Umamusume: Pretty Derby Review for Steam

Umamusume: Pretty Derby by developer and publisher Cygames, Inc., is a new mobile gacha game that has dominated the globe. As of writing this has become an international hit sensation with hundreds and hundreds of YouTube videos going in-depth on the various Umas (horses) in the game. The game itself focuses on players becoming a personal trainer for their Umas. Moreover, the game is more of a roguelite gacha game in terms of genre. Other than that, there are various forms of media surrounding the franchise itself due to its popularity. The media ranges from songs and anime series to even a movie spawning due to its popularity. These are just a few things that have made Umamusume: Pretty Derby a global sensation.

The gameplay itself is based around a gacha, but it does have one special feature built into the game as opposed to others. And it would be a limit on purchasing power as to prevent certain age groups from overspending their hard-earned money. This helps address an issue with gacha games, and that is some of the more predatory marketing in them, as this can be seen as a gesture of good will from CyGames. Aside from that gesture, the game is more or less a roguelite in terms of the main gameplay element, where players will need to train their Umas during the course of a run. Players will need to choose from training, speed, stamina, power, guts, and wisdom to win their desired races and progress. Moreover, players will need to roll for two things from the gacha: their Umamusume and the support cards that go with them. To go into details, different Umamusume’s have special skills and attributes that define who they are. Certain Umamusume’s can be adept in dirt, turf, late, end closer, pace, and front runners as to inform the player as to what race best suits their characters. Aside from that, players will also need to obtain support cards that can increase certain stats or unlock certain skills that are exclusive to those cards. These skills can make or break a run, as the game is built on a roguelike gameplay loop, as at the end of each run each Umamusume is sent to the player-versus-player section of the game in team races.

During moments of gameplay, players will need to choose what state they will need to increase during the duration of their run to best suit the races that they may encounter in the future. Also, depending upon how the player will build and train their Umamusume to become better in the long run. An example of a simple yet effective build is with an Umamusume named Sakura Bakushin O and spamming speed due to her races being focused on speed to farm sparks from her. However, for people who want to min-max their characters, they can either be free to play (F2P) or spend money on the game to obtain certain character cards that can boost certain stats and unlock certain abilities their Umamusume can use while racing.

To go in depth a bit more, players who have achieved multiple runs will need to farm for various sparks that can influence the bonus stats of their Umas during the run and achieve higher stats. So, selecting certain desirable traits is key to making the best Uma that the player can use during their run and in pvp (player versus player), which puts Umas against each other on the racetrack. This is not too far from how actual racehorses are to be bred over in Japan, combining various abilities and temperaments to make a better racehorse. Also, there have been plenty of videos regarding the subject of certain racehorses on YouTube, stretching into documentaries on the real-life horses behind the characters. As for events with the release of global, there seems to be a rush to catch them up to the Japanese servers, as some of the events this year seem to be misaligned with actual time frames.

Other than that, Umamusume: Pretty Derby by Cygames is an excellent game that has left a mark in the gaming community, as it has obtained players’ choice in the 2025 Games Choice Awards. Also, since the launch of the game, YouTube has been flooded with various in-depth videos on the inspirations for the Umamusume’s and it really shows how much the development cared when making the characters and their stories. This game is a solid and rightfully earned 10/10 game, from its gameplay loop to even how it impacted the anime gaming community as a whole.

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Kyle Manila

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I would describe myself when interacting with games as a strategist with a pension for stealth and loud explosions.