It’s most likely too early to be declaring my 2024 sport of the 12 months. There’s a lot to stay up for, particularly in my favourite style: JRPGs. However having spent upwards of 100 hours on Unicorn Overlord, I’ll be very stunned if I’ve a greater time all through the remainder of the Nintendo Change’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 Common 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 below Zenoiran rule, and modifications his identify 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 be taught the Ring of the Unicorn has the power to dispel the magic that’s forcing one-time allies to serve below Galerius. Armed with this data and a can-do angle, Alain decides the time is nigh to collect a military to liberate Fevrith.
The plot is often melodramatic for the style, however not practically as heavy as what we’ve seen up to now. All the pieces strikes alongside at a breezy tempo, or at the least as breezy as it may be with all the 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 below grave narration or a method to get from right here to there with as few random battles as potential. 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 may also present taverns the place Alain’s troops can share meals to extend rapport. You may station guards to assist acquire supplies and to current with presents, additionally to extend rapport. Some cities have ports that assist you to sail to secluded areas for uncommon gadgets or to resolve quests.
The map additionally comprises forts the place you may recruit mercenaries, increase your unit measurement, interact in mock battles, and extra. Quite a few relics are scattered about, lots of which you gained’t even know learn how to use till you’re about midway by the sport, or deeper. Certainly 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 be taught a catapult was down, making my victory simpler to realize. There are quite a few moments like that scattered about, making map exploration not only a rewarding endeavor, but additionally an essential 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 provides over 60 characters by sport’s finish, all of whom include their very own distinctive talent set throughout a large number of sophistication sorts. The way you place them of their unit, the way you arm and decorate them, what abilities you give them, and the way you set off these abilities determines how efficient they’ll be in fight. It’s rather a lot to consider, and it may simply grow to be overwhelming in case you’re not continuously managing who will get what new accent/weapon and who will get paired with whom.
The sport does assist you to interact 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 numerous all through the sport’s entirety. They often encompass deploying a couple of models at a time to assault the enemy’s stronghold whereas defending your individual. 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 abilities 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 fundamental talent of that unit. Making a flier the chief permits that total 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 could have the valor factors to take action. Working low on valor? Choose a unit chief who has the power to replenish it extra shortly or simply use an merchandise that negates ranged assaults.
Between the out there unit tweaks, the valor abilities, and numerous gadgets yow will discover/purchase to make use of on the battlefield, I by no means felt I didn’t stand an opportunity in a struggle. Even in case you don’t put together effectively, there’s often a solution to push by in case you simply pause the motion and give it some thought—there’s nearly at all times a soldier on the with a valor talent to avoid wasting the day.
That’s really one in every of my two minor complaints about Unicorn Overlord. When you occur upon a pair unit setups that basically maximize effectivity, you should use them to push by the whole sport with out a lot issue. I had two (possibly three) such models, and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than they appeared able to clearing total 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 lessons to maintain monitor of. The builders might’ve lowered this by half and nonetheless had an intricate party-assembly system. As soon as I approached the sport’s midpoint, I simply had no want to gradual 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, quite a lot of attention-grabbing characters had been barely utilized. There was simply no want.
Possibly that’ll open up the sport to a number of playthroughs. The world of Fevrith will certainly be price further journeys, because the surroundings can be unbelievable. The fantasy landscapes are richly illustrated and a pleasure to discover, the character designs are heroic and enjoyable (if not a bit dated in a couple of situations), the music suits the world and the motion effectively, and the voice appearing is stable, 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 sport of the 12 months. It achieves all the things it units out to perform, it manages a couple of surprises alongside the best way, and solely by nitpicking can I discover something incorrect with it. Keep in mind that pleasure if you first performed a JRPG or technique sport that basically clicked for you? It’s about to occur once more.