Unicorn Overlord gameplay footage shows off battle, animations, and food

Japanese gaming publication Famitsu has published some new gameplay footage of Vanillaware's upcoming strategy RPG Unicorn Overlord. Roughly 8 minutes of annotated footage accompanies the site's written preview, and showcases the game's battle system and animations, as well as revealing a bit more about some of the playable characters.

Check out the Unicorn Overlord gameplay footage below:

The new footage opens with narration introducing part of the storyline involving the Kingdom of Cornia, one of the five nations inhabiting the continent of Fevrith. In the year 895, Cornia's General Valmore suddenly declared himself "Galerius" a descendant of ancient Zenoria, after overthrowing the royal city of Gran Corine, reestablished the Zenorian Empire and launched a war of conquest to dominate the continent of Fevrith. Players take control of Alain, a rebel leading a liberation army to oust Zenoria from the continent.

The footage shows Alain and the Cornian knight Josef traversing the overworld map, gathering materials, engaging in light combat, an an Angel of the Palevian Orthodoxy. There are over 60 named playable characters to find and recruit to the army, including elves and beastmen characters.

Battles are also visible in the preview, and characters move around the battlefield in real time. Units can be grouped into parties, and encounter other friendly NPCs on the battlefield, sometimes bringing them into the fold (as seen in an encounter with the archer Rolf). Individual unit battles take place on a 2D plane, with characters taking turns. Some classes are complementary to each other, such as in one battle, where Rolf receives a boost from Chloe to maximize his damage against an enemy mounted on a flying griffin.

For convenience, players can skip battle animations and in some cases automatically resolve minor encounters. In some cases Alain will be given a choice to make, such as whether to let a defeated enemy soldier go.

The trailer also featured a Vanillaware staple: Lavishly rendered 2D food and cooking. Different dishes can benefit greater numbers of troops, and the demo features a meal of omurice, grapes, fresh greens, and mashed potato-and-egg salad.

Unicorn Overlord will launch on March 8, 2024 for the PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S. Check out this post for more detailed info on gameplay, including character introductions and strategic map play.