Hit strategy RPG Unicorn Overlord is a "spiritual successor" to a niche PS Vita game its developer released 11 years ago

Unicorn Overlord has been a surprising success in the strategy RPG realm, having completely sold out in some territories and shifted over 500,000 copies, but its roots stretch back to the developer’s sometimes-forgotten action RPG gem.

Developer Vanillaware has been quietly pumping out great games for well over a decade with action side-scroller Odin Sphere and RTS hybrid 13 Sentinels under its belt. But the studio's most recent Unicorn Overlord actually takes inspiration from 2013's Dragon’s Crown, according to a producer.

"One of the things that won us over was [Unicorn Overlord's] online elements," Atlus producer Akiyasu Yamamoto explains in an interview with Gamer Braves. "In a way, it's a spiritual successor to Dragon's Crown in that regard while also breaking new ground as a tactical RPG."

On the surface, the two games don't have much in common. Dragon's Crown is an action RPG that has you slash at baddies with some pals, meanwhile, Unicorn Overlord lets you orchestrate massive battles with an almost countless number of soldiers to toy around with, though it does have an optional PvP coliseum tucked away too. 

"We saw the massive potential in Unicorn Overlord as it sought to chart new frontiers and steer away from an ocean already rife with common tactical RPG tropes," Yamamoto continues. "When [director] Takafumi Noma and [designer] Wataru Nakanishi pitched the game to us, it reminded us of our fond memories of playing tactical RPGs during the 16-bit era of the 1990s, and we decided to greenlight it."

Yamamoto also reveals that the fantasy romp started development aiming for a PS4 and PS Vita release, before bowing to the industry's "radical changes" and eventually developing the game for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. The publisher apparently has no plans for a PC port, unfortunately. 

Unicorn Overlord is a serious GOTY contender thanks to those 3-hour battles that keep us up way too late. 

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