Unicorn Overlord demo: bullet level impressions

Urge for food whetted.

For me, probably the most thrilling announcement to return out of this week’s Nintendo Direct Companion Showcase was the instant availability of the Unicorn Overlord demo. By quite a few coaching movies, SEGA and Atlus have been constructing the hype for this technique RPG for some time now. So, Wednesday night time, I put away my goings on (after AEW Dynamite, anyway) and dug into this latest title from the staff at Vanillaware.

My ideas? I’m hooked. However earlier than I record off the explanations, right here’s a bit on why I knew I might be. Unicorn Overlord is a tactical RPG on a grand scale. Set within the fantasy world of Fevrith, the sport follows Alain, a would-be prince now exiled when the dominion is overthrown by Normal Valmore. Alain seeks to reclaim the throne, however might want to unite the person nations of Fevrith to take action.

A corrupt ruler to face, a military to construct, a world to discover, a tense political local weather to navigate…it sounds fairly Hearth Emblemy, doesn’t it? Effectively, it’s, but it surely’s a lot extra. Let’s check out what I’ve already discovered through the demo.

• The demo is timed, so how far you get will rely on how rapidly you progress. You’ll get 5 hours, which is greater than sufficient to whet your urge for food for technique gaming goodness.
• In fact, your progress will carry over to the complete sport ought to once you resolve to purchase it. Nevertheless, it doesn’t appear to be there might be any bonuses for many who tried the demo earlier than shopping for.
• We get our conventional act of heroic sacrifice immediately, with a extra stunning flip of occasions quickly thereafter. When you’re as into JRPG melodrama as I’m, Unicorn Overlord seems positive to fulfill.
• The overworld is a dwelling factor right here. In contrast to different tactical RPGs that simply shove icons round a map as a narrator speaks, Unicorn Overlord costs you exploration. There are gadgets to seek out (designated and hidden), characters to talk with, and enemies to interact or keep away from.

• Conversely, there aren’t any cities…a minimum of not but. You’ll see and may work together with cities and buildings on the map, however simply to drag up menus for purchasing/promoting gadgets, recruiting mercenaries, chartering ships, and many others. Increase these cities makes them extra helpful to you,  a novel spin that retains the sport energetic once you’re not engaged in fight.
• Talking of mercenaries, you get to customise them! The sport offers you loads of plot-driven characters to regulate, however you even have the flexibility to rent reinforcements with some choices for altering their look. Oddly, when naming them, it’s a must to choose from a predetermined record. A lot for my thought of naming characters after members of the band Unicorn. Sorry, ABEDON!
• Why the necessity for mercenaries? This begins our string of fight bullets, beginning with engagement. Overworld battle situations occur in actual time, with you deploying squads of 1 to three combatants (within the demo) for engagement. Every squad may be custom-made with the troopers of your selection, together with the place they’re positioned on a 2×3 grid. That placement might be decided by who’s on that grid. Archers and healers within the again, after all. Fighters and guards within the entrance. Possibly. When you’re going up towards an enemy that may assault a complete entrance line, you could wish to transfer a decrease protection attacker to the again. I discovered I didn’t must tinker a lot with placement within the demo, but it surely’s apparent that’ll develop into extra essential as I get deeper into the sport.

• Who’s preventing collectively in these squads is essential, as teammates will construct rapport with each other the extra they combat collectively. The sport makes it clear who can share rapport and the way far they’ve progressed.
• The preventing animations we’ve seen are simply that: animations. Like Hearth Emblem, the gameplay focuses on figuring out who ought to combat whom, and ensuring the fitting squad is inside vary. You may see the doubtless results of the combat earlier than you interact. When you’ve got a number of squads inside attain, you may cycle by way of them to find out which is able to obtain the most effective outcomes.
• Every squad has a frontrunner that may be assigned for varied bonuses. When you’ve got an archer main a squad that’s inside attain of a combat, you may name in a volley of arrows from his/her squad to do harm earlier than you even interact. How cool is that? Different management abilities embrace the flexibility to maneuver quicker on the world map, cross over mountains and rivers, and many others.
• The battle situations are timed. When you interact the enemy and begin shifting your squads round, you will have a restricted period of time to say victory. The demo is beneficiant with the time offered, supplying you with loads of choices to relaxation your squads (they will get tuckered out) and to compensate for errors as you unfold them out for engagement.

That’s barely scratching the floor of what the demo highlights, however 11 bullet factors is my conventional stopping level. I didn’t even get to the sport’s lush graphics, the ethical dilemmas (already with the powerful selections?), the intricate merchandise/ability administration, and the sidequests that make it easier to construct up the territories you’ve freed. Unicorn Overlord offers you a large number to soak up throughout the first few hours, but it surely’s additionally manageable…for now. I’ve a sense it’ll get fairly sophisticated fairly rapidly.

However I’m wanting ahead to that. The demo is a transparent indication that Unicorn Overlord will preserve avid gamers busy for fairly a while. Exploration and fight are equally addictive and rewarding, and we’ve already met a handful of participating characters. I’m greater than prepared to satisfy extra and dig deeper into Fevrith when the sport releases digitally and bodily on March eighth.

For extra info on Unicorn Overlord, go to unicornoverlord.atlus.com/.