Time for a DDD duel! Many of you may still know Yu-Gi-Oh as an anime series – or as a trading card game, really with real cards that you trade with friends or draw from booster packs. Now it’s making a comeback, but not in schoolyards, but on Steam.
Since the release on January 19, 2022, it has held up Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel among the top 5 most-played games on Steam, even ahead of long-running favorites Apex Legends and GTA 5 over 260,000 players active at the same time, currently there are still a good 150,000. What kind of game is this new steam hit anyway?
What is Yu-Gi-Oh! master duel?
At its core, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is a fairly classic strategy card game in which you build a deck and use it to compete against other players in online PvP. Numerous events and tournaments with special rules should provide more variety – and of course the sheer variety of cards. There are now more than 10,000 different monsters, traps, magic and so on:
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Yu-Gi-Oh! In the launch trailer, Master Duel shows what awaits you in the Steam hit
Does the thick circumference scare you off again? The developers want to reassure newcomers or returnees: Tutorials and a solo mode should gently introduce you to the rules of the complex card game. You then collect new cards little by little, you don’t have to deal with thousands of options immediately. Nevertheless, many players express themselves critically in the Steam reviews because experienced players flatten them. Steam user gordor describes it like this:
For people who are still active in tournaments or otherwise play Yu-Gi-Oh professionally, this is definitely a great game. Not recommended at all for casual players at the moment. Some of the opponents’ moves are so long that it totally destroys the flow of the game for me. I can play another game, tidy up my apartment or do my tax return before it’s my turn again.
As I said, technically and optically there is nothing to complain about, but you should have a lot of time and patience as a newcomer or returner.
And also GameStar freelancer Dennis Zirkler has contributed to Yu-Gi-Oh! Played Master Duel – and ending it right after his opponent has played cards for five minutes in one turn. So prepare yourself for long and very complex game maneuvers!
The moves can last several minutes, especially if you use chain effects.
Why is the card game so successful?
Of course, a very well-known brand is behind the game, which is also available in 8 languages and on all consoles (with crossplay between all platforms). But there are certainly more reasons for the current huge success: Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is Free2Play, so it’s free for everyone. Especially at the beginning you get a lot of free stuff, as colleague Dennis confirms. However, some user reviews criticize the fact that it quickly becomes expensive to buy new card packs.
The current world situation should also help the game to be successful: After many Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments cannot take place due to the pandemic restrictions, fans will find a virtual alternative here.
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And Twitch is also certainly contributing to this: the game is currently being played on the streaming platform pretty much live played, which of course generates attention and attracts new players. Whether the success of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel can also hold up in the long term remains to be seen.
Are you interested in deck building but not interested in Yu-Gi-Oh? Then take a look at our review of Gordian Quest, which has already captivated us for dozens of hours in Early Access.
