Unicorn Overlord demo rekindles an old strategy flame

destructoid.com:

When I bring up the “tactics RPG,” it feels like there is a certain image that comes to mind: grid-based, turn-based, isometric, or top-down, with units hopping up and down terrain to bonk each other on the head with swords and magic. The sheer popularity of games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and Fire Emblem have cemented as much.

Maybe this is my own biases speaking, but hearing “(insert name here) Tactics” immediately brings that image to mind, and it’s held true for several variations of tactical spin-offs. After playing the demo for Unicorn Overlord, Vanillaware’s latest, it is clearly falling in the strategy side of the genre; rather than another Tactics, it’s hearkening back to a different branch of the Ogre series: Ogre Battle.

It’s a really interesting approach to see Vanillaware take. While Ogre Battle had a huge impact on the industry, Tactics Ogre and FFT felt like they eclipsed it. But in seeing this team tackle those ideas, systems, and even the framing of the story, Unicorn Overlord feels like a spiritual successor, years later.

To start, Unicorn Overlord is a strategy RPG. In the demo—out now on Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox Series X|S—the game basically starts at the beginning, giving you a brief prologue and a few tutorials before dumping you out into the main continent of Cornia.

You are Prince Alain, the heir to the throne of Cornia, living in exile after a former general broke ranks and overthrew your mother, establishing the Zenoiran empire. Years later, the entire world has slowly fallen to Zenoira. Alain, his trusty advisor Josef, and a slew of friends and companions now make up the Liberation Army, seeking to wrest Cornia back for its rightful ruler.

Already, we’re into some fairly standard ideas. And if I have anything to nitpick about the demo, it’s that the main plot is what you’d expect: knights and warriors fighting to regain control from the evil, mind-controlling empire.

The appeal of the early areas are in their