Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, the preview of the long-awaited free-to-play game
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
Even if you've never opened a Yu-Gi-Oh! , created your deck of cards and played a game with friends, in all likelihood you will have at least come into contact with the series by way of the wrong way. In 2022 it will be twenty years since Konami's trading card game arrived for the first time in the West, which in a very short time became an international phenomenon thanks to the manga by Kazuki Takahashi and, above all, to the animated series of the same name. Italy debuted on Mediaset networks.It is not an isolated case in which from a successful anime a game is born that has depopulated, but while the spinning tops of BeyBlade have had their day, Yu-Gi-Oh! on several occasions he has tried to modernize and meet the tastes of an audience in search of more and more digital entertainment. And this year he will do it with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, a free to play card game in development for all platforms and which will allow you to challenge each other or to advance progress and decks regardless of whether you are playing on your iPad, home PC or console. Introduced to us, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is a project designed with fans of the card game in mind, putting aside all the imagery related to the manga and anime from which it is based.
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In Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel the Chains between the cards are shown in extremely clear animation. Yu-Gi-Oh! there have been some since the Game Boy years, but Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is the first that seems to have really been born with the intention of creating a game platform to be supported over time and designed primarily for fans of the collectible card game. The previous attempt, Duel Links on mobile and PC, has two fundamental problems: on the one hand it draws heavily from the imagery and the characters of the anime, filling the interface and menus with illustrations and backgrounds that are not very functional to the overall experience; on the other hand, it offers a simplified version of the rules, with limitations that have led the most demanding enthusiasts to fall back on unofficial alternatives and aesthetically tremendous but more complete software (such as YGOPro and its various versions).Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel instead wants to be "the definitive experience for those who want to play the card game in digital format", the spokesperson for Konami explained to us during a press event dedicated to the game, adding that for the company it is undoubtedly "the project of Yu-Gi-Oh! Most important ever made so far. " And, looking at the enduring success of competitors like Hearthstone, Magic: Arena and Shadowverse, it's easy to see why.
Beat your opponent in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel and its half screen will shatter At launch, Master Duel will have a database of around 10,000 cards, drawn directly from the brand's over twenty years of history. From "great classics" such as Exodia, Dark Magician and Red-Eyes Black Dragon to monsters and traps introduced in recent years. Konami has been somewhat vague on post-launch updates, but ensures that the intention is to support the game by introducing new cards and responding to requests from the community.
In addition to pleasing old and new fans, the Japanese company however hopes that Master Duel can bring Yu-Gi-Oh! a new audience, and for this reason great attention has been paid to the explanation of the rules. In fact, the game will open with a tutorial designed for those who are completely starved of card games: step by step you will be introduced to the most basic actions, such as drawing cards, playing monsters and traps or attacking and defending. Slightly more advanced techniques - such as summoning Fusion Monsters from the Extra Deck or the functioning of Chains and Spell Speed - will instead be described in a mode called Duel Strategy, in which to put them into practice against artificial intelligence. All the texts, including the rules, will be localized in Italian from launch.
Once you have mastered the basics, the next step is to launch into Story mode, a series of themed campaigns that introduce strategies and new types of Decks telling the story of the different cards. With an almost unusual move for the series, Master Duel abandons references to the anime and does not lose himself in telling for the umpteenth time the story of Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki and the other spiky-haired protagonists seen in the different narrative arcs. Instead, it will explore and enrich the stories and legends of the monsters within the cards, a choice that makes Story Mode interesting and new regardless of one's knowledge of the series.
As an example we were shown an excerpt from the campaign called "The Absolute Emperor", a series of challenges that tell the story of Erebus the Underworld Monarch while in the meantime allow us to familiarize ourselves with a Deck of type Monarch. In fact, each campaign will require you to play with a different deck, and by doing so you become familiar with the synergies between the different cards, prepare for the creation of your own Deck and, of course, for online challenges against other players.
Interface and online challenges
In Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel there will be monsters cheering on during matches. Notice the Rescue Rabbit on the left? We haven't been shown that much of the Friend Duels mode, but Konami hopes to be able to recreate - as much as possible - the experience of being in the comic store to meet and challenge other fans. Each online room can accommodate up to six players, who will be able to duel at the same time or watch each other's games. A "follow" system will allow you to follow your friends and invite them to play, while you can use custom decks or Structure Decks well known to Yu-Gi-Oh! Fans.It will then be possible to alter the rules of the duels, but for the moment we have not been shown how far the game options will go, for example if it will be possible to play with the rules of Speed Duel (for those instead he loved the simplification of Duel Links) or whether it will be possible to alter the restrictions related to the Forbidden and Limited cards. A search system through filters will allow you to examine the Decks of other players online, check which cards are missing from your collection and add them to your favorites. This is useful because, as happens in other popular online card games, in addition to finding them in the different sets, the cards can also be generated through a crafting system that uses points obtained by completing missions or dismantling your own duplicates.
The Story Mode of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel will allow you to experiment with different types of Decks and synergies between the cards Konami's goal is to make Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is a game that is as fun to play as it is understandable and pleasant to see. We were thus clearly inspired by that setting that, from Hearthstone to Magic: Arena, today unites all the main digital card games to a bit. You find yourself in front of a game table embellished and inspired by some fantastic settings, while remaining legible and allowing you to keep an eye on all the most important elements of your own half and that of the opponent. On the left is a timer that indicates the time available for players, as cards crack when hit and shatter when destroyed. The music presses as the challenge kicks in, some cards and abilities have special visual effects, and even when the animations are deliberately exaggerated (as in the case of a chain between different cards) the impression is that they are often functional and of easy to read.
The only redundant concession is the "Mate" system, unlockable characters and creatures that act as partners during games. Once your partner has been selected, he or she will remain at the side of the table, cheering when you play well or despairing when you are hit. For these little mascots, the developers have drawn from popular creatures and expressive monsters, such as the Black Wizard, the Amphora of Greed and the Cyber Dragon, right down to the little Rescue Rabbit who dubs to celebrate a victory. In addition to the Mate, by playing it will be possible to unlock a whole series of aesthetic accessories, from game mats to protective sleeves for cards, through the case of your Deck or illustrations to embellish your user profile.
Non c is doubtful that Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is one of the most promising adaptations of the trading card game, and all in all it's almost surprising that it took so long before Konami also offered its own alternative to Magic: Arena and Pokémon TCG. If Duel Links was a first experiment in the right direction, the most interesting aspect of Master Duel is the possibility of being able to play the full version of Yu-Gi-Oh! in an official game that is no frills and accessible for free on any platform.
