Setting The Scene

Unicorn Overlord is Vanillawares most recent foray into medieval fantasy. Every last corner of Feverith; The Lands in which the game takes place, are dripping with life and beauty. Vanillaware is known for their amazing artstyle and fantastic character design. It’s no surprise to see such amazing attention to detail in Unicorn Overlord. Every continent offers a completely different style. From the lush forests of Elheim, to the frozen peaks of Bastorias, Feverith boasts plenty of variety for players to enjoy.

The Story So Far

The story begins on a stormy night. The castle is under siege by the army of Zenoria. Leading the Zenorian forces is Valmore, a former Cornian general now rebelling against the kingdom he once fought for. Queen Ilenia knowing herself surrounded by enemy forces prepares for a battle she cannot possibly hope to win. She tasks her most trusted general with fleeing to a far away isle with her only son. Her knight takes the boy to the shores of Palevia a holy isle in Albion; the land of Angels and raises the boy for the next decade. Now a young man at the age of just 17, Prince Alain is tasked with leading a rebellion to free not just his home land of Cornia, but all of Feverith from the Zenorian empire.

Reclaiming the Crown

Alain’s journey through Feverith has him meeting a huge cast of characters, most of them being recruitable. With over 64 total unique units available and customizable, it’s up to you to decide just how your rebellion will look and fight. You can craft each characters heraldry individually, and alter their colors and stats using an item known as the Idealists Handmirror. You can also visit forts to recruit generic characters you can fully customize and spec, to best suit your army. Your job is to visit towns, Liberating the people of Feverith, and freeing them from Zenoria’s wicked grasp.

The Battlefield

Those familiar with turn based combat and tactics games, will feel at home pretty quickly. You control Alain’s army by creating “Units”, and sending them into battle. A “Unit” can be 1 to 5 characters fighting together. Characters will fight on their own in combat, however you can decide set rules for them to follow. I.E only allowing them to use a certain move if an armored enemy is present, or if they have a certain percentage of health remaining. This is paramount for units that have healers, as by default they waste precious resources healing anything under 100% hp.

Every character has AP and PP; Active Points and Passive Points. Active points are usually for attack actions that activate when your turn arrives in the turn order. Turns are decided by the initiative stat and govern when AP can be spent. Passive points however are normally for Counters, Buffs and Blocking. Passive abilities work a little differently as some activate before you attack, or before the opponent lands a blow.

A lot of the fun in Unicorn Overlord for me, was experimenting with different combinations of units. Having a variety of unit types in one group means I missed out on some of the buffs that stack with similar typed allies. However it also meant I didn’t have a huge disadvantage against any one type of enemy.

Early game combat starts out simple enough, if enemy is above 0% HP stab him. However by the end of the game my rule sets looked more like I was writing code. “If health above 50% and also full row of non armored enemies, use Spinning Slash. If only 2 or less enemies in full row but 2 enemies in column use Wild Rush.” All characters can have 8 such moves equipped at any given time. You get abilities from leveling your class, or wearing equipment with abilities slotted in them. Characters can have up to 4 AP and 4 PP at max, so only equipping strong big cost moves may mean only attacking once or twice per battle.

Your entire “Unit” being made up of smaller units means its possible to survive an encounter even if some of your soldiers perish. Luckily Unicorn Overlord does not have perma-death, though any experience gained by dead party members is cut in half. As the commander of the rebellion you must decide where units go and who to attack on a large map. Every class has different stamina and mobility, along with class specific abilities. Calvary have high mobility and are great at moving quickly around the battlefield, while Angels and Winged Flyers can fly over traps and mountains with ease. Archers, Mages, and Clerics all have the ability to assist in battles that happen near them.

Early game battles task you with leading a couple of small units against small scale armies. By the end game I was leading over 10 units of 5 men across huge battlefields, littered with Catapults, Ballista, Mines. I’ve barely scratched the surface on all the options and combinations the combat has to offer. If I tried to do that we’d be here all day.

It’s The Little Things

Can I just take a minute to gush for a second? Because there is so much that Unicorn Overlord does that people may not even notice. Depending on who is in your unit when engaging in a “boss” battle, they will have unique dialogue before fighting. Using stage abilities in different locations will cause them to change. For example Merciful Rain is a field healing move that summons a storm that flies in a straight line healing those beneath it. In the cold north of Bastorias this will summon a snow storm instead of rain.

When you visit specific regions the shop keepers change to reflect the race that lives there. However there are two shops that employ a cute little girl rather than the standard help. The Taverns offer a fast way to upgrade your units Rapport with each other. there are tons of different dishes all at Studio Ghibli levels of food quality. Every region’s soundtrack is based on the race of people and culture they have. There’s plenty more tucked away inside the game just waiting to be discovered. After the credits of the game there is a “Where are they now” part that covers all 64+ characters and how they were affected by the game. Some of their stories change based on your actions as well.

Overall My Overlord

Honestly, its hard not to sing the game’s praises. I clocked in about 400 hours during my time with Unicorn Overlord. While it really only takes about 75-100 for the 100% completion, I found myself enraptured in Feverith and all it had to offer. Having completed every quest, saved and recruited every possible unit, and finished every single challenge the game had available. The game while not flawless was a feat of epic proportions that entertained me from start to finish. Vanillaware has done it again and I cant wait to see the new game they just started working on.

Pros

• Amazing visuals

• Beautiful soundtrack

• End game Content

• Online coliseum

• Min Max Heaven

• Fantastic voice acting

• Fantastic archive/compendium

Cons

• Combat may not be for everyone

• Complexity may scare away newcomers

• May be too dialogue heavy for some

Unicorn Overlord was reviewed on Xbox Series X. It is available on Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.