Unicorn Overlord Review | Guaranteed critical hit

Vanillaware never misses. That’s the majority sentiment I’ve been hearing leading up to this game’s release. As someone who has never played any of their titles and is not usually a fan of tactical RPGs, I initially thought that this experience was going to be a tough mountain to climb. However, after spending dozens of hours exploring the gorgeous environments, managing my units, and liberating the Kingdom of Cornia, one stage after the other, I firmly believe that Unicorn Overlord is one of the best games of 2024. If there was any doubt in your mind about picking this one up, check out our Unicorn Overlord review.

One of my biggest problems when it comes to TRPGs is the exact reason why people love them so much. They take up too much of my mental headspace. I will admit that I’m not skilled enough to micromanage a battlefield, making sure all my characters are accounted for, and that the entire party is optimized for the enemies. I’m more of a straight up action type of gamer. But there are cases where the occasional turn-based title captures my attention, certain Fire Emblems and the most recent Baldur’s Gate 3 to be exact. Coming into Unicorn Overlord, I didn’t really have any expectations. Walking out of it and writing this review, I just have a lingering desire to get back in to play it again.

Game of Stones

The story of Unicorn Overlord takes on the usual beats you’d expect from a medieval fantasy title. You play as Prince Alain, heir to the throne. A rule that is stopped long before it even has a chance to begin as the Kingdom of Cornia is invaded by a group of traitors, forcing you to escape with the queen’s trusted knight, Josef. You are then raised to be a knight yourself as you set out to reclaim your throne, equipped with the Ring of the Unicorn, liberating the land of its invaders.

If there was one thing I’d say about the narrative is that it doesn’t really do much to set itself apart. It’s a standard tale that takes very familiar turns if you’ve watched, played, or read somewhere else before. It comes to a point where the story becomes a little bit too predictable. While I’m not claiming that it won’t provide you with a surprise or two, it’s just that you shouldn’t expect narrative excellence from this one. It does its job well enough to set up the fact that you’re doing what you have to do but this won’t be winning any narrative awards anytime soon.

The script is, however, highly enjoyable as character dialogues really lean into the old English, somewhat cheesy lines from fantasy tales. Alain himself is an extremely chivalrous character who always aims to be a beacon of hope to everyone he meets. His companions, all of which have distinct personalities all play off of each other in such entertaining ways. About 20 or so hours down the line, you’ll still be meeting new characters to join your party and it serves as an excellent way to spice up not only the story but the gameplay implications as well.

The game also looks absolutely gorgeous. The classic 2D art style on display here is further elevated by fantastic animations, giving so much life to the world. It’s a timeless aesthetic for a reason. Colorful landscapes, detailed character models, and subtle facial animations do a lot to pull you in the experience of it all. Unicorn Overlord’s presentation alone makes the game worth checking out.

A winning strategy

Gameplay is where the game truly shines. It usually takes me a while to get comfortable with a TRPG but Unicorn Overlord manages to break down the genre’s intimidating mechanical barrier  by smoothly integrating its initial narrative hooks with gameplay tutorials. It doesn’t just dump it all onto you with tedious text pop ups and arbitrary levels. It presents it at a digestible pace and one that makes sure you have complete grasp of the mechanics before it moves to the other. An underappreciated feature of many games and one that Vanillaware deserves so much credit for.

There is open exploration in the game where you roam around areas interacting with NPCs, purchasing goods, collecting resources, and optimizing your party members. These sequences offer a nice slow downed pace to the battles that you’ll do in order to meaningfully progress the story. This is where a lot of the charm of the game shines as the main plot usually has the script leaning more to a serious tone. But once you step back out there, it’s where the other half of the fun begins.

Stages in Unicorn Overlord is where you do battle and liberate the land. There is a specific end goal for each one, usually involving defeating a final enemy, and it’s up to you to determine how you’ll get there. Scattered throughout the area are landmarks that you can capture for yourself, making you spawn in more units and getting geographical control and enemies that will make its way towards you, or your captured structures. If you’re not careful enough with where you go, or where you position other parties, you’ll be risking defeat. You also have to take into consideration a time limit. Once this is depleted, you fail the entire stage, and you have to start from your last save or from the very beginning.

There is a lot of depth when it comes to the strategy part of the game. The actual battles themselves happen automatically. It’s what you do before you engage with them that makes all the difference. For each party, there are specific tiles in which you can place your units. The party’s effectiveness relies on which classes you place on the frontlines, and which ones are at the back.

A very simple example would be if you have a character that has a large shield equipped, it will probably help that they’re the ones positioned in front while the ones with a long spear or provide ranged support are at the back. You can also place rogue characters in front as they are nimble enough to dodge physical attacks, wasting the turn of the enemy and opening up an opportunity for your other characters to go on the offensive.

But things can take a turn depending on the party of the enemy you’re fighting as well. Certain characters have specific weaknesses and strengths. If the enemy has flying units, it would probably be a good idea if you have ranged characters. You can also change the behavior of each unit to prioritize attacking, defending, or providing support to the party. All of this on top of the various skills, stats, and special equipment the characters have that can determine your success.

Before engaging in battle, you are given possibilities of how much damage you’ll give and receive. This then gives you the necessary information as to whether or not you should switch up tactics. It’s a lot to take in when reading it from here but trust me, it’s an extremely engaging and dare I say it, addicting gameplay loop that had me glued to the screen for hours on end.

Every action you do consumes Valor points, which you can earn back by defeating enemies or liberating a structure. You also have to keep a close eye on your character’s stamina. This ensures that no unit is overused and that you’ll have to use every trick you have in the belt. The battles themselves are beautifully animated and energetically scored. It’s a fun spectacle to be had. Once you reach the end goal and succeed, it’s an incredibly rewarding feeling to be had.

There’s a ton of classes that all feel very unique from one another. It’s an impressive to see how much depth there is to this game. And one of the best parts about it is that the UX is dang near flawless. You will be staring into a lot of menus and stat sheets in Unicorn Overlord but the fantastic UI design here doesn’t make it a confusing chore like some of the other major AAA titles being released today. This encourages the player to be more experimental and actually delve deeper into the game’s well-defined systems.

Unicorn Overlord Review Final Verdict – 9/10

There’s no reason for me to not recommend Unicorn Overlord to anyone. If you’re a TRPG fan, this is an easy cop. If you’re someone like me who doesn’t really vibe with the genre, this game is a very good entry point to see what you’ve been missing out on.

Unicorn Overlord is a highly enjoyable title that made me a fan of the genre I never thought I would click with. There are dozens of characters, storylines, and hours to lose yourself into. An easy contender for one of the best games of the year. The game currently has a free demo that lets you play for about 7 hours of the full game. There’s literally no reason why you shouldn’t try this one out.

This review was made using a game code for the PS5 provided by the publisher.