Unicorn Overlord and a God of War-like you never heard of
Plus, one reality game show has reached new heights
Listen to this week’s episode
This week, the squad puts on their armor, grabs their swords, and mounts their gallant steads to charge into Unicorn Overlord. The Tactics RPG is the latest game from Vanillaware, the developer of niche masterpieces like Odin Sphere and 13 Sentinels. In the back half, Justin introduces the team to Banishers, a game that blends Witcher and God of War. How did we not hear about this one until now? And how often does a game depict a healthy marriage like this one?! Plus, we have a special guest star: Nasty Boy Frush!
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This week on the Patreon: The Resties discuss two of the year’s trippiest, mind-bending games! One’s a time-bending Metroidvania. The other turns computer desktops into battlegrounds.
Games discussed:
Unicorn Overlord, Banishers, Chrono Trigger, Slay the Spire, Rise of the Ronin, Superliminal
TV discussed:
Survivor, Dragon Ball Z, Shogun
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Next week on The Besties:
On next week’s The Besties: Rise of the Ronin
Bonus links:
Accented Cinema on the politics of Godzilla in the US vs Japan
Plante talks with Kyle Starr about a life in gaming
Tauriq Moosa reviewed Banishers for Polygon
Mike McWhertor on what makes the Dragon Ball slime a perfect design
Some glowing reviews of Unicorn Overlord from strategy and tactics fans:
Dan Da Dan looks sick!
Unicorn Overlord is a really close spiritual successor to Ogre Battle designed by Yasumi Matsuno. Matsuno designed Ogre Battle before going on to develop Tactics Ogre and then moving to Square and doing Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII. There's deep old pedigree to this specific style of gameplay, the real time with pause unit stack moving and auto skirmish resolution is exactly how Often Battle played out.
Not to wax poetic on the discussion board of a vidja game podcast, but Chris' pinewood derby analogy has stuck in my mind. There are so many "derby experiences" in life, times where you can prepare something all you want, planning out every step and detail, but in order for it to succeed you need to let go.