New Unicorn Overlord details reveal tactical depth, mythic units and diverse class roster

SEGA releases some new information about its upcoming tactical RPG Unicorn Overlord From Atlus and Vanillaware.

Announced at a Nintendo Direct in September 2023, the game is set in Fevrith, a war-torn continent. Here, the exiled prince Alain gathers allies to fight General Valmer and restore his kingdom. You need to perform heroic deeds and earn reputation throughout the kingdom.

In combat, you and your enemy compete for each other’s command posts, so you’ll need to keep an eye on events and make key decisions, such as which troops to send. Completing certain conditions, such as defeating an enemy general, will earn you victory. Individual battles begin when your units come into contact with the enemy during the combat phase, and you’ll coordinate tactics ahead of time based on conditions that determine when to automatically use skills.

In the game, you will engage in large-scale battles in real time with more than 60 unique characters, from humans and elves to giant beasts and angels. You can customize your team by recruiting allies from different backgrounds.

Each character has a fixed class that determines their combat interests as well as their weapons and skills. Classes like Housecarl have excellent physical attack capabilities that can lower the enemy’s defense. There’s the Gladiator, a class with physical attack skills that can hit entire rows of enemies, and they can heal themselves.

The Crossbowman can attack with a barrage of crossbow bolts and provide support from the rear.

There are also priests, werewolves, shamans, wyvern knights, elven swordsmen and feather bows.

When entering combat, focus on class compatibility and the unique strengths and weaknesses each brings to the fight. For example, Archers perform well against flying units such as Gryphon Knights and Feather Swords, and can deal double damage to these enemies.

Each unit also has a leader, and the leader’s profession determines the unit’s movement type and leader effects. The character set that is the leader will apply one of these different effects to the unit. For example, by selecting the Housecarl class as leader, a unit gains the ability to destroy obstacles such as barricades. There are various other leader effects you’ll also want to look to when organizing units.

Movement types are divided into three categories: infantry, cavalry, and flying. For example, infantry and cavalry will have increased movement speed when traveling on roads, while flying-type movement will allow these units to fly across the battlefield.

You can also develop your army through the use of promotions and auxiliary stages. As a classic lord, the leader of this unit is powerful, with special skills that allow them to heal while attacking – you can push this leader to become a high lord.

The game also features special items called “papers” that grant experience points. You can get these from secondary stages and other locations. Other items can improve specific abilities and further develop your troops.

When it was announced, protagonist Alan and five other characters were revealed. Today, the developers announced the addition of three allies: Rosalind, Eltorind, and Ithilien, as well as enemies Alsina and Bartra.

Development of Unicorn Overlord is led by Takafumi Noma, creator of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Ring, Dragon’s Crown, Muramasa: Demon Blade, New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS) and Cyborg. Programmer for games such as The Legend of Erda: The Wind Waker. Has been in production for ten years. The concept was developed in 2014 with Noma serving as director, lead artist, and programmer, and took a long time to develop due to coordination with other Vanillaware games.

After its release on March 8, “Unicorn Overlord” will be available on PlayStation 4, PS5, Switch and Xbox Series X/S.