This review is based on my experience with the first 25 hours or so. If I actually completed Unicorn Overlord before reviewing, this review wouldn’t come before Halloween and I’d get few reviews done in the meantime. This game is huge, with it approximately being 75 hours for completion. This game is a magnificent strategy RPG. This game gets a Must Play verdict with a ten back-end score. Now I didn’t buy Unicorn Overlord with the intent to review since I rarely do with sixty-dollar games, But since I’ve thrown so much time at it, might as well put in my two-cents. Simply put, this game should be a game of the year contender. But strangely, it isn’t. They’re talking about Black Myth: Wu Kong and Astro Bot. Screw those games!
Unicorn Overlord battles play like Fire Emblem mixed with Ogre Battle. In Ogre Battle, the battles played out with groups of units marching across the battlefield fighting groups of enemy units. Same thing here, except most of your units will be actual characters who can build rapport with each other… like Fire Emblem. In each battle, your goal is usually to defeat the enemy commander under a strict time limit, depending on the size of the stage. Small Liberation battles with generally be a minute, while grand main and side story missions might be up to five minutes. Fortunately you can pause at any time.
Things get even dicier in Unicorn Overlord with valor points, used to spawn formations and do unit abilities, and stamina, which depletes every time a formation enters a battle. Valor Points are only gotten when units are defeated. If Stamina runs out, the formation has to wait a bit before acting again.
Unicorn Overlord is a strategist’s wet dream!
Every unit in Unicorn Overlord has a class, ranging from standards like fighters and wizards to more esoteric classes like Elven Auger. Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses. Gryphon riders are susceptible to archers, while Dragon Riders are susceptible to magic attacks. Formation creation is critical. One unit can mean the difference between being Swiss cheese and an enemy slaughtering machine. If there are holes in your lineup, you can always recruit generic units from any fort. They don’t build rapport or have stories, but otherwise are like any other unit. Placement in a formation is also important, as some units are better in front, others in the back.
Now, Unicorn Overlord plays out like an open world game. You go over the map slowly conquering areas, and opening up towns and forts. Sometimes there is a defined order in which this happens, but only main quests have to be done in order. Now town have armorers, which sell stat boosting items, and provisoners, which sells healing and other items. The interesting thing is that their stock is limited. Once they sell out that’s it. This essentially means important items are essentially finite. And this adds to the strategy, as you need to conserve them and use when necessary. Plus some items are only found on the map, and are extremely limited, like one that can prevent you from failing a battle.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…
If there’s any drag, its the story. It is the usual big evil empire, small ragtag rebels story. However, the main story is well told in the pretty cut scenes and voice acting is good. The rapport conversations are boring though. Though they are often in Fire Emblem as well. Still, the story is just what guides you from awesome battle to awesome battle, and that is where Unicorn Overlords earns it’s score.
Unicorn Overlord is my game of the Year 2024. And when I do the best of list for Game Slush Pile year 2 towards the end of this month, it will be sitting at the top. I mean still, its kind of the unfair to compare a full blown sixty-dollar title to some little indie game, but that’s how this year will roll. Unicorn Overlord is phenomenal. It’s weakness lies in the story, and can be a wee bit overwhelming and rough around the edges, but it’s a strategy RPG like none other. If you’re reading this and haven’t bought it. why haven’t you?
Overall: Unicorn Overlord is a strategist’s dream game, where you can manage down to the most minute detail, and it’s just plain awesome!
Verdict: Must Play
| Release Date | 3/8/24 |
| Cost | $59.99 |
| Publisher | Sega |
| ESRB Rating | T |
P.S. Try another 10/10 game I reviewed recently, My Lovely Empress!
