Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PS4
You may mistakenly believe that Unicorn Overlord and Fire Emblem were similar games at first appearance. Both immerse players in a medieval fantasy setting and challenge them to rescue a fallen kingdom through a succession of strategic battles, gathering troops along the way. With his blue hair and armor reminiscent of the genre, the protagonist Alain even seems like a possible cousin of Fire Emblem’s legendary hero Marth.
Undoubtedly, the storyline also bears a Fire Emblem-like quality: banished Prince Alain and his swiftly expanding army roam the Fevrith continent, where his mother, the erstwhile Queen Ilenia, was overthrown by her formerly trusted General Galerius years prior, freeing villages and organizing a Liberation Army to take back the throne.
If you look closer, though, this newest game from Vanillaware—a developer who has been quietly producing beloved classics for years, ranging from the action RPG Odin Sphere to the time-bending adventure 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim—proves to be one of the best strategy games in a while, with a distinct identity. The most notable distinctions are in battle, but that formulaic tale nevertheless reveals surprising depths and a ton of surprises before the credits roll.
The captivating universe Vanillaware has created for Unicorn Overlord is what truly sets it apart from other games, not simply the immensely exciting combat.
First off, you’re not in charge of every single one of the hundreds of interesting individuals that are out to further the cause; each one has a distinct set of talents, powers, and weaknesses based on their class. As an alternative, you will eventually organize them into units of up to six fighters, and you will give orders to that unit as a whole. There is an absurd amount of strategy to try with just unit composition: should you create squads based on certain strengths, designed to take advantage of vulnerabilities in the opposition? Do you give up on some abilities to build all-around teams that can handle anything that comes their way? Even though a unit with high mobility has a lower defense and is therefore more vulnerable, is it still worth taking the chance to develop a unit with this trait in order to move across combat maps more quickly?
The final one emphasizes how Unicorn Overlord differs greatly from Fire Emblem in that it is a real-time strategy game instead of a turn-based one. In between combat rounds, you’ll travel the same world map where battles are located. These battles usually include moving from Alain’s base in one corner to the opponent’s base in the other, and taking control of the other base by eliminating its commander. When two units collide, they will fight automatically, with the combined skills and stats of all the members deciding how much damage is done or taken.
You can use your high mobility to reach smaller facilities sooner and fortify the map for your allies on the way to the enemy command post. You can also defeat and take control of these facilities along the way to earn Valor Points, which can be used to activate a particular character’s unique skills that could heal a friend, deal bonus damage, or perform countless other game-changing effects. Fortunately, it doesn’t get too overwhelming because you can pause the real-time flow and arrange the order that units should follow before sending them on their way again.
Unicorn Overlord masterfully eases players into its more intricate features, even if it still seems quite complex at times, especially when you’re juggling several units over large landscapes later in the game. At first, each of your units can only hold two characters. For example, you could put a physically weak but magically strong Wizard on the rear row and use a shield-wielding Hoplite on the front row to absorb damage. This gives players ample room to learn how skills combine while staying somewhat closer to the “one character, one unit” foundation of traditional turn-based strategies. Even though those automated battles might seem extremely basic at first, as you get more familiar with the game’s check-and-balance mechanisms—which determine which classes dominate or are subjugated by others in an absurdly intricate chain of rock, paper, scissors—you’ll start to feel more comfortable modifying the abilities of individual characters within a unit to alter who is healed when or under what conditions an attack is used. In a matter of hours, you will be switching up your unit members prior to every fight, perfecting their maneuvers in combat, and customizing your strategy for each interaction—all while enjoying every minute of it.
The captivating universe Vanillaware has created for Unicorn Overlord is what truly sets it apart from other games, not simply the immensely exciting combat. Every main, named character feels wonderfully developed, with cleverly written backstories that reveal more about the state of Fevrith during Alain’s exile. This is in contrast to generic mercenaries that can be created at barracks to buff up ranks—useful if you really like a particular class and want more of them in battle. These come to light occasionally when you add them to your number, and occasionally through affinity talks that are unlocked by having characters serve in the same unit for a sufficient amount of time. Either way, they consistently give character depth and sympathy to what quickly grows to be a sizable ensemble.
Unicorn Overlord’s masterful blend of anime and paper cut-out puppets, encapsulating Vanillaware’s now-famous hand-crafted aesthetic, allows the project to seamlessly blend its many inspirations into something that is, if not entirely unique, then certainly more impressive than the sum of its parts. A genre high point!