HELPING GILBERT | Unicorn Overlord Gameplay Walkthrough part 3 | No Commentary PS5
11Unicorn Overlord[a] is a 2024 tactical role-playing game developed by Vanillaware and published by Atlus in Japan, and Sega worldwide, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Set on the continent of Fevrith as it is consumed by war, the story follows exiled prince Alain as he gathers allies to liberate the nations of Fevrith from the Zenoiran Empire. Gameplay follows Alain and his army units fighting in large-scale battles, with field movement and battles taking place in real-time.
The concept for Unicorn Overlord was created by Takafumi Noma in 2014. With company founder George Kamitani's blessing, Noma took on the roles of director, programmer, and lead artist. The aim was to create a modern version of classic tactical games from the 1990s. Production took roughly ten years due to overlapping with other Vanillaware projects. Basiscape, a music studio founded by Hitoshi Sakimoto, composed the soundtrack. The game has received positive reviews and sold over one million copies by September 2024. Praise was given to its gameplay mechanics and visuals, but received more mixed sentiment towards its story and design complexity
Unicorn Overlord is a tactical role-playing game in which players take on the role of exiled prince Alain as he leads the Liberation Army in a campaign across the fantasy realm of Fevrith.[1] During exploration, the player guides Alain across an overworld to enter towns, use services such as blacksmiths and merchants to outfit his army, and engage in story or optional battles. In areas not controlled by Alain or his allies, enemies represented by sprites also wander the overworld. All the characters, locations and sprites are displayed using 2D art.[1][2]
The number of units that can be deployed during combat sections depends on a resource called Valor, which can be earned by completing battles.[3] The overworld is freely explorable, allowing players to tackle some events in a different order.[4] Towns also include side quests which require the player to gather materials and events where Alain can improve his relationship with a character.[3] During the campaign, new characters either join as part of the storyline, or can be recruited. Some possible recruits are former enemies, with the player's choice to either spare or kill them impacting future story events.[5]
Combat is split between movement of troops across large battlefields, and combat when two units meet.[1] All combat takes place in real time, but the player can pause to change strategy and check on units.[4] Parties are made up of up to five characters with an assigned character class.[6] During the early game units are limited to two characters, but more character slots can be unlocked using a currency called Honors.[3] Battlefield settings include open field areas, and urban environments such as towns and cities which alter gameplay.[2] Some battles have gimmicks for players to exploit, such as a fire within the environment, or siege weapons that can be controlled by either the player or the enemy side.[5][7]
Units are arranged in a grid, with their position influencing their abilities and combat efficiency.[1] Some character classes are designed for short or long range exclusively, while others have a more varied attack range or a different set of skills.[3] Battles play out automatically based on character attributes and player-set behaviors.[6] Battles last until either one side is defeated, or both sides run out of points used to perform actions, which stuns the defeated unit for a time.[3] Three currencies—Gold for buying items and equipment, Honors for hiring mercenaries, unlocking more parties and character slots and promoting units to higher grade classes, and Renown which dictates player options with using Honors—are earned through either completing battles or exploring the map and completing objectives.[7] There are multiple difficulty settings which players can select, and after a certain point an online multiplayer mode is unlocked separate from the main story which allows players to pit AI-controlled squads against each other.[2][