Hit strategy RPG Unicorn Overlord is a "spiritual successor" to a niche PS Vita game its developer released 11 years ago
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Unicorn Overlord has been a surprising success in the strategy RPG realm, havingcompletely sold out in some territoriesand shifted over 500,000 copies, but its roots stretch back to the developer’s sometimes-forgotten action RPG gem.
“One of the things that won us over was [Unicorn Overlord’s] online elements,” Atlus producer Akiyasu Yamamoto explains in an interview withGamer Braves. “In a way, it’s a spiritual successor to Dragon’s Crown in that regard while also breaking new ground as a tactical RPG.”
On the surface, the two games don’t have much in common. Dragon’s Crown is an action RPG that has you slash at baddies with some pals, meanwhile, Unicorn Overlord lets you orchestrate massive battles with an almost countless number of soldiers to toy around with, though it does have an optional PvP coliseum tucked away too.
“We saw the massive potential in Unicorn Overlord as it sought to chart new frontiers and steer away from an ocean already rife with common tactical RPG tropes,” Yamamoto continues. “When [director] Takafumi Noma and [designer] Wataru Nakanishi pitched the game to us, it reminded us of our fond memories of playing tactical RPGs during the 16-bit era of the 1990s, and we decided to greenlight it.”
Yamamoto also reveals that the fantasy romp started development aiming for a PS4 and PS Vita release, before bowing to the industry’s “radical changes” and eventually developing the game for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.The publisher apparently has no plans for a PC port, unfortunately.
Unicorn Overlord is a serious GOTY contender thanks to those 3-hour battles that keep us up way too late.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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