Unicorn Overlord, which isn’t the greatest name, but anything with Unicorn in the title gets points from me, is a tactical role playing game from Vanillaware. Vanillaware games are like a rare treat, coming out only every couple of years, always certain to be interesting, if not outright delicious. 

Known for games like Odin Sphere, Dragon’s Crown, and 13 Sentinels, Vanillaware has a pretty strong reputation. While their games cover a wide range of genre, action, real time strategy, and visual novels, they have a consistently great art style that defines the studio. Unicorn Overlord is no different, and the characters look fantastic with beautiful animations and a distinct house style.  

The story of Unicorn Overlord takes place on the continent of Fevrith, ravaged by war and overtaken by the tyrant Galerius. As the player, you follow exiled prince Alain as he builds a rebel army and seeks to retake his homeland. It’s not the most exciting premise, but it’s set up quickly and efficiently, and gives the player a clear goal and well established stakes. 

In around 2 hours, you know the score, you’ve got a rag tag group of comrades, a basic understanding of the systems, and you’re off to save the world. I appreciate how swiftly the game sets things up, as many RPGs can take a lot longer to set up the world and give the player the freedom to start engaging with the game on their own terms. 

You’re free to explore whatever direction you want, liberating towns, recruiting allies, and fighting some excellent tactical battles. Typically, you’ll come across a character who gives you a brief introduction to themselves and the surrounding area, then dive into a fight against the evil empire forces. 

The battles take place in real time, with the ability to pause combat and issue orders to units before resuming play. Each unit is created by you, the player, and allows you to mix and match different characters and classes across 6 slots, 3 in the front row, and 3 in the back. You can also set the leader of each unit, which has a unique skill, and determines the movement type for the unit. 

For example, you can pair the prince, Alain, with a Hoplite, a tanky class that can protect units from damage. Or, maybe you pair Alain with a Witch, a magic unit who is able to buff Alain’s attacks to tear through a Hoplite’s shields. Each class has distinct advantages and disadvantages, which makes for plenty of interesting decisions in how you build your units. Should your unit be specialized? Serving a specific purpose, or countering certain classes. Or more generalized? Able to take on multiple kinds of enemies. 

Once the battle starts, you have a limited amount of Valor Points, a resource that allows you to deploy units, and unleash skills. You have to be smart in how you use these points, is it better to deploy as many units as possible, or hold on to a few points in case the enemy catches you off guard. Which units should you even deploy? Do you want your cavalry units, who might be more mobile, but maybe a poor match for breaking through Hoplite shields. 

There’s also Stamina to consider. After meeting an enemy unit on the field of battle, you use Stamina to engage them in combat. The losing unit, the one who took more damage, is forced back, and put in a disadvantaged state, unable to take actions for a period of time. Both units deplete their Stamina however, and when you run out, you’ll be unable to move, and need rest to get it back, unable to move and open to enemy attacks. 

I’ve already gotten well into the weeds, but somehow just scratched the surface of all the different moving parts in this game. There’s also equipment, romance, class promotions, and a Tactics system that you can set that helps determine how characters act in battle. Once two units meet on the field of battle, you can’t directly control what actions they take, rather you see how all your previous choices play out. 

This means that a lot of the work is done before your units ever even take to the field. Once the mission starts though, you still have plenty to consider, like unit matchups, Stamina, Valor Points, and control points with various gimmicks. There’s a lot going on in this game, so having 4 different difficult levels is great in letting players choose how much friction they want in their experience. 

I’ve spoken a lot about the gameplay so far, but what about the plot, you may be wondering.  Well, the plot is perfectly fine. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but perfectly serviceable. The voice acting and art goes a long way in making the characters appealing, even if the world and story as a whole isn’t too novel. 

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about a rather large sticking point for many players, the localization. Becoming quite the hotly debated topic prior to release, people have had all kinds of reactions to the way this game was localized. To give you an example, a line in the vein of “I think fighting Renault with our current strength would be difficult”, was localized as “Casting the gauntlet at Renault’s feet would only send us all to an early grave.” 

This game is set in a medieval fantasy world, and so the English localization team seems to have adjusted the language to be more flowery, perhaps slightly changing the meaning in the process. I’ve worked on games that required translation, but was never involved in any of the particulars, and always assumed the translation was as direct as possible. But is a direct translation always the best method? 

The controversy became widespread enough that Final Fantasy Tactics creator, Yasumi Matsuno, took to X to weigh in on the conversation. Matsuno paints the issue as complex, and more about authorial intent and permission, rather than inherently good or bad. Famously, Final Fantasy Tactics, released in 1997, received a second localization with the enhanced port Final Fantasy Tactics: War Of The Lions in 2007, which had a drastically different English script than the original. 

This enhanced port also featured more flowery language, similar to the kind found here in Unicorn Overlord. In that game’s case, I found the language tended to obscure the meaning, rather than enhance it and the writing. In the case of Unicorn Overlord, perhaps due to being older, or just clearer writing, I actually rather like it. 

It gives charm to an otherwise standard fantasy world, and allows the characters to be more expressive than a literal translation from Japanese might offer. I can’t speak to how it changes either the meaning or characterization since I can’t engage with the Japanese text, but as a player I’m rather enjoying it. Localization is more of an art than a science, as language tends to be, and I believe the team did a rather beautiful job. 

This game has been an absolute delight so far, and has managed to tear me away from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which is a feat in its own right. Compared to Rebirth’s occasional bloat of minigames, and open world activities that become rather tedious, Unicorn Overlord has a tight gameplay loop that’s remained satisfying almost 50 hours in. 

Since the story has done little to hook me, even if I enjoy the characters, it’s been up to combat to really keep my interest. So far, that hasn’t been a problem in the slightest. Each map feels increasingly complex as each new battlefield becomes bigger, with more moving parts, varied objectives, and new classes added to the mix. 

Unicorn overlord has been a tactical delight. Plenty of crunchy gameplay systems, endless combinations and possibilities to play around with, and varied challenges, so there isn’t a single one size fits all solution to any problem presented. If you jive with the gameplay, you’ve got a game where the time will fly by as you engage with its systems.

Mr. Hunter’s Grade: 9.5

Frankly, I think this game is brilliant. I wasn’t expecting much from the story, so I wasn’t really let down at all. I’ve been surprisingly endeared to some of the cast, likely due to the brilliant art and strong voice acting. The gameplay though truly shines, and I don’t think there’s really been a tactics game quite like this one since Ogre Battle 64 or even Soul Nomad on the ps2. 

It’s got its hooks in me pretty deep, and I doubt it’ll be letting go anytime soon. Even once the credits roll, probably around 60 hours, I’ll still have more to do. There’s a new difficulty unlocked after beating the game, and I’m already looking forward to replaying this game with an extra challenge. 

Final Grade: 8

If this level of tactical gameplay doesn’t seem like your thing, there’s not much else on offer here. The strategy really is the star of the show, and everything seems to be built in a way to really let it shine. There’s plenty of difficulty options, and good tutorials to bring you on board. If it’s not for you though, well it’s just not for you. A kind of love it or leave it game, it’s great that there’s such an extensive demo. Trying it out yourself, you’ll know if Unicorn Overlord is for you before long.