Unicorn Overlord

• Genre: Strategy
• Time Played: 103 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I found the game to be very addicting for a long time, but there is a point at the highest escalation of power where it just starts to feel repetitive and they could have maybe trimmed it up to be a bit tighter. Of course I didn't have to do absolutely everything and spend hours upon hours optimizing my units, but I still think the sweet spot would have been about 25% shorter.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm really pleased with this one. I found the game to be very addicting. Not sure it tops my favorites like Odin Sphere and 13 Sentinels, but it's a very fun game.
• Why I played: I was looking forward to it, and generally have enjoyed all Vanillaware titles, so I'll pretty much get all their games on release unless it looks like it's entirely not up my alley.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend it. There is a demo, so I would probably make sure people try that first to make sure the gameplay is something you like.

I usually try to avoid playing one extremely long game right after another but here we are. I really liked Unicorn Overlord, and while I was very addicted to the gameplay loop for awhile, it started to wear out it's welcome toward the end and I just wanted to wrap it up. Don't get me wrong, I still thoroughly recommend it. Just maybe you don't need to 100% it. Especially maybe not after playing an even longer game.

One thing I really like about this game, besides going into your big RTS/Tactical Strategy battles, you actually get to run around the world map and interact with things. You pick up stuff, you find your new quests by exploring, you even run into enemies you can do quick little battles with, and every little thing you do is worth something. This is what makes it so addicting, you're always getting something. When you do the bigger battles and progress, you're awarded with a lot of points to sink into upgrading your armies and often new characters.

A lot of the characters are great too. Sure with 60+ characters in your army, not everyone is the most interesting, and they don't all get the most time to shine, but I think with that many, there are at least a handful everyone is going to like. You can play entirely with the original characters, but if you're more worried about unit optimization, you can also recruit basic units of the vast majority of characters. Only a handful are wholly unique, mechanically.

I do think the game was maybe trying to do too much. There are just some elements that seem like they're not fully realized, and that's why maybe the game could have been overall a bit shorter, even at full completion. If it has a bit more focus, and more gimmicks to the big battles and less "filler" battles, it would have felt a bit tighter. You also get a bunch of unlocks at the end that you don't really have anything to do with except play the static challenge levels that are easier than the final level, and the final level. Not that I would play this kind of post game - but I think it could have benefited from some kind of procedurally generated post-game battle maps or something. Or restored maps with increased difficulty for the post-game. Even if it's just levels up enemies with boosted stats. For people who like that stuff. I don't. But a lot of other strategy games in this style do something like that. Here I am saying the game needed to trim down, suggesting a thing it should add, that I don't even want, so what do I know.

That said, I really enjoyed the game. I know some people criticize the writing/story, but I think a lot of the writing is just fine. Maybe the overall story isn't going to win awards for originality, but a game like this, I'm more interested in how the characters interact with each other, and it provides plenty there. Also, it's mechanically sound and as a pretty unique system that is extremely satisfying.