Yu:Gi:Oh! Legacy of Duelist (CIB) – Nintendo Switch

I want to preface this review by saying I am not a modern Yu-Gi-Oh player and have not played the card game since I was a child. I don’t know the meta, I don’t fully understand the rules and I’m not even sure I have any cards anymore, if I do still possess them, they are in the attic gathering dust. In all honesty it has been a while since I have even thought of ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’. However recently this charming anime has been coaxing itself back into my thoughts, it started with a water cooler conversation at work, my friend and colleague regaling me of his exploits at a local convention. The second seed that got planted was on a lazy Sunday morning; my porridge began to cool while I frantically flicked through Prime Video, I couldn’t possibly watch something without background television, and then suddenly, in the suggested section, I saw it: ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’. I put it on, and once again I was eight-year-old me, watching it on a Saturday morning, in awe of the monsters, spells and trap cards on display. The final piece of my nostalgic millennium puzzle was pieced together when I saw ‘Yu-Gi-Oh: Legacy of the Duelist‘ on sale.

I thought it important to highlight the casualness with which I have always approached Yu-Gi-Oh because it is important to understand what this game is and isn’t. It is a nostalgic romp through the TV series, it is not a grindy, competitive, cutting-edge deck builder. As someone who collected the cards as a kid, but was more interested in the Anime, this game immediately felt like it was going to more up my street. While ‘Master Duel’ and ‘Duel Links’ are more realistic and accurate portrayals of the card game, ‘Legacy of the Duelist‘ is a journey through the anime and a love letter to the card game instead of a competitive vessel for it. Those who want to create an infallible, all conquering deck and assert dominance over all others in an up to date and perfect representation of the TCG won’t find that here, not to say there isn’t a multiplayer, however the focus of this game, and of this review is the single player component.

The main single player mode is the campaign, which, as mentioned earlier, allows you to play in every duel from the anime. Upon loading up the game for the first time I couldn’t wait to get started, and I was immediately enamored by the appearance of eponymous Yugi Moto, it felt as if I was seeing an old childhood friend. There are no cutscenes, instead the story is presented by 2d pictures of the characters with captions. This gives it a retro JRPG charm, a static picture of character will slide into view, type out some dialogue, before sliding back out, it is oddly charming, although that could be nostalgia talking. For players who want an immersive story campaign it might feel a bit barebones. If you’re a ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’ fan however you’re probably not playing the game to lap up the story, you’re probably there to duel!

Unsurprisingly the duels are the meat of the game and money and time saved on the cutscenes have clearly been funneled into the duels, they are quick, snappy and satisfying,

the AI thinks and acts quickly and from what I’ve played so far, makes smart plays. I’ve seen a few non-optimum moves, but as a rookie duelist myself, I welcome an opponent who also makes mistakes. Not to say that it’s a push over, I’ve had to try a few duels multiple times, sometimes due to a great AI move, sometimes due to bad gameplay on my part and sometimes you just get a bad draw, but that’s just part of card games. The only things that slow it down are the signature card animations, I won’t spoilt who, but certain famous cards will have a special cutscene when they are summoned, which is a welcome surprise the first time but quickly gets repetitive after seeing it over and over again. Another repetitive aspect is that when you set a trap card, the game will ask you after every single opponent action whether you want to activate it, sometimes I activated a trap card early just to get rid of the annoying prompts. On the plus side this means you can activate trap cards exactly when you would like to, just be prepared for a lot of dialog boxes to pop up while you wait for that perfect moment, these interruptions can slow down the duels somewhat.

The game seems balanced, but most importantly not too cutthroat that its unenjoyable. The duels, first and foremost, feel fun, which is the perfect for what this game is providing, which is a nostalgic, charming and oddly quite cosy journey through the TV series. This journey through the anime is what makes this game shine, in between the 2d cutscenes that tell you the story, you will dive into every duel that takes place, starting at the very beginning with Yugi’s very first duel against Joey. The duels have anime-accurate desks, you can replicate the actual plays made in the duels if you draw the right cards, in my first duel against Kaiba, I successfully managed to summon Exodia to win the duel, just like Yugi did. When you pull off the same moves as the character in the Anime it really made my inner child leap for joy, on the flip side, figuring out an alternative way to win the duel is equally, if not more, satisfying.

It’s not just your own deck that replicates the anime, but the opponents as well, Kaiba will always try and get his Blue-Eyes onto the field and Mai will overwhelm you with Harpies. Playing against these lore accurate characters is thrilling and as a Yu-Gi-Oh fan, it is a dream come true, as someone who never attended conventions and rarely dueled for real, being able to finally go to toe to toe against the likes of Kaiba and Pegasus gave parts of my brain closure that I didn’t even know it needed. You won’t just play as Yugi either, you will take control of all sorts of characters including Joey, Pegasus, Kaiba and using their unique decks is simply a joy, you get the opportunity to play with all sorts of thematic and lore accurate decks. Combine your three blue eyes and summon Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon as Kaiba or destroy your opponent with the toon cards as Pegasus, the decks are thematic and trying to mimic the characters strategies is incredibly satisfying. After you beat a duel with the lore accurate winner, you can play as them in the “reverse duel” and change the outcome of the duel, for instance, you could play as Kaiba and try and beat Yugi before he can summon Exodia, or take control of Pegasus and succeed in sending Yugi to the shadow realm. If you get tired of using the ‘Story’ decks taken from the show, you can play through every single duel with your own custom deck, adding yet another layer of replayability.

You win cards by either winning duels, which will unlock certain signature cards, or you can buy booster packs. No Yu-Gi-Oh game would be complete without booster packs, and Legacy Of The duelist provides the satisfaction of opening them without it being intrusive, there are no microtransactions, and you earn all your currency in game by completing duels, even if you lose you will earn some money, so there is a small benefit in seeing duels through to the end, even if it is doomed (if you lose you will also get a tip on how to win that particular duel, so there is an incentive to not rage quit). There are a lot of duels in this game, 15 hours in and I’ve barely done any of Duelist Kingdom, which is only the first arc. Along with all the “reverse duels” there are an incredible number of duels in the story mode.

As well as story and reverse duels, there are also “Duelist Challenges”, which allows you to go up against duelists with special decks that are more challenging than their story counterpart, which will test your deckbuilding and dueling skills to the limit. There are also ‘Battlepacks’, which allow you to play against the AI or other players in a drafting mode. All of these duels will give you in game currency and cards which can be used to buy more cards and create decks which can be used in any mode. You can use them in multiplayer as well to duel other players, which is serviceable for casual dueling, but for a much more robust multiplayer you are better off checking out “Master Duel” or “Duel links” which have far better multiplayer systems and more up to date rules.

There are countless hours of content here, for the casual Yu-Gi-Oh fan it is perfect, and for former fans it is a great way to remind yourself of the joys of Yu-Gi-Oh and a brilliant launching pad back into the hobby. The story will take you through to the modern game, so is a good way to get up to speed with the new rules and systems, I am looking forward to learning about “Pendulum” Summons, which is something I never experienced when I was into the hobby as a kid. The tutorial will quickly teach you how to play, and you can jump straight into dueling, and if you haven’t watched the series, it’s a great way of learning the lore, and if you have seen the show then it is an incredible nostalgia machine. More hardcore fans will still enjoy the deckbuilding and duelist challenges on offer. Thousands of cards and hundreds of different duels means you will be entertained for hours, and with the deckbuilding you can try all sorts of different decks with cards from the entire saga.

There is a tonne of content here and will provide any ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’ fan with hours of fun, just remember to believe in the heart of the cards.