*Unicorn Overlord* is probably my favorite Strategy RPG since *Fire Emblem Awakening*, and is in my top 3 right next to *Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced[^1]*. I don't feel like writing a whole gigantic piece on this game though, because there isn't much of a need? *UC* didn't redefine a genre or make me cry by the end of it - it just set out to accomplish the goal of being a satisfying, crunchy, serotonin-spiking SRPG, and it accomplishes that with aplomb. ## May I Have Some Loops Brother The key to *Unicorn Overlord*'s success is its gameplay loop, which is so satisfying and consistent that it made me lose 52 hours to the game in the span of two weeks. It goes like this: your boy Alain needs to liberate the world from a tyrannical empire of evil dudes. To do this you run around on an open map, challenging the empire and freeing towns, ports, and fortresses from their rule. After that, you rebuild these towns with materials that you both collect on the map and the towns you previously liberated. Then you can build up your relationships amongst your units, gear up your various squads, and head to the next battle. This is the engine that powers *UC*, and is the reason why you think you'll only play a mission or two, only to look up at the clock and realize you've been at this for hours already. Everything in the game connects to everything else, so no matter what you're doing, you're making progress in your campaign against the empire. It's ridiculously hard to put down. And there's a great variety of mission lengths too, so you'll never find yourself burnt out - some towns can take 5 minutes to save, whilst others can take 30, but lead to bigger rewards or brand new units. ## Tick-Tock Possibly the best part of *Unicorn Overlord* is how much it reduces friction, which is super helpful for a 50 hour campaign. Everything is so snappy! You can fast-forward through everything, from cutscenes to battles. There's even a button you can press to skip a battle outright and get to the results. Vanillaware understands that at a certain point I understand the loop, and now my freak [[Goopy Goblin Gamer Brain]] is only interested in powering up my units more and more so I can cleave through the empire in a whirlwind of destruction, doing so much lethal damage to enemies with your perfected unit set-ups that you begin to wonder if *you're* the bad guy. The game lets me control the pace. When I get a new unit type I'll watch them fight a couple of times so I can get my dosage of that sweet, sweet Vanillaware animation good-good. But eventually I'll get back to my number crunching. ## Sasuga Matsuno... And oh, the numbers, do they be crunching. *Unicorn Overlord* asks a very obvious question: why don't we bring the Gambit System back? **I'm inclined to agree**. Every character in the game can be customized with if/then statements that are prioritized in order of their placement. You can make it so that healers always heal the character with the lowest % of HP, or have archers prioritize flying units and thieves, or get even more complex. My giga-brain moment was when I put a witch on the team that cast a fire spell on the enemy to inflict burn, and then an archer would use their own skill to spread the fire to the rest of the enemy squad. The nice thing is that you don't *have* to use the system if you don't want to - frankly the game's pretty easy, even at the normal difficulty - but if you're a sicko like me that wants to eek out damage, the option's available. ## What Story There is, allegedly, a plot in *Unicorn Overlord*. It's *fine*. I feel like it gets an unnecessarily bad rep for being basic. I would rather call it *serviceable*. It is the shell from which exists the reason for you to go sicko mode with the strategy mechanics. This is fine! I guess people were expecting that a game with ye olde dialogue would suddenly have the same incredible story as *Final Fantasy Tactics*, but what you have to understand is that Matsuno is literally built different. His stuff is the exception, not the rule, to most *games*, let alone strategy ones. Rather, *Unicorn Overlord* is more akin to *Fire Emblem*. Both are strategy games with whatever-plots about fighting the bad guys[^2], both have great strategy mechanics, and both get the majority of their charm more from the character-to-character interactions rather than the main plot. --- Anyways yeah *Unicorn Overlord* goes unbelievably hard and is easily going to be at the top of my **GOTY 2024** list. I mean this is the game that got me to drop [[Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth]] y'all. There's your TL;DR. [^1]: Yes I like this more than *Final Fantasy Tactics*. Sue me. The power of nostalgia is strong. [^2]: *Fire Emblem Fates* notwithstanding