Unicorn Overlord Switch Review
I have a soft spot for both Strategy and RPGs and absolutely adore games like the Fire Emblem series. But what if there was a game that somehow went even more in-depth to provide a real-time strategy / RPG experience while telling a story of war, treachery, and most important of all… hope? Unicorn Overlord is the latest offering from Vanillaware, a developer with a solid pedigree in crafting deep worlds with well-thought-out gameplay, and admittedly, is the first game I have played from them. What’s It Like? Check your battle maps, select your units, and march forward as we review Unicorn Overlord for Nintendo Switch.
Unicorn Overlord weaves an intriguing tale of political turmoil and betrayal when the Royal Familly is betrayed by General Valmore who leads an insurrection to take the throne. Amidst the turmoil, your character, Alain, managed to escape as a child escorted by Josef, a loyal Royal Knight. You then take control of the Queen as she makes a valiant last stand as the Kingdom of Gran Corrine falls. In the 10 years that follow, the Land becomes known as Gallereus and the evil reach of Valmore spreads through the region, stretching far beyond its borders through war and fear. While some may think that this narrative may be rather generic, using trite conventions that seem standard in the RPG genre, I found the way the story was executed was exciting and engrossing, dragging me in right from the get-go.
This narrative further expands when you finally start your liberation campaign, as you, the Prince, are young and naive, so the story lures you in with a very black-and-white “we are good, they are bad” mentality, only to flesh out these misconceptions that in war, sometimes the hardest choices people make, will lead to suffering. One example of this is liberating a town early on from a Lord who is deemed a glutton who hoards food. You learn once he is defeated he grew up a peasant and starved due to famine from the war. While he may have appeared to be starving his people, he was ensuring healthy stockpiles remained when the war tightened its grip on his region. This character may still be bad, but it was a refreshing change to show these villains had more complexities than the standard one-dimensional “bad guy” trope. It’s these mini-stories that drive the overarching narrative, and invest you into the world of Unicorn Overlord. It made me question my intentions, and while I know Valmore is evil and meant to be defeated, it made me question my motives, and wonder what my opponent’s motives were too while battling.
Further to this is the burgeoning character development spurred on by increasing relationships either on the battlefield or over a meal in taverns. The higher the connection, the more likely it will unlock special cutscenes that further develop into the complexities of each character and the relationships that bind them. They are usually short bursts of exposition that don’t outstay their welcome and help the player understand what that character is fighting for, or a bit on their background. All of this information is added to a codex which you can go back and read at your leisure. You can give gifts to party members to build those relationships too.
The gameplay focuses on liberating the world of Fevrith and there are several mechanics at play. You have the ultimate goal of liberating hostile territory, but to do so you will need to recruit soldiers to fight for you. A lot of these characters will be recruited via the story as it unfolds, but some are also off the beaten path. There’s the overworld which you can explore, finding items to bolster your army or sell to fill the war chest, as well as divine shards to hunt down, allowing you to trade them with a recruitable character for rarer items. You can freely traverse the areas in the overworld you have liberated and can talk to NPCs to further flesh out the story. When you enter an area under enemy control, you have to quick battle enemies on the overworld map to be able to explore and uncover the battle stage to deploy your army. Each area acts as a mini-chapter, meaning you can knock the battle or action of the story out in an hour or so, and I personally loved the bite-sized campaigns as they give you that feeling like in Civilization of “just one more turn!” Once you have liberated an area, you can donate items and materials to rebuild the towns in it, and station guards there to bring you passive items after every battle. Stationed guards can still be used in each battle, so you can use your core party and plant them around the map.
When in battle, the game works like a Real Time Strategy game, selecting units and directing them where to go. You can pause movement to reroute troops and the battlefield is exciting due to this dynamic. There’s a stamina system at play on the battlefield, meaning overreliance on one unit could be your undoing, tapping them out and leaving them vulnerable while they rest to regain stamina. There’s also a time limit which is relaxed enough in most cases, but means you can’t use a turtle defense hiding your troops garrisoned in a city. The more units you defeat, the more points you unlock to use in battle. You can use these points to deploy more units, or use an existing unit’s special ability like a heavy swing to destroy fortifications, or rain arrows from afar, weakening an enemy unit before tackling them head-on.
The battle system has a great amount of depth, but slowly eases you into it. Battles are auto-fought and consist of taking turns, consuming the character’s Movement points called PP. PP can be reduced using passive attacks or defensive abilities as well, but you can set tactics and conditions, like having a character heal only when someone drops below 50% to maximise offensive abilities. There’s a rock/paper/scissors system similar to Fire Emblem at play here too, although there’s a much larger variety of classes and character types that mean you do need to reshuffle party tactics and formations up as you go along. Certain classes complement each other, allowing follow-up or chain attacks that don’t cost PP, and some that can defend squishier classes by valiantly jumping into harm’s way with a towering shield. The camaraderie and dynamics work really well, and units that work together develop strong bonds the more they fight together, unlocking more backstories and relationships.
This can lead to some great moments in the game. One such moment came early in the game when taking my first major objective. I sent units in the cover of a forest to liberate a town for additional support points while holding the main assault on a different front. Once I liberated the first town and cut off reinforcements, I withdrew my units at that town, and redeployed them closer to the main front, allowing me to bolster my attack force. One time, I underestimated my opponent who did the same, and they quickly toppled me by sneaking a single unit to capture my unguarded command post.
This is all brought to you in a beautiful 2.5D world similar to what we’ve seen with the sublime Octopath Traveller series in the overworld, and gorgeously rendered and animated characters in battles. Each character has their own style and subtleties, bringing their own personal flair to your army on top of their unique battlefield skills. Battles look grand with support units raining down arrows before the battle commences, and attacks and abilities are great to watch. It all has a unique flair without drowning out the serious overtones of the story. Unicorn Overlord runs at a consistent framerate, even when there’s a lot of action going on, and I didn’t encounter any artificing, bugs, or glitches in my playthrough. For my vision-impaired Battlefield Generals, there are no accessibility options, but most of the dialogue is voice-acted, and speech is black text on a stained paper-like background. You can slow the text as well as turn off auto advancement as well, although more research might be in order to see if Unicorn Overlord is for you. There is a free demo that allows for 5 hours of gameplay, or until you reach a specific spot in the story which should show you nearly all of the systems and mechanics at play.
The beautiful art style is backed by an emotionally investing orchestral score with dulcet strings and haunting woodwinds that further immerse you in the world. Characters are brought to life with stellar voice acting, and I noticed that for the most part, it avoided falling into the usual tropes of slapstick sidekicks that undermine the setting, and kept the characters grounded in the gritty war setting which was a refreshing change. Voices echo when talking in stone cathedrals, and characters match the tone of the situation around them, sometimes conveying that hope is lost, and standing their ground in the face of inevitable defeat. There are some heavy themes that are handled well due to the superb writing that just seems to hit the mark.
The campaign will take about 50-60 hours to complete, and the game retails for $94 AUD. Initially, this price point almost made me fall off my chair as most retail around $70-80, but after sinking into this world, I’m very glad I purchased this.
It was hard to write this review because I was so enamored with it right from the start. Being a fan of the Fire Emblem series, and strategy games, I really had no idea what I was in for, and after picking up my copy from my local game store, I sunk into my couch to give it a go and subsequently lost 3 days to it while taking notes for this review, and as we move closer to securing victory in this review, it’s safe to say that Unicorn Overlord is a simply superb game with an enthralling story, gorgeous art style, stellar voice acting, and satisfying gameplay. Strategy and RPG fans need to look no further if they are looking for the next big game, this is it. Unicorn Overlord shines through with high production values, intricate mechanics, and crafts a world full of political intrigue, making it a hard package to turn away from.
So, What’s it Like? Unicorn Overlord is Like Fire Emblem, mixed with Wartales.
