Grids? We don’t need no stinkin’ grids!
I’ve gained notoriety on the Interwebz for other genres and franchises (Splatoon, Mario, etc.), but as longtime blog-watchers can attest, my true gaming love is RPGs, and lately it’s been tactical RPGs that have caught my eye (see: Triangle Strategy, Mario + Rabbids). As someone who is not a terribly fast thinker, however, I generally prefer turn-based combat, so I can take my time strategizing and know that nothing happens until I say it does. However, a franchise that caught my eye back in the day was Ogre Battle, a real-time strategy game where units would fan out over a large area with the goal of capturing the enemy stronghold. Battles were automated and different character classes had specific attacks (although they could differ based on whether they were on the front or back line), and there were a bunch of interesting characters that you could recruit to your army. It was a ton of fun back in the day (even if I was less enthused with its N64 sequel), and when I heard that Atlus and Vanillaware were publishing a similar game for the Switch and had a demo available, I had to jump in and see just how the old mechanics translated to the modern era. Triangle Strategy taught me never to judge a game by its name, so as weird as Unicorn Overlord sounded, if the gameplay behind the name was solid, nothing else mattered.
So did the game live up to its spiritual predecessors? Absolutely, at least in the short term (though some questions remain about the game’s balance going forward). The gameplay was crisp, the battles were fun, and the story was engaging and threw in some unexpected twists to spice up a stock formula. I really enjoyed my time with Unicorn Overlord, and I’m excited to see more of it when the full game arrives later this week.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the game looks gorgeous. The anime style of the cutscenes and the character renderings are excellent, the combat animations are fluid and dramatic, and the slightly-pixelated 3D overworld calls to mind Square’s recent HD-2D titles like Triangle Strategy and the Octopath Traveler series (although the scenes aren’t quite as grandiose at the OT backgrounds). I haven’t progressed far enough in the game to see how varied the landscapes get, but I’m very encouraged by what I’ve seen thus far. Much like Triangle Strategy, there are quite a few cutscenes that you’ll need to sit through, but they feature some stellar voice acting and never detract from the overall experience of the game.
In terms of the story, you play as the heir to a fallen kingdom in a world dominated by a evil traitor who conquered the entire continent, and your job is to build the resistance and take back what’s rightfully yours. Sure, it’s not the most novel concept in the universe, but I like the way the story opens with the reveal of a magical plot device that defeats the mind control that much of the world has fallen under (thus providing a reasonable justification for the events of the past), and you latch onto the characters quickly enough that a surprise abduction of one of them early in the game made me irrationally annoyed and moved me to squash the bad guys extra flat in subsequent battles. The world is well-crafted, the plot is sufficiently motivated, and the people you get to control are worth fighting both with and for (more on them later).
If you’re familiar with the Ogre Battle, battles here follow a familiar formula: You can move freely around a map in any direction you want (the early maps tend to be pretty small, but I expect that to change as the game continues), defeat enemy units in pitched automatic battles, liberate towns and claim other strategic vantage points, and eventually defeat a boss and conquer their stronghold. Looking back at Ogre Battle, there are several quality-of-life changes in Unicorn Overlord that make a huge difference: For example, units tend to move faster while traversing the map to minimize the wait times between action sequences, and the game seems to auto-pause after every battle to give you a moment to catch your breath and plan your next big move. Battles tend to be quicker affairs as well, but that may be because you’re initially limited in the number of characters that can be added to a unit, and have to earn ‘honor’ points to increase individual unit capacity. (I imagine these limits are to avoid having to fill units with random generic characters and let them focus on characters with backstories and personality, but I’m not a huge fan of it regardless—after all, sometimes those random generic characters become your best units!) You only get a brief glimpse of the many character classes boasted by the game, and while they all had some unique attributes (Thieves have high evasion, Hoplites have high defense, Soldiers can attack entire columns of enemies, etc.), the rock-paper-scissors style of play that the developers seemingly wanted to materialize never did: I just kind of mowed down everything in my path, even on standard “tactical” difficulty (Cavalry feels a bit too strong for the early part of the game). Still, the pieces are in place to enable some serious strategy in later battles, and it was still a fun time despite the imbalances.
Characters can be tossed at you early and often without a ton of backstory, but they generally had enough…well, character to make themselves interesting and draw you into the story. Yes, everyone tends to put into a convenient archetype, and if you’ve played Triangle Strategy, you’ll recognize them immediately (Alain is the preternaturally-calm heir like Serenoa, Lex is the rash, headstrong childhood friend/Roland impersonator, Chloe is the exasperated Lex-sitter serving in the Hughette role, Josef is the wizened paladin who combines Erador’s strength with Benedict’s strategic mind, etc.), but just because they fit into a mold doesn’t mean they aren’t compelling, and they all seem to be pretty effective in battle (yes, Josef is way overleveled and I expect to lose him eventually much like Sir Sloan in Bravely Default II, but Scarlett flexing her muscle and showing off some incredible power made her an early-game standout). Some characters are less likeable than others, but thus far I haven’t found any Decimal or Giovanna types that are basically useless—everyone has a purpose to serve, and for the most part everyone fits into the story without too much friction (although some, like Aubin, felt a bit shoehorned in).
One notable difference from those old Ogre Battle games is that there’s a bit more (literal) world-building this time around. With an overworld that you can freely roam around, you can find items, complete tasks for liberated cities to help them rebuild (and offer you more services in the process), and complete side quests to recruit more characters to your cause. There’s a lot more to do in this game than just jump from battle to battle, and it extends the shelf life of the game while giving you a chance (and a reason) to explore the world and construct the ultimate roster for your squad.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with Unicorn Overlord, and while I have some questions about how the game will develop over time (will one class dominate the others, and will strategy become more important?), I think this game has got some serious potential and could develop into something special. Unlike some of the recent demos I’ve gotten to play, this one actually motivated me to want to play the game more, and that’s an important step towards building an audience for Atlus and Vanillaware’s current and future titles. As much as I’m still confused by the game’s title, the game has made its mission and its offerings very clear, and I’m interested to see if it can turn its potential into reality.
Kyle's Korner 