A brand-newPCgame that’s now free on Steam could be the thing that killsGenshin Impactfor good.Genshinhas been going strong for five years now, and, evenafter several major updates, still has a massive player base and a devoted group of fans worldwide. With several newcharacters confirmed for the upcoming Nod-Krai region, it’s only set to get bigger.
But now,Genshin Impacthas a little more competition in the form ofa new gacha game,Umamusume: Pretty Derby. While the two are very different in terms of gameplay, and I have to admit, I’m half-kidding when I sayUmamusumecould meaningfully replaceGenshinin today’s video game market, there’s a real throughline between the two that bears closer examination.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby Is Getting Positive User Reviews
How The Weird Horse Girl Game Got Popular
Umamusume: Pretty Derbyis a free gacha game in which the characters you collect are not powerful warriors, butanime horse girls. Reincarnated from real-life racehorses of the same names and temperaments, Umamusume (literally “horse girls” in Japanese) attend a school called Tracen Academy, and run in competitive foot races for honor and glory.
I coveredUmamusume’s meteoric rise to international famein a separate article earlier this month. The gist is thus: released in Japan way back in 2021,Umamusumefirstgained popularity in the West due to itstie-in anime series. The game itself was released worldwide back in June,becoming an almost-overnight hit, especially after several popular streamers helped catapult it into the public eye.
Earlier this year,Umamusumeeven partnered with the real-life Kentucky Derby, with CyGames branding all over the event.
It certainly seems likepeople can’t get enough ofUmamusume: back at the beginning of July, it had over 8,000 reviews on Steam, with an Overwhelmingly Positive consensus. Now, that number has risen to over 14,00 - although the review consensus has fallen slightly to Very Positive.
Reviews Are Already Much Better Than Genshin Impact
How Umamusume Compares To Genshin
Now, we can’t compare Steam reviews forUmamusumedirectly toGenshin Impact, becauseGenshinisn’t available on the Steam store. But considering theMetacriticscores between the two,Umamusumeis surging ahead with an 8.6 User Score toGenshin’s 5.0.
Umamusumedoesn’t have as many critic reviews- just three, to be precise, which is one shy of enough for Metacritic to give it an aggregate score. That said, if you averaged out its three review scores at present, it’d come out to an 81, which is the same scoreGenshinhas right now.
Umamusumeplayers praise it for its high production quality, surprisingly deep strategic gameplay, and enjoyability, even as a free-to-play game. Despite its gacha elements and monetization,Umamusumehas given away lots of freebiesin its early days, which has helped many players build respectable stables full of high-rarity racers.
A common thread throughout reviews of both games, though, arecomplaints of monetization and microtransactions. Even so, in these early days forUmamusume, it’s amounted to a much more positive audience score for the horse girl game. But there’s plenty of time for that to change.
It’s A Bit Too Early To Tell, But Umamusume Is Looking Good Right Now
Umamusume’s Ratings Will Probably Go Down
Even beyond early player reviews,Umamusumehas a lot going for it at the moment. It’s new, it’s fresh, it’s trendy, which means unusually high player counts that will inevitably fall off over time.
It’ll always have its hardcore fans, and it’s earned them - but its excellent reviews are likely to degrade a bit, too. Players will likely view it more negatively when early-days event bonuses wear off, and the monetization aspect of it becomes a little more prevalent. And even a single middling professional review could plunge its Metacritic score belowGenshin’s.
Ultimately,in time, I expect both games to occupy their own niches.Umamusumewill appeal to players who enjoy complex sports management sims with a sense of humor, andGenshinwill appeal to fans of expansive, open-world RPGs.
That being said,Umamusumeoccupies a much smaller corner of the video game market.Genshin’s gameplay has much broader appeal, with its basis in popular, beloved games likeBreath of the Wild.
So, whileUmamusumewill never fully replaceGenshin Impact, it’s the hottest gacha game out there right now, and certainly seems like it’s here to stay. With four years' worth of content from the Japanese version ready to go for the Western release, its fans certainly won’t run out of things to do anytime soon. For the time being, it’s one of the most distinct and well-receivedPCgames in recent memory.
