Unicorn Overlord Review | iGamesNews

I thought the axe-wielding muscle man and the little swamp witch were good friends. How could you not?

Apparently, then, these two knights who were once engaged have Go together so we can watch the sparks fly. But when things go wrong, I can always count on my Suicide Squad-style super squad of the baddest mercenaries in the land to come over the hills and save the day – for maximum dramatic effect, of course.

But Unicorn Overlord is also a story of revolution, as Price Alain leads his Liberation Army into battle against the evil Zenoylan Empire. Deposed and exiled as a child, but protected by his mother’s most trusted royal advisor, Alain traveled to the four corners of Feverris, rallying allies and lending support to his popular rebellion.

It’s a very traditional medieval fantasy, but told in Vanillaware’s truly unique and unmistakable style: a mixture of pulp and glam, greatly enhanced by blending an ethereal dreamlike atmosphere with hand-drawn environments, heavy breathing, and characters. Evoking the spirit of epic adventure. One foot in Frank Frazetta and one foot in the dark corners of DeviantArt. No one looks better than a sparkling cloak or a plate of fried eggs.

But it’s not all about the unique visuals. In its past titles, Vanillaware has shown an incredible ability to adapt this style to a range of different game types. But “Unicorn Overlord” is not a complete departure from the previous game. It is an iteration and evolution of the combination of visual novel and RTS we saw in “Thirteen Sentinels: Aegis Ring”.

Set in a classically styled overworld reminiscent of just about every legendary turn-based RPG you can think of, you liberate towns, raid fortresses, and sack settlements in a series of large battles and smaller skirmishes. You start the game with just a few units of two characters, but can eventually combine up to six, providing a huge degree of tactical flexibility.

With a vast array of unit types on offer – from flying dragon riders that can skim across any terrain, to fast and deadly cavalry and towering defensive hoplites – each scenario is something of a puzzle. You have to figure out how to capture the enemy’s base by sending out the right squad with the resources you have, matching or calculating the squads used to stop you, without leaving your own base vulnerable to counterattacks and without leaving your The military is vulnerable to attack. Ambush of reinforcements.

Once you add different special abilities, siege weapons, and obstacles to the pot, there are a ton of compelling decisions to be made at once. But then, as the two opposing forces face off, the scene transforms from a bird’s-eye view to a gorgeously animated auto-battle, with the game finally over. When I first saw one of these I said “wow” out loud.

While you can hire randomly generated mercenaries, your army is overwhelmingly made up of uniquely voiced characters who have their own missions and place in the overarching story.

This incredible variety is brilliant, adding interesting stories in nearly every region of the world, as well as countless opportunities to create your own head-canon friendships, rivalries, and romances among the burgeoning militia you control. Many of them are also officially supported by ever-populating relationship tables that play out special scenarios between characters, creating bonds in the heat of battle. Think Fire Emblem, but more…powerful.

However, while the massive hero roster is undoubtedly one of Unicorn Overlord’s greatest strengths, it can also be incredibly overwhelming from a storytelling and gameplay perspective. There are so many unique characters in the game that it can be hard to tell who’s who, but best of all, you’ll be rewarded for constantly tweaking and optimizing your unit formations.

Fumbling in and out of menus and having to remember who you like on each team and where is information overload, as is managing the dizzying array of armor and equipment you equip your soldiers with as the game progresses Same.

You can largely muddle through and rely on the same comfortable combination of characters you like, but once you realize how much you can affect the outcome of individual skirmishes by adjusting character positions on the fly, the temptation to tinker begins The process of disappearing actions.

However, while it’s easy to get bogged down, which speaks to the intensity of the character work, I became attached enough to a particular platoon that I was annoyed at having to break them up just because “they’re buddies”. But at the same time, I do wonder if a one-click “optimize” option to switch your units’ formations to the best possible results (in a similar way to how you can use their equipment and tactics) would eliminate micromanagement A lot of trouble. This is obviously a trade-off, taking away a lot of the strategic element but eliminating cumbersome menus.

While we’re on the topic of characters, Unicorn Overlord may also reignite the longstanding discussion surrounding Vanillaware games in the past, where some of the more fan-service character designs have been controversial.

The studio’s breakthrough game Dragon’s Crown turned the story up to 11 and strayed into Spinal Tap territory, where it tread the line of sexualization and sexism – not only with its playable characters, but also with Incidental characters surrounding the central town. . While 13 Sentinels: Aegis Ring continues the unique art style, this sequel does something more original, presenting the characters within the context of a more complex pluralistic relationship and unconventional romance.

Unicorn Overlord falls somewhere in between. Some of your friends and foes will definitely not be able to answer the question “What the hell are you playing?” Test it out to see if you’re embarrassed by being shoulder-gapped when they appear on screen. However, it definitely feels like it should be “dumb to a broad audience” like Aegis Ring, rather than “obviously playful to some” like Dragon’s Crown.

While the breadth of its roster and the number of patches and menus you have to navigate might feel like a lot take which also means there is still a lot to do get lost with a narrative drive that makes you actually want to get involved in micromanaging each unit.

On its own, Unicorn Overlord is an excellent expansion of Vanillaware’s now-iconic visual style and its updated RTS mechanics, offering gripping strategy and an atmospheric pulp fantasy world that will keep you wanting to invest hours and hours.

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