- Tested on Switch.
- Code transmitted by Atlus.
- Finished in record time, in almost 80 hours in about ten days... who said the game was addictive?
- No more major and secondary missions. Almost flattened to a few thin details!
- Played in portable mode on Switch. No technical problems, no loading time. A treat and example of optimization!
- Home gameplay captures.
Under development since 2016, Unicorn Overlord is the result of a long gestation, that of a studio popular with Japanese game lovers. Behind this new RPG tactical in real-time, we find the developers at the origin of classics like Odin Sphere, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim or Muramasa: The Demon Blade. From games to intimate audiences and always noticed for their remarkable graphic signature. Does the last Vanillaware play in the courtyard of the greats?
Resist, prove you exist
The kingdom of Cornia is invaded from the beginning by General Valmore. As a well-respected putschist, this demonic knight self proclaims heir to the lost empire of Zenoira. Following this flash invasion, the young prince Alain, forced to leave his native lands and reduced to wandering became the leading force of the resistance. Objective: to build an army and regain power to avenge his fallen soldiers. Unicorn Overlord chooses a rather dark angle at the cross of theherotic and dark fantasy even though it doesn't necessarily go to the end of its point. The family of Alain and his vassals suffered significant losses in the image of the Stark family almost eradicated without eyebrowing in the first season of Game Of Thrones.
Lost in the middle of a gigantic map divided into several kingdoms with varied environments: vast bucolic forests, deserts and polar steppes populated by different races and families. The latter once carried allegiance to the kingdom of Cornia before bowing to the Empire. So we can explore this world as we please. The Bastorias are half-beast creatures in the north, the Elves share the south with the peoples of the Drakenhold desert, while the angels infused with the pope are on the northwestern island. Each people has their own motivations in renunciation or not of resistance and it will often be necessary to cross iron to convince them to join the army of liberation. Nothing like submission by arms!
Like the last Zelda, it is perfectly possible to go in short panties defy Valmore and his troops from the first hour. An adventurous idea that can only end in failure anyway. The battles are announced by a level of the opposing troops and to engage its units of lower levels is a more than just audacious bet all the more in maximum difficulty. With its four levels adjustable at any time Unicorn Overlord chooses the accessibility card despite rather harsh menus at the start. Fortunately given the number of characters to be managed, the title offers a system of optimization which is certainly laborious and not always perfect but which makes the job overall. Each character will be able to support three different equipments and each of its abilities must be set to the nearest millimetre.
To make the most of the tactical possibilitiesUnicorn Overlord, you are advised to choose the toughest mode especially if you have ever been able to break your teeth on the series Fire Emblem And his famous permanent death. In expert mode, the beginning of the game is particularly steep but it helps forge this feeling of resistance. Little by little you nibble from the ground, block in places, and come back with a more robust army to get rid of. Exploration is pleasant and some enemies will block you from the road. It is then that the game will rock on the battlefield after elegant cinematics fully doubled in English and Japanese. Hat because the game does not lack lines of dialogue. The dubbing is very good and we like to discover a palette of characters with various designs.
If this good Alain is a true copy of Marth of Fire Emblem, the title has no less than 60 characters for all tastes, with about 20 classes with original characteristics. Magicians, thieves, knights, werewolves, warriors and witches... We never cease to discover new styles and the game system is much more complex than the stone scissors Fire Emblem even if this implies in return a more obscure readability. Each unit will be able to increase from two to five soldiers once a certain level has been reached and enough war medals have been collected. Forging his reputation up to S level will take about 50d hours a minima as an expert. We then choose who will be in the first or second line and then the game automatically takes over with a priority system, active and passive skill points that give rise to very nice fights with sometimes uncertain issues. As opposed to Advance Wars and co, the fights are managed automatically afterwards.
The Empire counterattack
The game follows our recommendations while we can choose to give priority orders upstream. It's so complex that it takes time to experiment with the best combinations that vary widely depending on the opposing units present. The most manic should like to find the most crazy tactics. Unlike a Fire Emblem where a high level unit managed to walk on the game, Unicorn Overlord is not docile with the player, on the contrary in expert level. Even by sending all his troops to an enemy unit barricaded on the command post to be released, impossible to overthrow the adversary without the proper strategy. It's a little frustrating at first when it feels like you're hitting a wall of difficulty but it makes the experience particularly rewarding and addictive. For example, first-line robbers are destabilizing at first while they dodge the entire frontal attacks and then find their own more or less improvised path to victory. We will gladly let you build your own tactics to preserve this pleasure as a masochist expert.
Some cards are gigantic with real seats to lead on several fronts. We will have to take as soon as possible the opposing command posts that do not hesitate to spam us of units in the highest modes of difficulty. The units even resume life at TGV speed on these fortified cities while having skill bonuses and no endurance expense. Unicorn Overlord differs from Fire Emblem by its hybrid side between real time and turn by turn. As soon as the pause button is released, the clock turns and the enemy moves its troops. Every fight launched loses a point of endurance. Once our guard is lowered, we must rest for a moment to be able to attack the enemy again with all our skills.
It is at this moment that one becomes the most vulnerable and that one must protect as one can the unfortunate unsustained unity. Each advance is therefore a risk taking and it will be necessary as an expert to attack several fronts simultaneously by sometimes taking the adversary on reverse or sending flying units across the seas and mountains. The great class when we get his landing. Once the command posts are captured, new units can be folded or deployed that will benefit from the same advantages on site as the enemy that we have defrogged earlier. We can pass the fights that are certainly magnificent but that would make the experience endless. These phases will only be displayed for decisive games, bosses and/or to understand and correct our failures. Or simply for the pleasure of the eyes with or without accelerated function!
Most of the time we follow the damage indicator that announces victory or defeat, we alternate the characters of unity to find the optimal combination and it's gone. On this subject, annoying defect, Unicorn Overlord Demonstrates a demonic blunder. Reversing from the real semi-time, the damage indicator can play you bad tricks because it changes very quickly if a support unit sneaks into the fight window at the last moment, which can give the impression of having been fooled by the machine. A frustrating touch even though it is also part of the experiment.
Some maps are supported by crossbows and catapults that give a very funky medieval side to the whole. Each victory gradually fills our bravery gauge that gives us special powers unique to the leaders of each unit: a dash over long distances to pierce enemy lines, arrow rains, defense or resistance bonuses. The variations are numerous and give body to the whole.
The gameplay is also adorned with a tactical overlay with spells of magical support or care depending on whether one has posted mages on the nearby towns and guets. As an expert, you can only use ten objects per part, which means saving the most useful to use them sparingly. And you can be told that they leave quickly because each object is spent by element of each unit. Treating a unit of five people can easily cost five potions except to use rarer and therefore more expensive group objects. Some battles can easily last more than an hour so just say that manual backup is welcome. The slightest mistake is fatal. The set perfectly balances with the fact that stores and armor shops offer objects in limited quantities.
Once the orbs of renaissances are bought and consumed, it is impossible to find others without releasing the next town or falling by chance on such rewards during deliveries. A rather daring choice of gamedesign (because potentially blocking) but intelligent because it prevents us from spaming bonuses that would empty the gameplay of any substance. On the toughest fights, we will have to deploy the teeth of medieval dragon sauces to temporarily block the endless enemy swarms. Some traps may also slow them down. The withdrawal of wounded troops and the dispatch of elements of « Second Division » to finish the work will sometimes be essential to resist.
We're at war!
The five great battles that lead to the liberation of each continent are memorable. As with the adversary, our command post is also our Achilles heel. To leave him vacant is to risk an enemy unit sneaking quietly into the forest or the war fog to counter-attack in our backs. Finally, you are systematically a numerical inferiority with sometimes disproportionate relationships. That's when the strategy makes sense. « When absolute superiority is not possible, you must gather your resources to achieve relative superiority at the decisive point » Like old Clausewitz would say. To lure the enemy, you will have to be ingenious. We will only regret that the units of third-party allies are so useless. Fortunately these joint battles are rare but I clearly felt like I was seeing my supposed partners with their toes in fan while my own troops were walking on them. Thanks, pals...
Once the battles have been won, you can rent valuable resources on the map to free cities where you can shop by spending your loot. Garrisons will be used to recruit mercenaries, expand our units or strengthen our classes. Each character will gain in level according to a preset more or less turned towards defense, magic, attack, etc.. In the vein of Fire Emblem, it will also be possible to recruit units on site which is not always a small matter. There is something indescribable, an unspeakable joy when one gets skewed and comes back with another strategy and reinforcements mobilized on other remote continents.
Particularly addictive, Unicorn Overlord If you're obsessed with spending almost twenty consecutive hours playing, hypnotized to forget to eat. My students must have appreciated the depth of my trenches the next morning... The notion of time faded as if the tactical break in the game also worked IRL. So I would have released Cornia in about ten days in almost 80 hours, filled with failures and unpicked victories of the Hannetons. What to dream about Ukrainian resistance against Russian orcs!
Hide that breast that I can't see...
Always in the right line of the standard meter Fire Emblem, Unicorn Overlord succumbs to the cuculo side of the praloche which catapulted the tactical franchise towards the dating sim disguised. We reassure you, it's still much less present than in the Nintendo saga that will have conquered another audience even if we lose some of the fans of the first hour. The bonds of the characters are reinforced by the fighting and we can offer gifts to our comrades of hearts to make them yield to the mermaids of love. And yes, it is well known, after a few offerings, the trueness does its work and to you the joys of libertinage... Not very inspired in these innumerable dialogues often gruelling (but fortunately optional), Unicorn Overlord falls into the pitfalls that will not please everyone, even if the little jokers will have fun playing the executioners of the hearts.
Chain three « Dates » gives our low-floor cupid a small scavengery side. See Alain declare his flame half-words a few seconds apart recalls the old video games with an outdated side. Not very inclined to choose this faithful Rolf as a partner, I played the coquinous while trying to strengthen my ties with other members of my team to compare the scenes by relaunching my backups. It's a little concon, but I must admit that I laughed well when I chose my bride. On this point, the game does not fully assume its bias. If you want to marry an owl or a werewolf or even a man, the game seems to take on a bit of embarrassment and it will prefer to simmer in virile friendships and other chivalrous allegiances rather than assumed homosexuality.
Not very inclusive of course but it can also be understood that they did not wish to make Alain a medieval candidate of Love is in the meadow. Besides, not all women can become queens. Anyway, don't expect the lovebirds to Mass Effect Hey! Confidence for confidence did not prevent me from being plunged into a deep dilemma: choose between two elves with teasing temperaments or angel reserved for the firm sword. On this subject, as was the case at the time in the face of a media not always very masturbated, we could see some sincere souls regret the design of the female characters. So yes, some are undressed and there are some girls with heavy tits as the great feminist Sardou would say (is it a crime?), but there are really all kinds of graphic representations. The best (and strongest) character is also the giant and champion of the Colosseum that will have to be dethroned to be part of the band. There are even werewolves of garous british in kilt!
And then if the elves have libertarian morals, should the ministry of good morals seriously move? On the contrary, it's even a bit too bad that the game is so prude in its writing. Rather than its few (rare) beguiler designs that make the Martines suck good taste or that make the Kevins worse in 5ndWe wouldn't have said no to a little more background on the relationships of our characters. On this point, the video game is still cramped on its positions as if a simple kiss bloomed soft pornography. We don't want too much of the Japanese who have never been very comfortable with the sex displayed or suggested, but we would still be curious to see them approach the subject with a different prism than warriors in starvating outfits. One day, who knows?
Despite its classical narrative, Unicorn Overlord manages to surprise with some characters operating in the shadows. Special mention for Baltro, an antagonist as one would like to see more often: mean up to the marrow, deceitful and convinced felon. On Switch OLED, once is not customary, the contrasts are magnificent; The game is beautiful with its 2D and its licked animations. If the writing never reaches that of the excellent Triangle Strategy which seemed to have understood all the springs of the tragic Game Of Thrones, Unicorn Overlord Still manages to spread its stakes. We feel like we're taking part in a monumental campaign with a few nice choices despite too limited twists. One can decide to execute the leaders of the Empire, throw them in jail or give them the cheek as a certain Jesus. It's a hell of a mess between the different families of Cornia. The motivations of the characters are often overrated. All to make up the fact that they were collabos, when we know very well that there wasn't much of Jean Moulin...
This grand feeling is carried by the intelligence of the gamedesign. Everything is life-size. Every battle is real size on the map of the world that thus gains coherence. It's simple, you never feel like you're in doll houses like you often do in tacticals. The world is also full of secrets, alternatives, challenges and mysteries that are pierced as adventure unfolds. This map, which seemed so complex and inaccessible, gives itself to the dropper (and to merit) as the story of its characters caught in the state of war. A pleasure difficult to explain but a treat that the most manic players will gladly understand. The smallest square kilometer of freed map provides an absolutely brilliant sense of accomplishment. In the image of these characters who are gradually performing, the narrative in patchwork flies and ends up hacking the player. He will be accused of only a few not very happy mini games and a slight lack of renewal of the formula. Lacks largely tempered by the infinity of tactical possibilities offered by races, classes and combinations of units.
Composed by Mitsuhiro Kaneda (13 Sentinels: Aefeis Rim, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Tekken 6Odin Sphere, Metal Slug 6), the title's OST also has some memorable music that sculpts this critique. Each kingdom has its own musical tints that print to different registers, from lyricism to western. In terms of finishing, Unicorn Overlord is a model of the genre. Until the last seconds of the credits, the developers will have taken care to close each of the open axes. A treat!
For all his qualities and despite his academicism question narration, Unicorn Overlord can rise without blushing among the best tacticals of the year and even media. While Vanillaware had announced financial difficulties during development, recent sales figures are very encouraging for the studio. 500,000 copies have already been sold worldwide. To compare with the last title of the Japanese studio, 13 Sentinels were sold at 150,000 copies in five months for a total of about 800,000 sales today. Unicorn Overworld should continue its crusade and we hope to exceed its objectives. Beautiful, demanding, rich and dense, the last Vanillaware has everything to seduce tactical feruses. Profoundly addictive, the game is based on roded and intelligent mechanics. A game to support for an extraordinary studio!
For
- Example finish
- Dense and balanced gameplay
- The system of units of infinite wealth
- 20 different classes
- Beautiful entertainment
- Artistic direction in tune
- Full dubbing in English and Japanese
- Pleasant maps and exploration
- Very solid OST
- Expert mode enhances immersion
- Simple but choral story
- The feeling of participating in an epic
- Remarkable lifetime
- No significant loading time
- Baltro's character!
- Several ends and variants!
- Day-night cycle
Against
- Some frustrating damage variations
- System of affinities too superficial
- Poor secondary dialogues
- Lack of depth of intimate relationships
- Equipment optimization system sometimes teasing
- Rare mini games without flavor
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