It’s hard to write a review about it Unicorn Overlord: The game is big, and after over 30 hours I’ve traversed just over half the map, traversing grasslands, desert, winding mountain paths and a magical forest as my prince sets out to free the fantasy land of Fevrith and his to reclaim the throne. It’s difficult because a lot of games I’ve seen are compared to each other Unicorn Overlord To – Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics – were released before I was born. I was afraid not to do it get it, which has nothing to do with the supposed fun of spending hours in menus, while the tactics games I played most often growing up with a DS found greater appeal through other systems, such as Romance. And it’s hard for me to write a review about it Unicorn Overlord because I had to stop playing it long enough to write.
Unicorn OverlordThe map of Fevrith is an open world with five kingdoms explored from the air by sprites. The presentation is similar to Square Enix’s use of HD-2D, but features more picturesque environmental art. That is here Unicorn Overlord makes its strongest break with convention, eschewing a traditional level-b ased structure. When battles occur, they take place on this map at this scale, only with shadowy borders framing the area and new UI elements. When battles begin, ghosts are deployed in fortresses and cities. Siege weapons and barricades are erected; and forests, roads, rivers and mountains all become part of the strategic puzzle.
Characters do not fight alone, but in units. Each consists of characters, whether unique to the story or customizable mercenaries for hire, in a 2×3 grid. When they collide, the scale shrinks from a sprite on the large map to the character within each unit to focus on tactical mechanics. Each character in a unit uses a mix of active and passive abilities unique to their class to deal damage, support allies, and weaken enemies. With many, many variations of fantasy combat archetypes, from hoplite to witch to griffin rider to elven archer to angel knight, there is no easy way to break down combat. There are type advantages, but unit composition creates complications, such as a hoplite defending a lancer against a griffin knight. The placement of units on their grid can be even more important. There are basic strategies such as: B. Keep the tank classes at the front, but some classes could exploit this with abilities designed to push into the back row.
Menus feature equipment as well as customizable “tactics” that allow you to set priorities and use cases for each character’s abilities, allowing players to tailor movesets to suit each individual unit combination. While placement is ultimately up to the player and can change the outcome of any battle, the menus also allow you to simply press a but ton to tweak equipment and tactics. And in a battle preview screen (à la Into the breach
Combining strategy gaming with a 2D RPG, this large scale gives the impression of armies moving and progressing through a campaign. Because the game’s vast cast of characters from the regions and cities you fight for come together every inch of the way, these battles give the world a sense of place and vastness. Instead of having a home base like a castle or school to actually interact with the characters, they can be found all over the world that you’re fighting to reclaim, and they have homes and family there.
With exploration quests, smaller skirmishes, side quests that unlock new characters, the rapport system and main story progression, Unicorn Overlord is perhaps too fast. I jump to all its components and waste a rainy Saturday playing the game in Switch’s handheld mode on my partner’s couch: another fight; I just need to get rid of these question marks on the map. Well, all of these new rapport conversations are available. Let me just add all this new equipment to my army. Well, I could go to the tavern while I’m at a castle.
There’s a lot going on, but it doesn’t feel unwieldy. The game strikes a careful balance between the detail it gives you and the control it optionally takes away for simplicity. While playing on normal difficulty, I faced challenges but was able to overcome them. I’ve even started messing around with the tactics submenus to optimize unit combinations, something I never thought I’d want to do. It is accessible to someone who cannot come to Fire emblem or Valkyrie Chronicles for challenging, punishing gameplay with childhood memories of tactical prowess.
When you’re not in the world or logistics menus, there’s the stage. These are sets rather than levels, places for combat and conversation. These phases are where Unicorn Overlord comes at a human scale, with animated combat in real time so you can see how your tactics actually work. But these scenes show more than that: in Fevrith, the wind blows through grassy fields and stirs up dust. Flames flicker, water wheels turn. Waves crash and boats rock while birds fly. In one battle, a fairytale forest turns into a fiery furnace, and after my elven archers extinguish the flames with magical rain, battles are fought amidst lingering smoke in the ash and wood. Whether in combat or in conversation, the characters in these scenes are animated and voiced in vivid ways. It brings drama to the genre and investment to the archetypes.
The major plot is a fairly generic fantasy story about a prince’s quest to free his kingdom, reclaim his throne, and unite the people of Fevrith through kindness and rebuilding efforts. I have some Feelings for fighting for the monarchy to maintain the previous status quo, but a handsome, orphaned prince obliged by his unwavering sense of nobility is what Shojo is made of. While there are no headpats and rapport conversations are not a complete dating simulation, Unicorn Overlord tries to evoke similar emotions. Personality and emotions are expressed through tone, inflection and humor as characters fight or converse, and aside from good performances and thoughtful translation, the voice acting of the dubbing cast is outstanding. And as much care goes into the animation, well, character into each character, with tailored body and facial movements when fighting and speaking.
This even carries over to animated character portraits from voiceless dialogue boxes. Illustrated character portraits have a craft that doesn’t lend themselves well to 3D, but Vanillaware’s signature painterly art style lends itself well to conveying even subtle expressions. There are so many little animations in the game’s interface and baroque elements in the victory and save screens. It’s impressive how the game manages to do all of this without slowing down or drawing attention to itself. (Except the food. The food is just showing off.)
After my first 10 hours Unicorn OverlordAs I left the tutorial area, I felt excited and intimidated by the world that lay before me. Things had been building up on top of each other, mechanically and narratively, and I wanted more, but more can mean different things. Nothing radically changed in the next 20 hours. That wasn’t it more the way Vanillaware and Atlus’ latest outing, 13 Guardians, became. But new locations, units and storylines have been introduced that advance gameplay and exploration. Each new area had to be reworked due to topographical limitations (such as Drakenhold’s narrow mountain passes) or new units that completely remake my army. Unicorn Overlord has managed to hold its own in the last 20 hours, and there is at least that much more to do. It’s a different kind of growth, but one that early game fans will hear as praise. It should also scare them a little.
Unicorn Overlord was released on March 8th on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The game was tested on Nintendo Switch using a pre-download code provided by Vanillaware. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These have no influence on the editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find More information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.