A must-play for ways followers

Collection like Remaining Fantasy Techniques, Hearth Emblem and Techniques Ogre (which received a stunning remaster in 2022) are inclined to dominate the dialog round SRPGs. And rightly so. Nonetheless, with its newest launch – Unicorn Overlord – developer Vanillaware is taking cues from older titles in a means that pays tribute to the classics whereas additionally offering one thing recent and interesting for 2024. And after being utterly engrossed by this stunning mash-up of outdated and new, Unicorn Overlord looks like a must-play for technique recreation followers.

Vanillaware isn’t shy about the place it drew inspiration for Unicorn Overlord. As a substitute of typical grid-based battlefields, the sport performs lots like Ogre Battle 64, which has you commanding a handful of smaller squads that you simply maneuver across the map to intercept enemy forces and seize strongholds. Every squad has a captain who lends a passive bonus with social gathering sizes that develop to 5 over the course of the sport. However since you don’t have direct management over particular person characters throughout fights, you might want to be artful about setting them up for achievement.

Technique is dictated not solely by the place of every squad but additionally by which lessons you select and the actions you set (e.g. setting a command to assault the bottom well being enemy or solely hitting an opponent that’s already been debuffed). This ends in gameplay that looks like fantasy soccer however for battle. Take a look at you, you’re the final now. Besides it’s higher as a result of you’ll be able to see how effectively your artwork of battle performs out, like when your archers take out flying enemies corresponding to gryfons and wyverns which might be naturally inclined to their assaults.

However the strategizing doesn’t cease there, as a result of outdoors of fight, there are different methods to control battles. You possibly can commandeer siege items like catapults and ballistas to rain injury down on opposing items earlier than they get shut. Alternatively, you’ll be able to spend Valor factors (that are earned by defeating enemies) to buff pleasant combatants (haste, additional stamina, and so on.) or soften up foes with focused strikes like a cavalry cost. Then there’s all the assorted tools and loot you’ll collect, which provides one other layer of customization to your military.

On high of simple spec bumps, you can provide items extra turns or alter their talents by including poison injury to a spear or different weapon. And while you get every part arrange excellent, the outcomes are devastating. One in every of my favourite combos was giving an archer and swordsman fire-based assaults to afflict a burn on enemies. Then I adopted this up with a mage that ignites each burning opponent with extra party-wide injury on the finish of a struggle and I believe you’ll be able to see the place that is going. Actually, I’ve misplaced observe of the period of time I’ve spent taking a look at menus to tweak ascactions and tools. However min-maxing every squad’s potential is a ton of enjoyable all by itself.

In the meantime, one other characteristic Unicorn Overlord borrows from franchises like Hearth Emblem is its Rapport mechanic. Characters in the identical squad will develop nearer over time, providing upgraded stats over time. Alternatively, you’ll be able to enhance rapport by sharing meals or giving items, and after sufficient bonding, you’ll get a cutscene that dives deeper into two folks’s relationship. On high of that, the principle character, Alain, can develop a romance permitting you to decide on your greatest lady (or boy, in some instances, although I haven’t had the possibility to attempt that out myself).

Unicorn Overlord’s roster is huge too. It felt like each different battle I added a brand new member to my ranks, and earlier than I even explored 50 % of the map, I had greater than 30 distinctive story characters. And if that’s not sufficient, you may as well recruit mercenaries, which is arguably a extra strategic determination as that allows you to customise a unit’s progress (e.g. Eager sorts get additional crit whereas all-rounders obtain extra balanced stats and so forth).

I additionally wish to name out Unicorn Overlord’s visible design, which is flat-out attractive. It’s a transparent homage to the 2D sprite-based graphics of old-school SRPGs, nevertheless it’s been polished up for contemporary HD screens. Portraits and character fashions are extremely detailed and the animations are a pleasure to observe even after the a thousandth time. Granted, Vanillaware often succumbs to the trope of lady armor in video games the place male characters have enormous sheets of metallic defending them whereas some feminine characters are far more scantily clad. Why does the witch class put on a bikini? We could by no means know, although this has been Vanillaware’s type for the final 20 years, so it’s not precisely a shock. Actually, my gripe with that is that there ought to be just a few extra himbos to steadiness issues out.

As for extra basic cons, the principle one is that the sport’s plot is a bit generic. It’s not unhealthy, it’s simply primarily based on a well-recognized setup centered round disenfranchised Prince Alain (who in all probability not coincidentally seems lots like Magnus from Ogre Battle 64, proper all the way down to the blue hair) and his quest to liberate his nation from the clutches of evil emperor Galerius. That stated, there are nonetheless loads of touching moments to maintain the plot from getting too uninteresting.

The opposite potential challenge is that some could discover the sport a bit too simple. To start out, there are three problem ranges, plus an excellent more durable setting when you beat the sport. Nonetheless, the quantity of strategizing you are able to do means you’ll be able to virtually all the time have a bonus in battle, so relying on the way you have a look at it, the sport is hurting itself for having such a excessive stage of management and customization. Although in my view, that’s an excellent drawback to have.

A very powerful factor about Unicorn Overlord is that it looks like a ardour mission from begin to end. Its visuals are splendidly hand-crafted, and by adopting after which updating options and gameplay from Corridor of Fame technique titles, the sport looks like a love letter to the style as an entire. Heck, the CEO of Vanillaware even went as far as to pay for the sport’s growth out of pocket after its funds ran out. So whereas Unicorn Overlord won’t attraction to everybody, ways followers simply received a brand new instantaneous basic.