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Reviews Unicorn Overlord- Review Thread (NSW, PS5, XSX,)

Josh5890

Josh5890

Yoshi
Founder
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Metacritic- 89
Open Critic-

CG Magazine- 9/10
Unicorn Overlord combines the stellar Vanillaware aesthetic in a tactical RPG experience that feels like a modern classic in the making.
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PSX Brazil- 90
Vanillaware hits the spot with Unicorn Overlord while reinvigorating an RPG sub-genre that, for a long time, was neglected in the gaming industry. I strongly believe that it is also the best game created by the Japanese developer. Even though there are small imperfections, the game is brilliant and deserving of the highest recommendation.
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Nintendo Life- 9/10
Even amidst a huge strategy RPG boom, Unicorn Overlord stands out. It’s a smorgasbord of visual delights, intricate systems, and addictive gameplay loops that all come together to create a delightfully thrilling and deep tactical RPG. It’s so easy to get absorbed into everything the game offers, and we lapped it all up. Vanillaware has long been known for creating beautiful-looking games with unique twists on genres, but with 13 Sentinels and now Unicorn Overlord, this developer should be on absolutely everyone’s radar.
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IGN- 9/10
Unicorn Overlord is a visual delight that's brimming with creativity, and an absolute must-play for any fan of strategy RPGs.
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Screen Rant- 4.5/5
Unicorn Overlord is a truly excellent tactical RPG that is great where it matters. Incredible gameplay makes it replayable and fascinating, while its aesthetic and world map keep Fevrith interesting. In spite of some minor stumbles in its cast of heroes, Unicorn Overlord rivals some of the best of Fire Emblem. That comparison will likely stop if Vanillaware pursues Unicorn Overlord as a series in the future; it's very much its own game, and a memorable, great one, at that.
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VG247- 4/5
While the breadth of its roster and the amount of tinkering and menus you have to navigate can feel like a lot to take in, that also means there’s a lot to get lost in, with a narrative drive that makes you actually want to get involved with micro-managing each unit.

Standing on its own, Unicorn Overlord is an excellent expansion of Vanillaware’s now-trademark visual style and its newer RTS mechanics, offering both gripping strategy and an atmospheric pulp fantasy world that you're going to want to sink hours and hours into.
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Kotaku- No Score
This is not a game that is trying to be a narrative masterpiece; it is trying to be a mechanical marvel, and it accomplishes the latter in spades. The endlessly inventive and incredibly well-designed tactical systems at play in Unicorn Overlord make it a thrilling challenge to tackle. It isn’t just a game that longtime fans of Vanillaware should pay attention to, it’s for anybody wanting to play the next great tactics RPG. Unicorn Overlord is the game you’ve been waiting for.
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I didn't see a proper review thread, so I thought we could get one started.
 
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Great scores, this game is absolutely addicting.

I hope it's good reviews, WoM turn into great sales success, maybe Atlus might then consider getting the rights for the other Vanillaware games not made under their umbrella to port them to modern systems.
 
I need to reach the end of Act One in Baldur's Gate 3 and then I can start Unicorn Overlord after that. Looking forward to it!
 
Vladimir said:
Hi friends, has anyone seen any details on how the game runs on Switch?
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Feel free to DL the demo. ;D

For me, it runs without any issue, and there's apparently a Day 1 patch, so if there were any hiccups (which i didn't notice) then there's a good chance they might have been fixed.
 
SEGA releasing three 85+ Metacritic games in the span of six weeks

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Disappointed to read the story stays rote. Not unexpected after the demo. Still there remained hope of a recontextualizing reveal maybe lurking beyond the limits of that first, deliberately deceiving, impression.

But the reviews bring up a new concern, too: How many of the recruitable characters are tied to moral choices. I don't think that'd work for me. Unicorn Overlord isn't the type of game where I'd roleplay if it means missing out the full experience. And the campaign doesn't seem super replayable, either.
 
Sheldon said:
But the reviews bring up a new concern, too: How many of the recruitable characters are tied to moral choices. I don't think that'd work for me. Unicorn Overlord isn't the type of game where I'd roleplay if it means missing out on units. And it doesn't seem super replayable, either.
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Based on the demo,I think there are enough units in the game to fill every slot, so you don't have to be afraid of missing out on someone if you don't make the "right" choice. It seems Suikoden-like, in a way, so I think you should play roleplay and not be afraid of FOMO.
 
Party Sklar said:
Based on the demo,I think there are enough units in the game to fill every slot, so you don't have to be afraid of missing out on someone if you don't make the "right" choice. It seems Suikoden-like, in a way, so I think you should play roleplay and not be afraid of FOMO.
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I'd still want to collect everyone. It's not like there are story consequences for your choices, so my obsessive nature would take over, which the game is feeding into with it's exhaustively crafted archive feature.

You're asking me to accept a blank space in the unit animation preview because I didn't want to pardon the murdering liar thief and accept him in my party? Nah. My mind can't do that.
 
Bonejack said:
Tell me you're a Fire Emblem player without saying it directly.
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My first Fire Emblem I accepted every death as it happened. Later on I realized it wasn't that kind of game and I was never gonna replay each title as often as would be needed to fill in every character if I wasn't willing to undo deaths.

I'd totally do multiple run throughs of Unicorn Overlord with different sets of characters, or even all custom units, if its structure allowed for branching narratives or player-driven narratives like X-Com.
 
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Ngl I’m disappointed with what I’m hearing about the narrative. This might be one of the best looking games to have the most boring characterization ever. It will be quite the contrast.
 
I was hoping the narrative would be aa highlight since 13 Sentinels story was so good. Despite great reviews I think I'll wait a few weeks to see what WoM looks like as I was looking forward to the story more than the gameplay.
 
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I haven't bought this yet but the reviews are making me pretty excited to try it out.

Hey @Josh5890 small (nitpicky) request ' could you please change the CG Magazine, Nintendo Life, and IGN scores to be 9/10 instead of 90? Super pedantic I know lol
 
Regulus Tera said:
Ngl I’m disappointed with what I’m hearing about the narrative. This might be one of the best looking games to have the most boring characterization ever. It will be quite the contrast.
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Well this pretty much tracks entirely with Odin Sphere, which started out with a cool subversive look at generic fairy tale love stories from a Princesses perspective and then slowly devolved into being mid, to the point where I question if the cool story basis was ever even the original intent at all.

I've also seen a review that says the last 40 hours of this game are bad which .... tracks with Odin Sphere's insane repetition between playthroughs. It's a vocal minority though so hopefully the game isn't like that. I want to check this out but gotta play 13 Sentinels first.
 
I always let the dice fall where they may in these games, and if I don’t recruit a character, so be it. They usually end up keeping the bench warm anyway.
 
AngryAlchemist said:
I've also seen a review that says the last 40 hours of this game are bad which .... tracks with Odin Sphere's insane repetition between playthroughs. It's a vocal minority though so hopefully the game isn't like that. I want to check this out but gotta play 13 Sentinels first.
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That caught my eye, too. I can easily see that being a complete dumb exaggerated take. But I can also see it being a hyperbolic phrasing of an actual real problem. At least I think I know what they might be driving at with the mobile comparison. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out in other people's opinions or even my own mind should I eventually get around to playing.
 
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I gave up on the narrative when they pulled the everyone is brainwashed cure them with your magic item and they'll immediately join you, which is revealed pretty much after the tutorial. I know there's some exceptions but it pretty much kills any chance of interesting characterization for villains etc.

Game is really addictive and fun though so I don't mind, I think FE: Engage is a top 5 Fire Emblem game because of the gameplay and that game has an unbearably bad story.
 
Leica said:
I gave up on the narrative when they pulled the everyone is brainwashed cure them with your magic item and they'll immediately join you, which is revealed pretty much after the tutorial. I know there's some exceptions but it pretty much kills any chance of interesting characterization for villains etc.

Game is really addictive and fun though so I don't mind, I think FE: Engage is a top 5 Fire Emblem game because of the gameplay and that game has an unbearably bad story.
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I think the last FE story I really enjoyed all the way through was Path of Radiance and then Radiant Dawn with the way various factions were pushed into conflict even when they didn’t want to be, I liked that (although it had its own issues). Three Houses has grown on me once I played a third route and beyond though.
 
Story not getting any more complex is a bit of a shame but also the core gameplay loop is so addictive that hardly matters for me

I'm glad to hear that they start really escalating the tactical complexity later
 
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AngryAlchemist said:
Well this pretty much tracks entirely with Odin Sphere, which started out with a cool subversive look at generic fairy tale love stories from a Princesses perspective and then slowly devolved into being mid, to the point where I question if the cool story basis was ever even the original intent at all.

I've also seen a review that says the last 40 hours of this game are bad which .... tracks with Odin Sphere's insane repetition between playthroughs. It's a vocal minority though so hopefully the game isn't like that. I want to check this out but gotta play 13 Sentinels first.
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Can't believe I'm seeing Odin Sphere being called mid what is this slander
 
Raysu Delight said:
Can't believe I'm seeing Odin Sphere being called mid what is this slander
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I was only talking about the story there.

I did love the game for the first 10 hours or so but I thought it got super repetitive with the combat not really being deep enough to last its runtime and the routes being pretty bad. I only put another like 10 hours into it then dropped off. I still want to give it another shot at some point because I loved the first 10 hours of the game, so much so I thought it would actually be a GOAT, and then it ended up disappointing me :(
 
Looking good! Vanillaware is always going to raise an eyebrow. I played the demo to make sure this wasn't one of those HD2D games and made the pre-order. Usually the opinions of game reviewers when it comes to stories are the opposite of mine so I'm looking forward to the narrative.
 
Brock Reiher said:
Looking good! Vanillaware is always going to raise an eyebrow. I played the demo to make sure this wasn't one of those HD2D games and made the pre-order. Usually the opinions of game reviewers when it comes to stories are the opposite of mine so I'm looking forward to the narrative.
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The logo is good and the icon has colours so it couldn't be an HD 2D game.
 
There will never be a Vanillaware game that I don't purchase on Day 1 on at least one platform. I know people use the "must be protected at all costs" phrasing very loosely these days, but I really do feel that about Vanillaware since damn near every game they release is make-or-break for the studio from a financial perspective.

I played and enjoyed the demo despite it not being 100% up my alley in terms of genre and story, but I'll probably have to wait to actually start this until after finishing Rebirth sometime later this month.
 
AngryAlchemist said:
I was only talking about the story there.

I did love the game for the first 10 hours or so but I thought it got super repetitive with the combat not really being deep enough to last its runtime and the routes being pretty bad. I only put another like 10 hours into it then dropped off. I still want to give it another shot at some point because I loved the first 10 hours of the game, so much so I thought it would actually be a GOAT, and then it ended up disappointing me :(
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I'm not sure how you can come to the conclusion that the story in Odin Sphere is mid when you barely put 20 hours into it. From my estimates that's barely enough to clear the first half of the game.

What version of the game did you originally play? Cause if it's the OG PS2 version I would definitely recommend checking out the remake that released on the Vita/PS4/PS5. They made plenty of improvements to the combat in that version with unique skills for each character and new enemies. I will admit that the game is still repetitive, but the portable nature of the Vita eases that.
 
Seven said:
I'm not sure how you can come to the conclusion that the story in Odin Sphere is mid when you barely put 20 hours into it. From my estimates that's barely enough to clear the first half of the game.

What version of the game did you originally play? Cause if it's the OG PS2 version I would definitely recommend checking out the remake that released on the Vita/PS4/PS5. They made plenty of improvements to the combat in that version with unique skills for each character and new enemies. I will admit that the game is still repetitive, but the portable nature of the Vita eases that.
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I said it slowly devolved into being mid, as in by the time I stopped it was mid, I can see how you read that as a claim on the entire story but that wasn't what I said. Not my problem if people want to extrapolate. To be fair playing half the game and telling someone they just have to play the other half for it to get good isn't a great response (the story was starting to get worse before the 10hr mark anyways, it was a majority of the playtime where it wasn't that great).

I did play the PS4 remake, that was the version I was talking about. Combat is very fun but gets easy and overly simplistic by about the 10hr mark, and the route system is ... something.

But this isn't a thread about Odin Sphere, I'm just commenting that some of the complaints I've seen especially regarding the story sound similar to problems with Odin Sphere.
 
It's been sitting on 89 for a while, but it just got bumped to 90 and must play status.

That's three 90 rated titles for Switch this year - Balatro and Pentiment being the others.
 
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