an audience for this unique blend of theme and genre. So, after the success of13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, developer Vanillaware is taking a stab at something entirely different.
I spent four hours with Unicorn Overlord, and it makes a very strong first impression. During a heavily scripted introductory battle, you’re shown the full extent of what its combat system can do - it’s a chaotic mess of units firing off moves with seemingly no rhyme or reason; all you can do is watch it play out. You then proceed to a tutorial where you’re limited to a few units with simple skills - it feels incredibly retro. Giving you a taste of true power before forcing you back to the starting line is a remarkably effective way to whet your appetite, and it’s something we’ve seen countless times before in the likes of Final Fantasy 6, Breath of Fire 3, and Tactics Ogre.
Narratively, we’re on well-trod ground. Main character Alain is a prince who has both his mother and his kingdom stolen from him. What follows is a predictable march across the continent (after the requisite timeskip, of course), collecting allies, making moral decisions that may or may not cost you, and staging a revolution. I can’t speak for the later hours, but the opening act feels relatively rote. The writing is fine - not dull, but serviceable. Now and then, you find a spark of creativity; this is usually centred around the characters you’re picking up along the way rather than the main storyline, with highlights including the ex-mercenary boss and petulant mage you’re able to encounter early on. I can’t speak on the quality of the overarching plot just yet, but the character writing is otherwise slick.
Alain, the main character, has the ‘Lord’ class, wields a sword, and has blue hair. Make of that what you will.
Combat takes strong cues from Ogre Battle, blending real-time strategy with classic roleplaying mechanics. Your units are organised into formations, which you order around maps towards enemies, bases, or other points of interest. When two opposing formations clash, a fight begins. These engagements play out automatically, with each unit’s actions determined by their skillset and a priority system you can fiddle with on the fly. While you can use items to affect your chances, success is built around creating well-made formations and strategic thinking. You can’t rely on lucky hits or brute force; careful planning and mastery of the battlefield is tantamount. Easy mode is startlingly well-named, but I found Normal to provide a fairer challenge that kept me engaged.
Battles take place in the open world, effectively contributing to the feeling that you’re marching an army across the land. This is a grade of realism rarely seen in granular RPGs like this, making the world feel seamless. When not in battle, you’re free to explore, barring the standard roadblocks (broken bridges, incredibly tough enemy generals, etc.).
Until you’ve liberated a region, you’ll be chased down by enemy units for swift confrontations that prove very annoying, encouraging you to take on the local quest to wrest control away from opposing forces. Once you have a region under your control, though, you’re free to scour it for resources and talk to NPCs. Exploration and side quests give you plenty to do in your downtime, which prevents any feelings of tedious marching along a set throughline.
Something that will please a particular type of player is how crunchy the unit building is here. Each unit has its own class, three equipment slots, and a personal growth plan that affects what stats will increase upon leveling up (seemingly Fire Emblem-style, with each stat having a percentage chance to increase). With a massive roster of unique characters and the ability to recruit a ton of generic units alongside them, customisation is excellent.
Equipment plays a huge role in carving out a unit’s niche, granting significant bonuses and access to new skills, which forces you to think deeply about strategy. Do you want a unit to capitalise on their tankiness or use their brute strength for damage? Do you equip them with offensive passive skills or get them to heal their allies at the end of a round? Do you load them up with AP so they spend the entire battle smashing the enemy and say sod it to strategy? Towards the end of the preview session, I scoured the map’s equipment shops and found a considerable number of interesting pieces - training weapons that were weaker but increased experience, poisoned weapons, and accessories that solved myriad problems I was having. The sheer variety is overwhelming in the best way; Unicorn Overlord is an experimenter’s dream.
Being so heavily inspired by Ogre Battle and SRPGs of yore, it’s pleasantly surprising that Unicorn Overlord is as approachable as it is. There’s difficulty, sure, but it’s mechanical; the systems are explained in great detail, it doesn’t take much exploring to find your first repeatable source of experience, and there’s generosity in both resources and fast travel points.
Unicorn Overlord feels like a heightened, refined, modernised revival of Ogre Battle. It has challenging encounters, minutely granular unit building, and a satisfyingly by-the-books political plot. With Vanillaware’s gorgeous aesthetic stamp and a host of quality-of-life features, this might very well be the best SRPG to launch in a long while, and I’m itching to get back to it already.
Unicorn Overlord
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Unicorn Overlord is a tactical RPG set in Fevrith, a continent riven by war. As exiled prince Alain, you must gather your allies and attempt to take back your kingdom from General Valmore.
