I’ve previously mentioned my nostalgic appreciation towards the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. Back in the early-to-mid 2000s, that card game was my life. I’ve opened more booster packs than your average FIFA Ultimate Team addict, and played the game almost daily during reccess. But you know the drill, life goes on, you tend to let go of a few things you used to hold dear, and I eventually stopped playing Yu-Gi-Oh altogether, making me miss on the bagillion new card types and metagame variations added throughout the years. When I heard that Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale (what a name, huh?) was trying to bring the series back to its simplified roots with a less cumbersome metagame, I was eager to give it a go.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale revolves around the titular Rush Duel format, which, as promised, does cut a lot of unnecessary filler and card types that were making the entire card game borderline terrifying for newcomers or people like me, those who grew up playing a much simpler (and honestly, fun) version of Yu-Gi-Oh. In this format, you can summon as many monsters as possible in any given turn, although tributes are still in place. There are less card types, with your deck mostly relying on Normal and Effect cards. There are only three summon and magic/trap slots in your table, and you can draw as many cards per turn until you get five cards in your hand.

In theory, excellent idea. More modern card games like Hearthstone and Shadowverse are fast-paced, simple to learn, and, as a result, a lot more popular (and by that I mean lucrative) among the TCG demographic. Yu-Gi-Oh was becoming beyond convoluted to understand, so this “back-to-basics” reboot of sorts is an interesting concept. At first, I actually liked that new format. By no means was it better than the one I played back in the day, as nostalgia still blurs my vision, but it resulted in faster duels, with a lot less filler to deal with. But there are problems with this format.

The first one is the fact that you can end battles in one turn, depending on your cards. Sure, it results in a faster-paced progression system, but things get beyond menial after a while once you figure out a nice strategy with the cards at your disposal, although that leads to a second problem: the cards at your disposal. Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale has around 700 cards for you to choose from, and while that isn’t a shabby number, even older GBA titles had, at the very least, three times the amount of cards. And that was before the dawn of XYZ, Synchro and Pendulum cards. A lot of these cards are new-ish, with less exciting effects or ATK/DEF numbers, as they were designed with the new format in mind. A Summoned Skull or Gemini Elf would be overkill in this format.

Finally, I have an issue with the fast-paced format clashing with the game’s reliance on voice samples and cutscenes, which do the exact opposite of what the format is here for; they’re just here to slow everything down. Every time you draw a card, your character needs to inform the opponent of such exciting news, as if we were watching the freaking anime, where it would take up to four episodes for one duel to end. The boring overworld, which looks poor and runs even worse, was there only to bring the experience to a halt as well. The Rush Duel format is interesting, but I think that, in order for it to truly become a go-to fast-paced Yu-Gi-Oh experience, the entire game needed to be simplified in order to sync with the overall faster pace.

The Rush Duel format is a welcome change of pace after having to deal with all that Synchro / Pendulum / XYZ nonsense, but it turns the overall Yu-Gi-Oh metagame into something way more simplistic than the fun strategic madness it once was. Think about that before considering buying Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale, as this format will not please everyone. This is mostly aimed at newcomers, and I am sure they will have a blast with it. If you play Yu-Gi-Oh for the strategy or the OCD-inducing card collecting, the clunkier (but still fun) Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution is still the way to go.

Graphics: 6.0 Still not exactly a sight for sore eyes, but a noticeable improvement over Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution. I appreciate the larger card artworks. The overworld visuals are underwhelming and run at a really low framerate. Thankfully, they are not the game’s main focus.	Gameplay: 8.0 This game revolves around a simplified format of the Yu-Gi-Oh card game format, a borderline “back-to-basics” reboot when you think of it. It’s less cumbersome than other formats, but it’s a bit TOO simplified. Despite my gripes with the format, this game features the same intuitive gameplay from the previous Yu-Gi-Oh game on Switch. No complaints.
Sound: 6.5 A decent soundtrack is featured in Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel. There is also a bit of voice acting, but it’s not really good. To make matters worse, the characters talk A LOT during duels, severely slowing down their pace.	Fun Factor: 6.5 The Rush Duel format is a welcome change of pace after having to deal with all that Synchro / Pendulum / XYZ nonsense, but it turns the overall Yu-Gi-Oh metagame into something way more simplistic than the fun strategic madness it once was. Not to mention the slow-paced story and shockingly limited amount of cards at your disposal.
Final Verdict: 7.0

Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale!! is available now on Switch.

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale!! was provided by the publisher.