It is such a joy to find something that feels tailor-made for you, an experience that hugs your brain like a professionally fitted jacket hugs your shoulders. This approaches the feeling that I got from Unicorn Overlord, a strategy RPG released by Dragon's Crown and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim developer Vanillaware in March 2024, but doesn't quite describe it. Unicorn Overlord is the kind of game that drives me to run my fingers over my scalp in search of puncture wounds just to make absolutely certain that someone didn't harvest my brain tissue and use it to culture this game in a laboratory.
It is an almost frighteningly spot-on distillation of what makes me tick. After 240 hours in a single playthrough – double my first Elden Ring clear, and 100 hours longer than my Baldur's Gate 3 run – it is one of my top three favorite games of all time. It's Hollow Knight, Elden Ring, and this, which is about the highest praise I can give.
Let me be clear: Unicorn Overlord is not 240 hours long. Not even close. Don't let that figure put you off.
suggests most players finish it in 45 hours for the main story, 60 hours with side stuff added in, and just 73 hours for true completionists. It's not that I'm a hardcore completionist; I never hunt trophies or achievements in games, and I spent almost no time grinding for XP or money in my Unicorn Overlord playthrough. I don't even have the platinum trophy for this game, nor will I ever get it.
What I do have is the finest army I can envision,.