“Fight against fate and embark on an adventure alongside allies to regain your reign. Unicorn Overlord combines tactical RPG with overworld exploration and innovative battle system for a fantasy experience in the iconic Vanillaware style.”

[ubasjuice reviews]

The story is a bit cliché. A child prince who had his mother taken away from him and their whole kingdom. Now an adult, under the supervision of his mentor, Josef, must seek out new allies to overthrow the Zenoiran Empire. Now, together with his childhood friends and mentor, they set out to liberate the whole kingdom, one by one, and at the same time, gain new allies to form the Liberation Army.

Developed by Vanillaware, this tactical RPG, was my first game from them, and it didn’t disappoint. I instantly fell in love with the art style, a classic 2D artwork. Character portraits were also very well done, and there are over 70 characters in the entire game. Running round the overworld felt soothing, the music accompanied with beautiful artwork and sceneries will make you want to roam around and not do the main quests. Though I would say, not really a fan of how they did the battle scenes, where the whole character fits the screen top to bottom, would’ve wanted to see more of the background during fights.

There are 70 characters that you can unlock in one playthrough, 64 main game, and 6 more you can unlock post-game. The variety of them was a little overwhelming at first. This is because there are “Rapport” features. They involve increasing your relationship with a party member and accessing some passive attributes. Also, there are leader abilities you can use to your advantage during battles.

For example, if your team leader is a horse, you move faster. If a team leader is a Gryphon or Wyvern rider, you can fly over terrains and skip the road and the enemies on it. Aside from character usage, the part where you choose who to be with was different than usual, you’re free to choose anyone, literally anyone, and it wouldn’t disrupt the main storyline, if you want your character to be homosexual, you can; if you want to have a Dark Elf to be your bride, no problem; if you want to have an Angel as your better half, yes you can. The possibilities are limitless. It’s different but entertaining.

There are a number of classes in Unicorn Overlord, aside from the usual D&D classes, there’s a horse rider, gryphon and wyvern riders, animal classes, an angel, and a dark elf, all of which have strengths and weaknesses which you can learn and understand throughout your gameplay.

No one mentions this but this game reminds me of Suikoden, excluding the royal by birth part, it’s almost the same. I consider this as an homage to it. That’s why it resonated with me. From the characters, to recruiting a number of them and reclaiming the land.

Plot twist wise, nothing was surprising. But that didn’t hold it back to being an awesome game, their execution made up for it. The ending of Unicorn Overlord was expected but satisfying, specially when you’ve put time and effort into it. No wonder it has sold more than one million copies. Recommending this game to fans of Tactical RPGs.