The “villainess” genre is enjoying popularity among web novels and anime at the moment. Inspired by the classic female villains from shows like Sailor Moon, a villainess in this context is actually the hero, in a sort of meta acknowledgement that a pompous aristocratic daughter of privilege is usually cast in a villainous role and is therefore expected not to win after all, but to fall at the hands of the virtuous ‘underdog’ hero. I’m hooked on these stories, but as with any popular genre, it is saturated with derivative works that are happy to coast off the popular trend without anything new. But The Great Villainess: Strategy of Lily proves itself above the shlock with challenging tactical strategy gameplay, a fun mashup of historical and contemporary technology, and an instantly iconic villainess, Scarlet.

The Great Villainess: Strategy of Lily starts at the finale of what we can suppose is the “bad end”, where our antagonistic leading lady, Scarlet, is about to be executed by her ex-fiancé, Prince Gwyn. In her last breath, she swears her death will spell their downfall, and just like that, we are taken back a year earlier to actually start the game. The tale begins with the murder of the country’s emperor and The City (yes, that’s its real name) set ablaze, and Scarlet, who is too busy laughing maniacally at the chaos to specifically deny being involved, is fingered as the culprit. An engineer from the neighbouring Republic, Lily, gets wrapped up in the blame and must flee alongside Scarlet, and the two form an unlikely rebellion against the old aristocracy.

Strategy of Lily is set in a reimagined, anime-fied historical Europe, which means that the character designers got to have a lot of fun dressing their gorgeous female characters up in very fancy dress. Yes, the male characters look cool too, but the spotlight is squarely on the ladies in this tale of unlikely friendship that exudes sapphic vibes right from the get-go. There is something about the camaraderie between the two female leads and the affectionate way they talk to the other women in their company that gave me the vibes. Scarlet is exactly the kind of flamboyant, overdramatic character that works best in a game like this, and exactly the type of woman I would let ruin my life.

The military uniforms and weaponry place the setting somewhere in Europe between 1850 and 1910, with the hilarious exception of video streaming technology. Lily, a video engineer, owns a giant airship with giant screens that broadcasts propaganda to the citizens in the form of influencer-style livestreams, growing a follower base for the Scarlet rebellion. As the campaign progresses, that follower count will go higher and higher, and comments from your followers constantly come in as you play, commenting on the events of the campaign.

The implied existence of social media in the world gives the game a convenient justification to inject modern internet slang into its dialogue, like “stanning” and “sus”. The general unserious tone of The Great Villainess helps too, though I admit I felt like I’d been shot in the chest the first time Lily said “unalived” instead of killed.

The Great Villainess: Strategy of Lily Review – My ex-fiancée murdered my father and rallied a rebel army!?

She who streams wins the battle

As a strategy game, The Great Villainess draws inspiration from genre classics like Fire Emblem, particularly in the recruitment of enemy generals and the application of standard battle mechanics. There is a larger battle map that allows you to move around your units, which then zooms into a turn-based arena where you and enemy units face off for three rounds of combat. There are three classes of units: gunner, soldier, and cavalry, but each recruitable unit has unique skills and abilities, so it doesn’t feel like you are limited in choice. A weapon triangle applies, with gunners beating soldiers, and soldiers beating cavalry, and cavalry beating gunners, but you have to account for the unique skills of your units. With a bit of experimentation, I found a surprising number of synergistic combinations for different scenarios. That said, the weapons triangle comes out feeling a little loosey-goosey; character tips and dialogue imply that the weapons triangle is a key factor for victory, but I didn’t personally find that to be true. Most of my victories came from disregarding the weapons triangle entirely and instead focusing on learning which of my units formed a good combo with whom, which was more fun for me anyway.

Outside of skirmishes, the land is covered in bases connected to one another by a web-like spread of ‘supply lines’, through which you can move your units and battle enemy units. By capturing two bases adjacent to each other, you’ll own the supply line connecting the two. Maintaining and expanding your supply line is crucial: units that are standing within your supply line will replenish some HP every turn, and breaking the enemy’s supply line will deprive them of the same benefit.

If you win the battle on your turn, your units capture the enemy unit’s base on the map, thereby increasing your territory. Often, though, you’re also exposing the winning units to further attack on the enemy’s next turn, and so these skirmishes can be quite difficult. Maybe I haven’t played as many strategy games as I think I have, but I don’t think I’ve played a game with quite this combination of mechanics all working together; it’s the kind of addicting cycle that makes you want to play just… one… more… turn!

“… the kind of addicting cycle that makes you want to play just… one… more… turn!”

Enemy generals are especially tough to beat; to capture them, you first have to get their HP down to dregs before Lily can use her airship’s ‘capture stream’. Her airship has its own turn, allowing you to broadcast one of a few different livestreams, of which the capture stream is one of them, implying that Scarlet and Lily are putting the enemy general in chains for the vicarious enjoyment of their viewers. Capturing enemy generals is just the tip of the iceberg; you can stall or lure away enemy units, stop them from getting HP replenished, among other powerful effects, making it a vital resource for the Scarlet army even on easy difficulty.

There’s no overworld you return to after each battle, no restocking of weapons or items. The campaign progresses right from one battle to the next, which keeps the pace going fast without feeling bogged down in half-baked side mechanics. The world map of Midland is rendered in what looks like 2D-HD at first, but has a blocky Minecraft look when zoomed in. There is a surprising number of details if you care to look, like little farm animals, fountains, and carriages, which is a cute touch. The map could have used a day and night cycle, though, just to make it clear that time was moving — without it, it feels like the events of The Great Villainess are all happening in the span of a single afternoon.

Units can deepen their bonds with each other, though they are limited to two each. If there was any extra content that felt missing, it was the lack of more bonds, because a lot of the cast seemed like they would have chemistry with each other beyond what’s available, but I appreciate that the developers didn’t force a series of interactions to exist if they didn’t feel like it would benefit the story. Maxing out the relationship will earn you a powerful ability unique to the two units, so it makes sense that they didn’t want to have too many OP characters in your army.

8

Great

Positive:

Addicting strategy gameplay inspired by genre classics but adds new twists
Hilariously unserious story with huge WLW vibes
Beautiful character design in a gorgeous anime art style
Offers a genuine challenge even to strategy veterans

Negative:

Would have liked more bonds between units
Weapons triangle doesn't affect battle outcomes as much as it should

The Great Villainess: Strategy of Lily is a hilarious take on a strategy campaign, pairing an unserious yet compelling story with genuinely tough gameplay to create an experience that is easy to recommend to any genre fan. The characters are rendered in a striking anime style, making it easy to fall in love with Scarlet, Lily, and their growing band of rebels. The fact that it’s light on side content means that the pacing remains fast and efficient, so you never have a chance to get bored.