Today Vanillaware and Atlus revealed tons of details, screenshots, and artwork of Unicorn Overlord, the beautiful tactics RPG revealed at the latest Nintendo Direct.
The story is set in the continent of Fevrith, which includes five nations, Cornia, Drakenhold, Elheim, Bastorias, and Albion.
The continent is home not only to humans, but also elves, angels, and beastfolk named Bestrals.
General Valmore rebels against Cornia's royal family, starting a war that throws the continent into upheaval.
During the uprising, Prince Alain flees the country and ten years later, with the help of the Ring of the Unicorn, he sparks a rebellion to liberate his people.
We also meet some of the characters that populate the game:
Alain: Crown prince of the fallen kingdom of Cornia, and son of its queen, Ilenia. After losing his mother at a young age amidst Cornian general Valmore's rebellion, he was ushered to the island of Palevia by the knight Josef, who taught him sword and strategy alike until the age of 17.
Scarlett: A priestess of the Palevian Orthodoxy who, after training tirelessly from a young age, now tends to the cathedral on the island of Palevia. In the end, she opts to leave the island and join Alain on his journey.
Lex: A childhood friend of Alain’s, born on the island of Palevia to a local fisherman. After studying under Josef, he resolves to join the quest to liberate Fevrith.
Josef: A holy knight of the fallen kingdom of Cornia, he fled to Palevia with Alain ten years ago at Ilenia's behest. He has made great strides toward forming the Liberation Army ever since.
Illenia: The queen of Cornia who ruled with both a keen military mind and a steady hand. Upon realizing there was no quelling the tide of rebellion, she entrusted her son Alain to her loyal retainer, Josef.
Galerius: Emperor of the reborn Zenoiran Empire, and once a renowned Cornian general by the name of Valmore. After leading a successful rebellion against the Cornian royal family, he claimed all of Fevrith as his own.
Next, we learn about the gameplay, which lets you build up a grand army with over 60 unique characters of all races. With it, you can decide freely the route you'll take to liberate the continent.
Upon defeating the enemy forces that control towns and strongholds, you will restore law and order to the surroundings and you'll be able to rebuild what has been destroyed with materials you've gathered.
You'll then gain access to facilities like armorers and provisioners and free the area of wandering enemy bands, making exploration easier.
Battles are played in real-time and each side fights to capture the enemy's command post and defend its own. There are also other victory conditions, like defeating the enemy general.
When units make contact, individual battles start, and you're able to set up each unit's tactics in advance, determining which skills they will automatically use and when.
There are three difficulty levels, Sweet, which focuses on letting you enjoy the story without too much challenge, Normal is for players familiar with strategy games, and Hard, which will push your skills to the limit.
There is also an Online mode that lets you fight in PvP battles against other players' units. The best teams will win.
Two special editions will be available. The Digital Deluxe edition includes the following:
- 16-bit Arranged Soundtrack (Download): Soundtrack of 16-bit arranged music album produced by Basiscape
- 2 – Digital Artbook (Download): A sublime artbook features character illustrations, background art, initial designs, and more (132 Pages)
- 3 – Unicorn Overlord Game (Digital Download)
The physical premium edition comes with the following goodies.
- Premium Edition Box: A unique box designed by Vanillaware
- Unicorn Overlord Game (Physical Version)
- Original Card Game: a completely original card game set for 2 – 4 players, produced by Vanillaware (239 cards)
- 16-bit Soundtrack: A soundtrack of 16-bit arranged music album, produced by Basiscape (2 CDs – 10 tracks ea.)
- Artbook: A sublime artbook featuring character illustrations, background art, initial designs, and more (132 pages)
If you pre-order the game, you get the Atlus x Vanillaware Heraldry Pack, which lets you customize your flag with emblems from Odin Sphere, Dragon’s Crown, and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.
Below you can enjoy all the many screenshots and gorgeous artwork released today.
Unicorn Overlord releases for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on March 8, 2024.
