I Played Every Big RPG This Year, But One With a Twist Hooked Me

THIS year came straight with a series of excellent RPGs.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload and Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth are just some of the timers that have already found success this year.

I was a little tired after playing so many long games, but when Unicorn Overlord released for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, I knew I needed to dive in once again.

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Unicorn Overlord is developed by Vanillaware, a studio known for its excellent games such as 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Dragon’s Crown and Odin Sphere.

While this is also an RPG, outside of the familiar art style, it doesn’t share many similarities with the studio’s previous works.

Unicorn Overlord is much more strategy-focused than those games, where you build an army to take on enemy forces.

Each army unit is made up of up to five characters, and there are over 60 characters you can meet and recruit along your journey.

Each character belongs to a certain class, and each unit will need to be made up of a variety of classes if you want to have the best chance of success.

Every class has a strong point and a weak point – like rock, paper, scissors, but infinitely more complicated.

There are dozens of classes and it was difficult for me to follow the intricacies of each one.

The leader of each unit is the most important aspect, as some can fly to traverse difficult terrain, some become more powerful at night, and some will be able to help from afar with weapons or healing.

Despite being complex, Vanillaware has provided a number of tools to help ease new players into the genre.

There is an automatic equipment option to give players the best equipment and difficulty settings that make it less important to fully understand all the systems in play.

All the strategy takes place outside of battles, as you prepare your army for success so they can fight on their own.

It’s a very different system than the ones you see in most RPGs or strategy games, and those differences made it very refreshing.

Despite my fatigue with longer games like this, Unicorn Overlord hooked me, and after the credits rolled I dove straight into the post-game.

The battles and side quests in the overworld were small, meaning it was very tempting to finish just one more thing before ending my play session.

I’m sure a lot of people are already feeling the tension of so many great games this year, but if you think you’re in the mood for one more, Unicorn Overlord won’t disappoint.

If you want to read more about recent game releases, check out our South Park: Snow Day! analysis.

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