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Don’t let anyone tell you the universe doesn’t have a sense of humor.
After a long flight, nothing could.
Unicorn Overlord is sublime.
Unicorn Overlord, then, would be some kind of Super Nicotine.
I had to respond immediately.
My hasty, preparatory research into the latest news around Vanillaware led me to another surprise.
Vanillaware, it turns out, is based in Osaka.
Not only that, their new office was approximately 600 meters from my hotel.
I was in the neighborhood!
I decided against visiting, not wanting to step on anyone’s toes.
First, I didn’t do this.
Second, don’t do this.
And third,what are the odds?
First, the big question: does Vanillaware want or plan to do more with Unicorn Overlord?
A sequel, dare we dream?
Perhaps a spiritual successor?
I need more Super Nicotine, Vanillaware.
(The studio is, or at least was,hiring for a new action RPG.)
“Many of these players have expressed a wish for DLC or a sequel to the game.
It would be great if we could make this happen sometime down the line.”
I’m just going to go ahead and rip the other bandage off, too.
Alas, Noma said “we do not have any plans for a PC version at this time.”
During the development of Unicorn Overlord, Vanillaware straight-up ran out of money.
It did the same thing during the making of its previous game, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.
Noma’s answer is, in some ways, a potential model for the industry.
It’s not a new one, but it is another example of how studioscanoperate.
The unicorn overlord himself
Unicorn Overlord represented a big change for Noma in particular.
It was his directorial debut after credits on multiple games, many in programming roles.
What was the biggest challenge, and how did his approach to development change?
As you’ve seen, we eventually solved this by reworking the game into more of an open-world system.
I’ve inadvertently proven Noma’s point.
As Noma said, Unicorn Overlord was “far out of the mainstream.”
Which is, to me, a bit of a shame.
How lovely life would be if big, brilliant strategy RPGs came out every month.
What makes strategy RPGs fun?
Here, too, his vision reflects my experience with the game.
The two genres complement each other particularly well.
We wanted each player to feel like they were getting a special story written just for them.
I like to think we achieved our goal of a fun, low-stress strategy experience."
I’ve repeatedly struggled to articulate the excessive love I have for Unicorn Overlord.
Noma’s assessment of the whole strategy RPG genre is a useful springboard and I will gladly steal it.
It’s a matter of verbs.
It’s absorbing versus doing, experiencing versus participating.
Often I’m in the mood for one but not the other.
Yet Unicorn Overlord is not uniquely, but exceptionally both a joy to experience and a treat to play.
It is characterization weaponized, storytelling rendered down to Lego bricks.
These are the 25best games of 2024 and you’d best believe Unicorn Overlord is on the list.
