Developed by Vanillaware and published by Atlus in Japan, and SEGA for the rest of the world, Unicorn Overlord is a tactical fantasy RPG game. It is a refreshing throwback to classic RPG games from the 90s with a modern look, utilising 2D graphics with a highly detailed art style, and is now available for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4|5 and Nintendo Switch.

General Valmore of the Kingdom of Cornia leads a rebellion against the ruling monarch, Queen Ilenia. With most of the army siding with Valmore, Ilenia has her personal guard, Josef, smuggle her son, Alain, as well as the symbol of Cornian royalty, the Ring of the Unicorn, to safety. Josef reluctantly follows Ilenia’s orders and flees while Ilenia makes her last stand against Valmore to buy them time to escape. Ten years later, Valmore, renaming himself Galerius, reformed the ancient Zenoirian Empire and subjugated the surrounding countries of Drakenhold, Elheim, Bastorias, and Albion, bringing all of Fervith under his control. Alain has been raised by Josef on the remote island of Palevia, alongside the local priestess Scarlett, to eventually take leadership of the Liberation Army.

Players will take control of various characters, grouping them in separate units to take down enemy forces. In the beginning, each unit can hold up to two characters, but players can increase each unit up to a maximum of six characters, and extra units can be acquired through game progression and in-game currency. Various items to replenish health and boost stats can also either be purchased, received as rewards in battle, or gifted to you by various NPCs.

The aim of each stage is to traverse around a map that gets bigger with each stage, conquering the lands by battling enemy units, and taking over strongholds. Strategising and planning play an integral part of the game, so it’s a lot of fun and incredibly satisfying to successfully complete each quest after a series of gruelling battles.

The earlier stages aren’t too difficult to complete and act more like tutorials, which do a great job of explaining the game mechanics. They do, of course, become progressively harder, so players will really have to think about their approach instead of running headfirst into battle. Even a well-thought-out strategy may not be enough, and the enemies tend to have some tricks up their sleeves, forcing players to adapt and stay on their toes. The difficulty settings can give players a more relaxed experience if they just want to focus on the story, right up to something more challenging for an even more rewarding experience.

Players will encounter a wide variety of characters, many of whom will join you in your quest, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, depending on their class. The playable characters come in many forms, including weapon wielders, who are best for head-on attacks, shield bearers, who can defend themselves and allies, warriors on horseback, who can traverse longer distances on maps, and magic users, with abilities to attack, heal, buff, debuff and more. Typically, giving each unit a mix of every class is ideal, but in certain quests, units focusing on a particular class may actually work better.

Experimenting with different unit combinations is also a very enjoyable and rewarding part of the game. Players will also be able to customise each character with various items, weapons, armour and more, boosting their stats and giving them the edge in battle, although the number of options available can be pretty overwhelming for those who just want to get straight into the battles.

The battles themselves aren’t as interactive as you might expect. Instead, these are on autoplay, and players don’t get to decide what moves they want to perform. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the battles are quite fun to watch, and it still feels satisfying eliminating each enemy, but many would appreciate an option to have more input in each battle. Overall, the RNG seems quite fair and well-balanced on any difficulty setting, and it doesn’t appear to play favourites with the players or enemies. Of course, the way the units are set and each character’s stats play a big part in it too.

At first, Unicorn Overlord may look like many other JRPGs, but after playing for a while, it truly stands out on its own. Along with a unique gameplay experience, the 2D visuals are jaw-dropping with the amount of detail put into them. Everything from all the character designs, even the common enemies, to the backgrounds, maps and more are designed beautifully and animated so smoothly during battles. It’s nice to just sit back and enjoy the art.

The game has a gorgeous anime art style with a medieval fantasy theme, with characters being very diverse in both looks and personality, with highly detailed armour and weapons, and the various background locations, such as open battlefields, villages, forests, harbours, and castles are incredibly appealing. The closest it could be compared would be the various Fate anime series or any of the Granblue Fantasy games. Overall, it’s the kind of art that people would pay a few hundred dollars to commission and display in their homes. Not enough can be said about Unicorn Overlord’s amazing visuals.

The important cutscenes and dialogue segments are fully voice-acted in either Japanese or English, and the entire voice cast in both languages did an incredible job bringing the characters to life and telling the epic story of Unicorn Overlord. An accompanying orchestral soundtrack has something for every occasion, perfectly complementing the medieval fantasy theme of the game, and while the story might seem cliche at first, experiencing the game from start to finish will quickly change your mind. It’s something that really needs to be experienced.

Unicorn Overlord is a brand-new IP that’s already made a big impact, impressing both gamers and critics. With about 50 hours of game time to enjoy, the epic story is guaranteed to leave a lasting impression, but it’s the gameplay that will first pull you in and make sure you stay for the ride. The 2D graphics with highly detailed anime art and smooth animations, along with the orchestral soundtrack and talented voice cast, are a marvel to behold. Unicorn Overlord is an RPG game like no other, and one that should not be overlooked.

Written by: Sammy Hanson