Video Games

Atlus’ ‘Unicorn Overlord’ Accused Of Having “Abhorrent” Localization

March 1, 2024  ·
  John F. Trent

A screenshot of Unicorn Overlord (2024), Atlus

Atlus’ upcoming Unicorn Overlord game, which plays as a spiritual successor to Ogre Battle 64, has been accused of having an “abhorrent” localization.

A screenshot of Unicorn Overlord (2024), Atlus

The accusation comes from X user Zakogdo after playing the demo that Atlus has released for the game.

Zakogdo writes, “Unicorn Overlord had a free demo released. After playing it, I can say quite confidently that the localisation is abhorrent. Here begins a thread of numerous examples.”

From there, Zakogdo shares a number of examples. First, he brings up the game’s difficulty screen writing, “A quick note to start with, they actually revised the difficulty screen. First pic is how it was shown in early previews, second is what it is in the demo. They made it less different to JP, but it seems “casual” is still a dirty word these days.”

READ: Atlus Releases Demo For New Nintendo Switch RPG ‘Unicorn Overlord’

Second, Zakogdo takes issue with the localization attempting to “fancify [the] dialogue.” As an example he shared a translation of the party discussing whether or not they are strong enough to take on the antagonist Renault.

In Zakogdo’s translation of the Japanese, Clive informs the party, “I think fighting Renault with our current strength would be difficult.” In the game’s official localization, Clive says, “Casting the gauntlet at Renault’s feet would only send us all to an early grave.”

In another example Lex comments, “We completely fell for it.” In the game’s official localization he says, “Guy laid out the bait, and we just had to take a nibble.”

He stated, “One of the most persistent issues with the loc. is the endless attempts of the EN script to fancify dialogue, typically at the expense of accuracy.”

Next, Zakogdo shares a number of other examples and writes, “This reeks of localisers who think themselves better writers than the original Japanese authors. This is the source of many of the loc’s problems.”

In one example, Lex says, “Are you worrying about Scarlett?” Alain responds, “I can’t hide anything from you, huh. It’s been some time since she was abducted. I wonder if she’s alright…”

In the localization Lex says, “All that worrying’s gonna kill you one of these days. Lemme guess-it’s about Scarlett?” Alain responds, “I couldn’t pretend otherwise. You’d sniff out the life before it scarce passed my lips. It’s…been some time now since she was abducted, and all I’ve been able to put forth are vague prayers for her safety.”

He also takes issue with localization’s allusion to animals.

As an example he shares a comment from Josef, who says, “Rescuing Scarlett may strike a heavy blow to his aims.” In the localization it reads, “Delivering her from his bloodied talons may strike a heavy blow to the heart of his aims.”

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After sharing these more general examples, Zakogdo gets into more specifics about why he believes the localization is abhorrent.

He writes, “In JP Alain is assuring Josef that his mother needs protection more than he does. In EN this is changed to Alain acting accusatory towards Josef and asking him why he isn’t doing anything. This is one of the first lines in the game and immediately presents a different impression of Alain, where in JP he’s shown as considerate and understanding even as a child, whereas EN makes him sound spoilt and demanding. It’s insane to have such a discrepancy right at the start of the game, and for no reason at that.”

Next, he points to dialogue from Ilenia, “Ilenia’s dialogue is rewritten to insult Valmore whereas in JP she’s shocked that things came to this, apparently having trusted him before.”

“Valmore’s EN dialogue here is so needlessly purple that you’d be excused for not understanding that he was surprised that Ilenia duped him,” Zakogdo asserted.

Moving on, Zakogdo writes, “At the start of the game Scarlett is suddenly attacked by Zenoiran soldiers. She smacks one and jumps back, then Alain appears to get the other. This wasn’t even a 速い！ moment in Japanese.”

He continues, “Afterwards, Scarlett falls to the ground, and her line combined with her JP VA makes it clear she was shaken by this. The English version tries to downplay it instead, for some reason.”

Next, he states, “This is one of Alain’s first battles. In this case Alain is rewritten to be more composed in EN, whereas in JP he’s shocked. Consider not just his exclamation but also his command: The vague ‘we have to do something!’ vs the specific ‘we have to dispatch the soldiers’.

He adds, “A localisation that can’t grasp subtleties like this does not inspire confidence.”

Zakogdo would return to an earlier criticism about fanciful dialogue, but also describes it as verbose.

He writes, “I saw this image before, but whoever made it was actually comparing the wrong line. Here’s the actual line. It’s even worse. It’s absurd how verbose the localisation insists on making every line.”

Next, he points out that the character of Chloe makes sarcastic comments and takes jabs at other characters.

Zakogdo explains, “Chloe’s dialogue is rewritten to add in regular sarcastic comments and jabs at other characters when they weren’t present in JP. She is somewhat rude in JP, but the EN script has played it up far more and makes her kind of obnoxious.”

From there he points to comments made by a character named Rolf that players encounter early in the game, “The localisation invents that Rolf is not used to good news, and also adds in Rolf denigrating the militia when speaking of it, which he doesn’t do in JP.”

Next, he moves on to the character of Beaumont, “Beaumont is one of the more extreme examples of fancification, having had his personality rewritten to constantly make absurd exclamations and allusions to avians. If I were an Atlus localiser I’d call this a cock up.”

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Finally, Zakogdo concludes the thread writing, “Adel wants to take out Gaston, a Zenoiran ruler who has been terrorising the people since taking control of the region. He tells them of this, and Clive responds by saying they’re not there to make merry, which doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense in context.”

While there are valid criticisms of the dialogue, the game’s gameplay, tactics, and strategy are receiving high praise. YouTuber ChristopherOdd praised the demo, “It’s one of the most feature complete demos that gives you five hours of play time to do almost anything you want.”

He later added, “What sets Unicorn Overlord apart for me isn’t just its cool mechanics or how gorgeous it is. And trust me those are big parts of it. It’s how the game feels accessible and yet really deep. It’s innovative in a way that I haven’t experienced before, but it’s still familiar in other aspects. And it bridges these sort of gaps that I didn’t realize were there in my own personal strategy game experiences.”

Unicorn Overlord arrives on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 on March 8, 2024.

What do you make of these criticisms of the game’s localization?

NEXT: Atlus Announces ‘Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance’

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Author: John F. Trent
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