Unicorn Overlord is a Masterpiece | Nintendo Switch Review

like many of you I've been extremely excited to get into unicorn Overlord and thanks to Atlas and vanillaware I was able to get hands on early to bring you this review if you do enjoy the video subscribe it helps out the channel a huge amount and let's get this out there immediately this game it is incredible after 50 or so hours I just want to jump back in so starting with the story it's a straight forward a premise you are a younger man a to the throne whose once peaceful life is upended when evil a general and his army in fade they murder our mother and seize control now thanks to some Lola guards we managed to escape and years later we rejoin this group and find we are a young man trained for War Ready to confront the enemy this is really the overarching theme travel from region to region grow in power reclaim the land and overthrow the enemy so though the narrative is linear what sets it apart is the characters you meet now there are over 60 Poss possible characters to include in your units each with their own unique story and background and I really enjoyed that I found myself more intrigued than ever by side missions because I wanted to dive deeper and overall just incredible stuff today we'll be keeping our discussion on gameplay relatively high level as there's a lot to cover but I would recommend downloading the demo just to get a feel for the game playay it's definitely an excellent introduction to all of the different mechanics so unic on Overlord it's a strategy RPG that combines realtime strategy world map exploration and extensive dialogue with numerous characters now each of these areas is incredibly detailed on its own so mastering the different systems will admittedly take some time now exploration is by far the most straightforward aspect TR first different locations discover plenty of Loot and unlock new areas now during this journey you'll come across one off battles it can Hal your progress as as well being defeated in these encounters sends you back to the last checkpoint or discovered location conversely defeating them opens up new areas ahead now these encounters similar to the core battles require strategic thinking particularly in terms of unit positioning and item usage however they're somewhat easier to manage as long as your characters are suitably leveled up one fight and done scenario what really fascinated me in the open world exploration though was encountering towns that have been attacked or destroyed in these areas you have the chance to assist by handling deliveries so essentially this involves finding glot and delivering the required Goods to upgrade the town as you help rebuild you'll be rewarded with improved the shopping opportunities and you'll actually see your efforts reflected visually in the town's recovery which is definitely a nice touch now towns allow you to buy weapons and armor provisions and there's other activities such as going to the pub for food and bonding with your squad boats to find hidden location and the ability to station guards to assist the town folk I just really enjoyed the exploration because it's fast-paced you can Sprint and explore at your own Leisure providing a nice balance to the Strategic demands of combat you know it offers well un needed breaks between intense brain powerered sessions now before we dive into the combat it's worth mentioning here that upon starting the game you are greeted with various difficulty options ranging from easy to hard now today's footage is from the standard normal difficulty yet there were still a moments I found myself needing to grind a few levels and I had to retrace scenarios with different unit setups it's also important to knowe that every town you visit every conversation you have with your team and every piece of loot you do collect it actually rewards you you earn gold for expenditures honor which serves as a sort of trophy system allowing you to expand your unit sizes you start from squads of two and then finally there is an army rating this rating is crucial as the higher it goes the more freedom you have in unlocking larger squads and commanding specific items these areas are also all rewarded through the different battles so when it comes to the combat system it presents a deep array of mechanisms if you're familiar with their previous title 13 Sentinels where combat kind of took a backseat to narrative and was relatively simple here you'll encounter a significant shift you're faced with an extensive selection of systems and also a noticeable learning curve initially managing units as well it may seem straightforward but as you quickly unlock new characters balancing It all becomes an incredible challenge so basically you could easily like me spend hours navigating these menus now I like that but I have to say it because it may not appeal to everyone as sentiment I completely understand you know even I found it overwhelming by the end gamees it require strategizing unit positioning and their behaviors in different scenarios as to give a clear idea all combat here is automated resembling a realtime strategy game however unlike the usual overhead few battles here zoom into a more jrpg style design your control as I said it lies in the composition of the unit and their behavior so for example placing a shield Bearer in the front row to block attacks but also offset to avoid a spear thrust that could hit both members you could then set behaviors such as characters prioritizing healing themselves when below 50% Health before they go ahead and attack it's also constantly then entertaining just figuring out which units are going to be best in which scenarios so for example how can you maximize their skill set a very basic example would be archers against flying enemies also interestingly the combat system doesn't focus on fighting to the de fever instead the winner is determined by who doubt the most damage with the loser getting pushed back and placed on a cooldown also a lesson I learned the hardware you can't just set a unit then forget it in battle you can adjust their formation pre- combat and you absolutely should now to quickly summarize if you must know details about combat since breaking down every aspect would take a huge amount of time combat utilizes F essentially points you can exchange for units or special moves you start with a limited amount and you gain more by defeating enemy units there's also then a stamina system preventing over Reliance on a single unit and a mistake I often made initially because depleting all action points actually leaves you a mobile and then finally when you do select a unit it freezes the game use this time to make wise decisions additionally as well every battle has a timer if you don't beat the clear conditions in that time you do lose and the same thing happens if they take over your main location so this kind of the game freezing it really is massive and you really should take advantage of it finally then while comeb back animations do zoom in for a more detailed view you can bypass this by pressing the start button to keep the action on the main screen this feature is useful for straightforward battles but I recommend watching the detailed animations for more complex encounters just to better understand what parts of your strategy are you know the most effective finally when it comes to the combat I transparently didn't focus on all characters and I'm not sure it would be a smart play that would be way too much I instead built out a core selection that I felt worked best together and this is one area where I do think the game could be improved that is the weapon and equipment to setup it's pretty I guess tough to navigate even after hours with the game because you have so much equipment and so many characters to figure out a few additional filters would go along long way and even a more clear breakdown of what is already equipped now the funny thing is as well it's only three pieces of equipment per character alongside the unique move set which does gradually expand but yeah the layout can feel a little clunky at points and when you do you know 60 plus times three it is a lot to manage this said though I do think this is a minor issue outweighed by the overall experience now for those overwhelmed by the equipment choices the game offers a solution as well of pressing the plus button When selecting a character automatically equips them with optimal gear this feature provides a solid foundation from which you can customize your character's balance between power and defense making it a really good starting points so that is the gameplay of unicorn Overlord and if I had to describe it I'd put it as it's a simple enough exploration system complemented by a huge Ruster and a detailed strategy system that works well for the most part look sure it has a few very minor issues for example some battles can get a little busy on screen making it awkward to select the unit you want quickly and a few areas such as does a map where the forest is on fire can be a little infuriating because your units stroll right into them unless you do play plot a perfect path but yeah look I've had an incredible time it's the best game I've played so far in 2024 Final Fantasy rebirth is up next for me but yeah I'll absolutely be coming back to this after that I want to go for 100% I want to see all of the side quests and now I want to uncover all of the secrets as there still so much I don't know that the game has hinted at visuals and audio then stunning The World Is Beautiful to look at and I love that vanillaware kind of style I think that when you see images it doesn't quite do justice to how good these characters look in motion and seeing the attacks evolve as I've progressed has made me watch so many of these encounters the world then just changes frequently and the user interface as well for how complex the game actually is it's really been well handled and I never had issues figuring out what was happening you know once again I will say I had some issues with inventory but that was more from a there's so many options point of view over how it actually looks the audio then this is how you do it the right way the voice acting throughout is superb and it is frequent any important story beat as accompanying voice workor and the music it's as epic as you would expect given the fantasy setting with big orchestral pieces and a range of tempos to reflect the onscreen events so overall a unicorn Overlord has been incredible it's the best game I've played once again so far this year and yes it is only March but this has set the bar high and that will be a challenge for any upcoming titles I openly admit I'm a fan boy of vanillaware but they never disappoint now on that note I previously rated 13 Sentinels a 10 out of 10 and I stand by my statement that it's one of the finest examples of video game storytelling I also stand by the fact I encourage everyone to experience it however I must say that 13 Sentinels was more accessible from a gameplay standpoint than this one and do consider that to be a warning basically unicorn Overlord demands a deeper understanding of its mechanics it's not a game you can simply power through as you might have with 13 Sentinels where the difficulty felt more manageable this makes unicorn Overlord a bit more specialized best suited for strategy RPG fans which is exactly what I wanted basically for newcomers be prepared for a steep learning curve filled with tons of information but this complexity is what contributes to its immense reward basically if you're willing to dedicate the necessary effort this game it is a must play so you probably guessed this but unicorn Overlord earns my fifth ever 10 out of 10 on the channel out of over 600 reviews and two vanillaware my parting comment is simple please just please never change so will you be checking out unicorn Overlord let us know in the comments with that hit subscribe join us here for refuse deals news and list daily and I'll see you all on next video thanks everyone [Music]

Channel: SwitchCorner

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Id: uf-TwKStOpk

Length: 12min 2sec (722 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 07 2024