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Introduction
Unicorn Overlord is the latest game from Vanillaware, a developer that came onto my radar after the excellent 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. That was a sci-fi narrative interlaced with strategy battles so the switch to a fantasy tactical RPG feels like an interesting progression. Unicorn Overlord focuses on grand scale battles where you control multiple squads of characters to combat the enemy forces.
The Returning Prince
The story focuses on Alain, the prince of the fallen kingdom of Cornia who survived the rebellion after being smuggled out of the country as a child by Josef, one of the queen’s personal guards. When Zenorian forces attack the island where they have been hiding out, Alain and his friends take up arms to defend themselves and discover the Ring of the Unicorn, a royal treasure given to Josef for safekeeping, has the ability to break the mind control magic used by Zenoria. With this knowledge, they embark on a journey to liberate the five nations that have been taken over by the Zenorian Empire.
I have played a lot of games with fantasy settings and I found the opening and overall setting to be compelling without being overly complicated. The plot as a whole is pretty interesting but it does use a fair few tropes and can be relatively samey at times, especially with the number of side battles that result in a new character being recruited or freed from mind control.
Prepare for Success
The main draw to Unicorn Overlord is the tactical combat and this is a satisfying mix of grand strategy and the assigning of characters and skills to each individual squad. There is an impressive number of skills and character roles which are all effective against different types of foes and in certain circumstances.
At the beginning of the game, you have a handful of characters to assign between two squads which are laid out in a two by three grid (a front and back rank of three slots each). For the most part, characters in the front line will be attacked first and the back row will only be targeted by ranged or full column attacks, so you need to think about your character’s position first of all. Units can vary from infantry and cavalry to spellcasters and fliers, with various types within those. For instance, the Solider class is an infantry unit with a spear suited to making full column attacks and buffs from the back line, while the Fighter is a defensive infantry unit that guards other units from the front line. You steadily accrue more characters that have new roles which help in diversifying the squads that you have. You create these squads before combat, though you can still adjust them during battle provided the characters have not already been deployed, and you are able to move characters on their squad’s grid during the overall battle. From winning battles, you accrue renown and honour that can be used to unlock new squads, expand your existing ones, and promote units.
Priority Tactics
Combat in Unicorn Overlord takes place in real time, with you deploying and commanding your squads to capture objectives and defend your own. When two units clash on the battlefield, time pauses and they enter a skirmish. This is the most in-depth and interesting mechanic of Unicorn Overlord as these play out automatically, with characters acting in initiative order and activating their skills based on the tactics assigned to them. This system is very reminiscent of the Gambits in Final Fantasy 12, with you picking an ability and assigning it up to two conditions before listing these in the order of priority. For instance, Alain has an attack called Lean Edge which heals him 25% if he hits and then does so again if the attack defeats an enemy, so I have that set to attack the enemy with the lowest health to get the most benefit. There are active and passive skills (these as general reactive, such as defending allies or counterattacking) and each character has an amount of points for each of these per skirmish. Units gain new skills by leveling up, being promoted, or from the equipment they have assigned. There is a huge amount of options available in setting these tactics but I found that the game does an excellent job with the tutorials and it tends to drip feed these new skills and characters at a good pace so as to not overwhelm you.
While I found the game system to be very satisfying and interesting, there are some features that I felt were missing. Characters are locked into the classes they have, with promotion to the advanced version being the only option available to them. Whilst this does make sense narratively, it is a feature present in similar style games and it feels a little disappointing to not have that option here. I also spent a lot of time wishing there was a save squad feature as new units start to end up taking the place of other characters to see how they fit into squads and it would make it easier to revert back to older squads if these new units were not as effective as the old setup.
Unicorn Stylings
I mentioned earlier that I enjoyed the last game by Vanillaware, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, which is a sci-fi narrative game. The biggest similarity between Unicorn Overlord and 13 Sentinels is the visual style of the characters, especially in the 2D cutscenes. The art style is really striking, with the 2D animation being very smooth. I mostly played the game on Switch undocked and found it both looked and ran great. The visual effects during battle are all brilliant, with flashy magic attacks often stealing the show, though even the standard attack animations look like they pack a punch. I also particularly enjoyed seeing how some of the units look once you unlock their promotion. The soundtrack is also pretty good, with it generally being grand and fantastical in style.
Conclusion
As a big fan of strategy RPGs, I really enjoyed my time with Unicorn Overlord. The overall mechanics of establishing your squads and customising the tactics of your individual units are really in-depth without becoming too complex. The game does an excellent job of explaining the mechanics while gradually introducing new unit types and increasing the size of the battles. The game’s setting and story is also interesting, if a little tropey at times. Overall, if you are a fan of strategy games and Japanese RPGs in particular, there is plenty of content here to get your teeth into.
