It’s most likely too early to be declaring my 2024 recreation of the 12 months. There’s loads to sit up for, particularly in my favourite style: JRPGs. However having spent upwards of 100 hours on Unicorn Overlord, I’ll be very shocked if I’ve a greater time all through the remainder of the Nintendo Swap’s twilight.
Unicorn Overlord is a tactical technique RPG from ATLUS and Vanillaware. It follows Alain, the would-be prince of Cornia had the dominion not been overthrown by Basic Valmore. Earlier than her final stand in opposition to Valmore, Alain’s mom, Queen Ilenia, duties a guard, Josef, with defending her younger son and the Ring of the Unicorn. Valmore takes management of Cornia, locations all of the kingdoms of Fevrith underneath Zenoiran rule, and adjustments his title to Galerius, as would all of us, proper?
Ten years later, the island of Palevia is invaded by Zenoiran forces. Josef, Alain, and some buddies are in a position to repel the assault, and we study the Ring of the Unicorn has the power to dispel the magic that’s forcing one-time allies to serve underneath Galerius. Armed with this information and a can-do perspective, Alain decides the time is nigh to assemble a military to liberate Fevrith.
The plot is usually melodramatic for the style, however not practically as heavy as what we’ve seen up to now. Every part strikes alongside at a breezy tempo, or a minimum of as breezy as it may be with the entire side-battle motion at your disposal. Let’s not get into that, but, although. Let’s begin with the world map.
In most JRPGs, the map is both one thing that pushes icons round underneath grave narration or a method to get from right here to there with as few random battles as doable. In Unicorn Overlord, it’s a residing factor, and a key element to gameplay. Alain has to discover the world to construct his military, and there’s rather a lot to do.
Finishing liberation battles will free cities for Alain to make the most of, supplied he’s gathered sufficient sources to construct them up. Cities can present armor and provisions. Bigger cities can even present taverns the place Alain’s troops can share meals to extend rapport. You’ll be able to station guards to assist accumulate supplies and to current with items, additionally to extend rapport. Some cities have ports that permit you to sail to secluded areas for uncommon gadgets or to resolve quests.
The map additionally incorporates forts the place you may recruit mercenaries, broaden your unit dimension, have interaction in mock battles, and extra. Quite a few relics are scattered about, lots of which you received’t even know how you can use till you’re about midway by the sport, or deeper. Considered one of my favourite moments was once I stumbled upon a hidden catapult with the suggestion to disable it. In a later battle, the enemy officer was miffed to study a catapult was down, making my victory simpler to attain. There are quite a few moments like that scattered about, making map exploration not only a rewarding endeavor, but additionally an necessary key to development.
After all, the meat of the sport is within the battles, and there’s far an excessive amount of nuance to enter full element right here. Principally, you’re in a position to assign models of as much as six troopers from these you’ve recruited or employed. Unicorn Overlord presents over 60 characters by recreation’s finish, all of whom include their very own distinctive ability set throughout a large number of sophistication sorts. The way you place them of their unit, the way you arm and decorate them, what expertise you give them, and the way you set off these expertise determines how efficient they’ll be in fight. It’s rather a lot to consider, and it might simply turn out to be overwhelming in the event you’re not always managing who will get what new accent/weapon and who will get paired with whom.
The sport does permit you to have interaction in mock battles to check a unit’s effectiveness, however I discovered it simpler to simply mimic enemy models. If a struggle is especially troublesome, I’d arrange a unit utilizing the enemy’s formation, then tweak it to swimsuit my wants.
However that’s simply the preparation. The battles happen in actual time on splendidly designed maps that stay various all through the sport’s entirety. They often encompass deploying just a few models at a time to assault the enemy’s stronghold whereas defending your personal. Valor factors decide what number of models may be deployed. Extra valor is achieved all through the battle, permitting you to deploy extra models or make the most of particular expertise that may improve assaults, buff or heal your models, transport models across the battlefield, and myriad different capabilities.
It feels like rather a lot, however there’s extra. Assigning a unit’s chief determines the essential ability of that unit. Making a flier the chief permits that complete unit to fly over in any other case impassable mountains and rivers. However flying models are vulnerable to arrow assaults, so switching the chief to 1 with the power to repel ranged assaults is then a good suggestion…supplied you’ve gotten the valor factors to take action. Operating low on valor? Decide a unit chief who has the power to replenish it extra shortly or simply use an merchandise that negates ranged assaults.
Between the accessible unit tweaks, the valor expertise, and numerous gadgets you’ll find/purchase to make use of on the battlefield, I by no means felt I didn’t stand an opportunity in a struggle. Even in the event you don’t put together effectively, there’s often a method to push by in the event you simply pause the motion and give it some thought—there’s nearly at all times a soldier on the with a valor ability to avoid wasting the day.
That’s really one in every of my two minor complaints about Unicorn Overlord. In the event you occur upon a pair unit setups that actually maximize effectivity, you need to use them to push by the complete recreation with out a lot issue. I had two (possibly three) such models, and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than they appeared able to clearing complete battle maps on their very own. Models can tire on the battlefield, however there are such a lot of methods to replenish their stamina that fatigue is just about a non-factor.
I additionally felt there have been too many soldier courses to maintain monitor of. The builders might’ve decreased this by half and nonetheless had an intricate party-assembly system. As soon as I approached the sport’s midpoint, I simply had no need to sluggish issues all the way down to tinker with unit symmetry, apart from to determine who so as to add when increasing models from 4 to 5. As such, a variety of fascinating characters have been barely utilized. There was simply no want.
Perhaps that’ll open up the sport to a number of playthroughs. The world of Fevrith will certainly be value extra journeys, because the surroundings can be incredible. The fantasy landscapes are richly illustrated and a pleasure to discover, the character designs are heroic and enjoyable (if not a bit dated in just a few cases), the music matches the world and the motion effectively, and the voice performing is strong, for probably the most half. Briefly, the sport’s design is cohesive; every half absolutely enhances the others.
So, sure, Unicorn Overlord is unquestionably an early candidate for my 2024 recreation of the 12 months. It achieves the whole lot it units out to perform, it manages just a few surprises alongside the best way, and solely by nitpicking can I discover something incorrect with it. Keep in mind that pleasure whenever you first performed a JRPG or technique recreation that actually clicked for you? It’s about to occur once more.
