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Stellar strategy RPG Unicorn Overlord, my 2024 Game of the Year, has sold 1 million copies nearly 7x faster than its developer's previous game
Unicorn Overlord, a strategy RPG developed by Vanillaware and published by Atlus, has surpassed 1 million copies sold, achieving this milestone seven times faster than their previous game, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. This success is attributed to its multi-platform release and the established appeal of the tactical RPG genre.
Strategy RPG Unicorn Overlord officially crossed 1 million copies sold this month, as publisher Atlus announced on September 23, just under seven months after its March 8 launch. Compared to developer Vanillaware's previous game, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, it's reached the 1 million mark nearly seven times faster.
It’s official - Unicorn Overlord has sold over 1 million units worldwide! ⚔️To celebrate this huge milestone, here is a special Berengaria, Melisandre, and Rosalinde illustration from Vanillaware’s Takashi Noma.Thank YOU for supporting the Liberation Army! pic.twitter.com/w58pTEPE3YSeptember 24, 2024
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, a story-focused sci-fi epic mostly split between side-scrolling exploration and top-down mecha combat, launched on PS4 in Japan in November 2019 and globally in September 2020. It later came to Switch worldwide in April 2022. As Crunchyroll reports, it wasn't until August 2023 that it passed 1 million copies sold – approximately 45 months later.
Unicorn Overlord had a few big advantages, then. It didn't have a staggered global launch, and it's been on PS4, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X|S – multiple modern platforms – from day one. (Now where the heck is the PC port?) And while these games may be niche enough that even the director of Final Fantasy Tactics advised fans to support Unicorn Overlord because "the market for tactical RPGs is small," the genre is probably better established than the mish-mash of 13 Sentinels, especially when Vanillaware is generally known for gameplay- and combat-focused games rather than sprawling narratives.
Both games are excellent, to be clear, but there's no question which one left a bigger mark on me. I poured 240 hours into Unicorn Overlord and it's still my 2024 Game of the Year pick by a country mile. Hell, it's now my third-favorite game of all time. It's so clearly burned into my memory that, months later, I can still remember the gear and attack programming setups I had for the three women in the celebratory art above. Rosalinde, my goat. Visually stunning, tactically satisfying, mechanically engrossing, and narratively* competent*, Unicorn Overlord feels like a game made just for me, but clearly at least a million other people were interested too.