The Best Offline Yu-Gi-Oh Game… With a Big Problem

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• DEVELOPER: Other Ocean Emeryville
• PUBLISHER: KONAMI
• PLATFORMS: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• GENRE: Card Game
• RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2020
• STARTING PRICE: 39,99€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution is probably the best single-player Yu-Gi-Oh! game we have right now that isn’t a Tag Force title. If you’re looking for a complete offline experience that goes all the way up to VRAINS, without getting into games like Duel Links or Master Duel, this is about as good as it gets. That said, I really don’t think it’s worth full price. It’s a solid package, but it’s also a very lazy one, and you can feel that in a lot of areas.

Still, there’s a lot of content here. Besides the single-player campaigns, you’ve got multiplayer, as well as draft and sealed modes where you build decks from pre-made card pools. What’s nice is that even if you abandon those decks, you keep all the cards you acquired, so nothing feels wasted.

Could have been much better

The game includes multiple campaigns spanning the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, GX, 5D’s, and up to VRAINS, which is great if you’re a fan of the older series. Personally, I prefer that era, since once you get past VRAINS, the game becomes way too fast and combo-heavy for my taste. The campaigns themselves take a while to complete, mainly because of the “reverse duel” system. You’ll replay key matches from both perspectives, first as one character, then as their opponent, which adds some length.

One feature I really like is the option to use historical decks, meaning you can play with the exact decks used in the anime or manga. At the same time, you’re free to build your own decks, which is what I usually do, just keeping them era-appropriate for immersion.

Gameplay-wise, it’s exactly what you’d expect. It follows the real card rules closely, including all effects and mechanics. The problem is pacing. The game is painfully slow, and I genuinely don’t understand why there’s no option to speed things up. No fast-forward, no animation skip, nothing.

It wastes a huge amount of your time. I’m about 20 hours in and have only finished the original Yu-Gi-Oh! campaign because I wanted to unlock all the cards, and a big part of that time is just waiting for animations and transitions to play out.

Very underwhelming and slow experience

The card shop is another mixed bag. It’s simple: you pick a series, choose a character, and buy packs, but each pack can contain hundreds of cards, so unlocking everything takes a while. The real issue is that you can’t skip pack openings. You’re forced to sit through every single reveal, which gets frustrating very quickly. It’s such a basic quality-of-life feature that’s just missing.

Presentation doesn’t help either. Some animations are decent, but overall it feels outdated, honestly closer to PS2 or early PSP-era games. If you’ve played the Tag Force series, you’ll notice how barebones this is by comparison. The music is also extremely limited, with only a handful of tracks repeating over and over, which adds to that “lazy” feeling.

The story mode does its job, but it’s nothing special. It’s mostly text-based recaps of anime events, and while it covers the main plot points, side characters are often ignored or barely featured. It feels more like a checklist of duels than a fully fleshed-out narrative experience.

On the positive side, deck building is handled really well. The editor has solid filtering, search options, and organization tools, so putting together decks is smooth and intuitive. The AI is also decent, it understands its decks and isn’t completely brain-dead, even if some duels feel a bit scripted.

The final verdict

At the end of the day, this is a good game, but it’s also frustrating. It has a massive card pool, no microtransactions, and a ton of content, which makes it great for fans who just want a classic Yu-Gi-Oh! experience without modern systems like battle passes. But it also wastes your time constantly, lacks polish, and feels outdated in too many areas.

If you see it on a big sale, like around 10 euros, it’s absolutely worth picking up. At full price, though, it’s hard to recommend. It’s a reminder of how good a modern single-player Yu-Gi-Oh! game could be… and also how much better it should have been.

This review is based on the retail copy I purchased