The first time I played Trillion: God of Destruction, I was stupid. I knew this was a game where the official website does a lot to help prepare you for the eventual deaths of many of the Overlords you’ll be training and sending into battle against Trillion. It didn’t matter. I saw Levia and thought she looked cool. She seemed like the ideal sort of Overlord. Did she have some jealousy issues? Sure. But she did a good job of keeping them mostly under control and, aside from that, seemed to respect the gravity of the situation and role she’d be undertaking.

So, I picked Levia as my first Overlord. I watched as she went from formal in public, to occasionally informal with Zeabolos in one-on-one situations. She was kind to the other Overlords (when she wasn’t drunk), respectful to Ergo and Ragon, her trainers, and responsible. I guess a good word for Levia was elegant. I wouldn’t have minded being in an Underworld where she ruled.

Then, I got her killed. In her very first fight against Trillion, she died. I used up her Affection Points, unintentionally, in battle. This meant she wouldn’t withdraw when ordered. I didn’t wait to see what happened or let the rest of the battle play out. I restarted Trillion: God of Destruction, determined to go with a more expendable heroine.

I chose Mammon. I wasn’t a fan of her costume or demeanor. She had abandoned her post at the Gates of Hell prior to Trillion’s arrival. She always came across as greedy and arrogant. I figured I’d be okay with sacrificing her to Trillion, so that Levia would have a better chance once her turn arrived.

The problem is, Trillion: God of Destruction makes you care about these characters. Usually, I’d make the characters rest on the sixth day of a week, but for some reason I made Zeabolos interact with Mammon one time instead. He came across her on the street. That’s when I found out that Mammon is a good person. No, wait, she’s a Good Person. She was taking money she had earned to support an orphanage, which was as full as you can imagine with a creature like Trillion roaming about. I had picked a Good Person as my first Overlord Candidate, someone who was making a difference in the Underworld without bragging about it, and was preparing to send her off to die.

To make matters even worse, Mammon ended up showing genuine character growth when I chose to have Zeabolos interact with her a second time, after I made her retreat to buy more training time. Seeing that sort of positive change in her personality, all the while knowing I was using her to put Levia in a better position later, broke my heart.

I didn’t perform any more interactions with Mammon prior to her final fight against Trillion.

I picked Perpell before heading back to Levia again. I figured this time, I’d be okay with making her a sacrificial lamb. She seemed so immature. All she cared about was food and candy. Someone like her would not make a good Overlord. So, it’d be okay if she was paving the way for one of the other characters to succeed.

Except again, it wasn’t. She didn’t have the same growth as Mammon, so it wasn’t like seeing sudden, unexpected maturity or immediate character development made me feel bad about her inevitable fate. It was more the realization that Perpell isn’t the annoying juvenile character because she’s pretending to be all cutesy and kiddy. It’s because she is cutesy and kiddy. Perpell is still a child. During one of her interactions, I learned she was upset about leaving old candy and treats behind at the Gates of Hell, her former post, because they had been given to her by her deceased father and mother. When she talked with Ashmedia and Zeabolos, she proclaimed her happiness at having mother and father figures in her life again.

I was going to save the Underworld Prize Machine gifts for Levia and the Overlords who were raised after her. After seeing how truly innocent Perpell was, I used as many as it took to raise her Affection Points to 100%. I can honestly say she probably won’t end up being my favorite Overlord, but I felt bad enough about the situation to make her a candidate for a Gem of Love, should that moment ever come.

While I’m only talking about the first three Overlords you can raise right now, to help avoid any spoilers, they’re all the same. Each one has these moments that make you care about them. You realize that you could very well be condemning them to death by choosing them and see hidden parts to their personality during these last few Cycles of their life. Even Ashmedia, who I immediately disliked most of all, had moments that made me want to do my best to train her into the best Overlord she could possibly be.

Perhaps that’s what will help make Trillion: God of Destruction successful. You’ll see these characters transform into ones you want to root for and protect, not only because they’re powerful warriors, but because they’re interesting people. You start to care about them, even the ones you might not like as much at the start, and it makes you expend extra effort to save the Underworld and keep as many of them as possible alive.

Trillion: God of Destruction will be on the PlayStation Vita in North America on March 29, 2016, and then come to Europe on April 1, 2016.