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| Gameplay & Story | Release Date | Pre-Register & Pre-Order | Review |
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond is a new collectible card game from Cygames! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
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Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Review Overview
What is Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond?
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond is a competitive online collectible card game developed by Cygames. It serves as a sequel to the original Shadowverse title. Initially slated for a summer 2024 release, the game was delayed to June 17, 2025 for iOS, Android, and PC. This new game aims to enhance the depth of the original game with the introduction of new mechanics and features while also providing a social hub for players.
Like its predecessor, simply titled Shadowverse, Worlds Beyond sees two players battle it out using their Leaders, Followers (Creature Cards that can attack and defend), Spells, and Amulets. Their primary goal is to reduce their opponent’s Defense (or health) to zero. Worlds Beyond, however, introduces a new mechanic called Super Evolution, which allows players to enhance their followers beyond standard evolution.
Beyond these, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond will deliver a new storyline with fully voiced characters. Cygames also intends to have an altered card set release schedule to keep the game fresh. There will be a new card set once every month to month and a half from its release to August, then once every two months afterwards.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond features:
⚫︎ New Super-Evolution Mechanic
⚫︎ Shadowverse Park Social Hub
⚫︎ Engaging Story Mode
⚫︎ Gorgeous Art All Around
⚫︎ Seven Playable Classes of Cards
⚫︎ Cross-Platform Multiplayer
⚫︎ 142 Cards at Launch, With Daily Free Card Packs
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond’s gameplay and story.
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Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Accessible Gameplay with Depth for Veterans Variety of Strategies and Decks to Explore Shadowverse Park is Neat Fully-Voice Acted Story Mode |
Aggressive Monetization Poor F2P Progression UI is Often Cluttered |
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Overall Score - 82/100
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond is a game with clever card battling core, gorgeous art, and a rich set of modes to explore, yet it’s bogged down by a monetization model that feels very restrictive. There’s a lot to appreciate here—from the exhilarating back-and-forth and well-fought matches to the collectible appeal of customizing decks and avatars—but the aggressive pricing and slow progression dampen much of that appeal. It’s a solid follow-up in many respects; it just needs a little more generosity to let it flourish.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Story - 8/10
Props to Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond for how it handles its story. It plays out like a visual novel, and it kicks things off in medias res; you’re right there with the characters during the Feast of the Wolves, rather than being subjected to those long backstory slideshows. What’s available now at launch gives you something to chew on and gets you invested into figuring out the full story. The only bummer is that you’re going to have to wait a while for subsequent chapters to drop. We’re currently limited to just the prologue and Dreizehn’s backstory. Honestly, I was hoping for at least another chapter or two at launch. Still, if the original Shadowverse is any indication, this story is bound to get even more compelling as updates roll out.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Gameplay - 9/10
Worlds Beyond plays pretty much like the original Shadowverse, with the main new addition being the Super Evolution mechanic. It's not a radical shift in gameplay; think of it more as another resource to cleverly manage and throw at your opponent. And hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? What's really surprising, though, is Shadowverse Park. It's not something anyone was clamoring for, but I'm completely won over. It’s a neat way to personalize your game experience and just chill with friends or even random folks online. It’s so good, in fact, that I wish other card games would take a page out of its book.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Visuals - 9/10
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond looks absolutely incredible. The animations pop, card arts dynamically change with Evolve and Super Evolve, and the story mode even delivers visually striking art. You might find the UI a bit busy at first glance, but it's a minor hurdle; it just takes a little time to appreciate its design. Sooner or later, you won’t even want to make use of the tooltips that pop out when hovering your cursor over your cards.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Audio - 9/10
Worlds Beyond really delivers on the audio front. The music and sound effects perfectly capture the story's vibe, and the battle effects are spot-on. What's truly impressive, though, is the extensive voice acting throughout most of the story, brought to life by some genuinely talented folks. You'll hear Elsie Lovelock (Kurara from The Hundred Line Defense, Lucy from Zenless Zone Zero) as Dreizehn, Jenny Yokobori (Yoimiya from Genshin Impact) as Kaoi Yuihara, and Cory Yee (Gato from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves) as Galan. It's a real shame, then, that many of these fantastic performances are front-loaded, as these characters largely disappear after the prologue.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Value for Money - 6/10
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond is technically free-to-play, but it doesn't quite feel that way, especially compared to its predecessor. Sure, it just launched, and things might change. But right now, even with those daily free packs, the game seems to demand a lot more of your time and wallet. It looks and plays better, no doubt, but that enhanced experience seems to come at the cost of the free-to-play friendliness that made the original so great. And that's a real shame.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Review: A Shadow of Its Former Self
It’s a weird feeling going back to a world you barely dipped your toes into years earlier. That’s kind of where I find myself with Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond. The first time I played the original Shadowverse, it was a brief fling—some tutorial segments, a few games here and there. At the time, I was bouncing back and forth between Hearthstone and Shadowverse, unsure which ecosystem I wanted to sink myself into. Eventually, I tried both, liked both… but ultimately went with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. Nostalgia’s got me on a chokehold, to be honest.
Still, I hadn’t forgotten about Cygame’s collectible card game; I had hoped that I would find the time (and strength to play another card game on top of the others I’ve been playing on and off) to return someday.
Years later, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond came along, a sequel to the original, and I decided it was time to give it a proper shake. The first Shadowverse had Hearthstone’s immediacy in its roots but added its own twists to it, like the Evolution points, for example, that added depth to a formula we’d gotten quite comfortable with. It’s a game that tries to reassess what made the first game tick and to re-engine it for a new era—and hopefully a new, or at least a lapsed, player base—without losing its soul in the process. Key word here being "tries," but we’ll get to that.
As someone who hopped from Gwent to Hearthstone to Yu-Gi-Oh!, I appreciate a game that finds its own voice in a well-trodden genre. There’s a kind of sweet spot I’m always trying to find—something deep enough to keep me engaged over hundreds of hours without feeling overwhelming or impenetrable. I want a game I can learn quickly and appreciate immediately, but I also want it to grow alongside me. From what I’d tasted previously, and from what World Beyond seemed to be offering, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to reconnect with the game itself. So I dealt myself in once more.
Into the Feast of the Wolves
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond drops you directly into the deep end from the outset. It starts in medias res, with a roster of warriors already enmeshed in the Feast of Wolves, a grand showdown where combatants from all walks of life come together to fight and hopefully reach the Library of Lambs. Whatever lies within this mythical library is rumored to be a prize worth battling for, and each character has their own motives for entering the fray.
Dreizehn, the leader of Portalcraft, is the protagonist you follow first, and she wants a new beginning for her world. While others want to kill each other to get what they want, she opts for a more peaceful resolution: for everyone in the Feast to climb to the library together. To do this, though, she has to convince people who do not want to be convinced: Kaori, the leader of Runecraft; Lovesign, Forestcraft; Marie, Swordcraft; Galan, Dragoncraft; Diawl, Abysscraft; and Esperanza, Havencraft. Each character has their own backstory, ambitions, struggles, and you get a glimpse of all these in the prologue.
The story drops you into the thick of it immediately and then promises to unveil more about each character’s motives in subsequent chapters. But the best part is that all this narrative is presented in a fully voice-acted, visual novel-like format. The character portraits, dramatic cut-ins, and rich delivery by the voice cast bring these personalities to life in a way that text alone wouldn’t convey. It doubles as a clever way to introduce the game’s Classes, to let you learn their mechanics and strategies.
At the time of writing, a full 12 hours after launch, there isn’t a huge amount of story here. There’s a lengthy prologue that’s honestly amazing to go through—a dramatic opening cinematic, rich character introductions, and a strong hint of a larger conflict at play—and then the first chapter that focuses on Dreizehn’s motives for entering the Feast of Wolves. Her quest to bring her world back is a strong character thread.
I instantly clicked with Dreizehn. Her story kicks off with her as an amnesiac, learning the ropes of her own existence and the world around her, guided by her dual guns, Weapon #060. Watching their journey of self-discovery unfold is genuinely compelling, and I wanted more of it after the first chapter ended. It left me a bit hungry for more. There are numerous questions left unanswered, relationships barely hinted at, and numerous story threads left dangling.
I understand, though, that Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond is a live-service game, so future updates are bound to expand on these nascent storylines. We're essentially getting in on the ground floor, and while it means we'll have to wait for the narrative to fully unfurl, what's here is a compelling start. Dreizehn's initial arc alone is enough to hook you and leave you genuinely curious about where this grand, anime-infused saga is headed.
Sticking to What Works
But of course, people come to a card game for, well, the card game. At its core, Worlds Beyond sticks fairly close to what made the original Shadowverse tick: It’s still a collectible card game that plays at a brisk, aggressive pace. You can't just go through your deck on pure muscle memory. Much like Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone, you’re reacting, thinking a few turns forward, and trying to maximize every drop of resources you have.
For those who haven’t played the first Shadowverse, your main resources in a match are Play Points, which regenerate each turn and limit what you can put on the board—creatures, or "Followers"—or what powerful "Spells" you can cast. There’s a satisfying feeling to efficiently filling your curve, dropping creatures at just the right moment to pressure your opponent while conserving resources later on for a big combo. The back-and-forth of attack-respond-attack feels snappy. It avoids the slow grind you sometimes hit in, say, Magic: The Gathering and the all-out pace of Yu-Gi-Oh! Here, momentum matters; a strong opening can spiral into you dominating if your opponent suddenly drops the ball.
It can feel a bit much at first, especially with all the info coming at you upfront. You've got tons of keywords, synergies, and mechanics to grasp. But the story's actually pretty clever about teaching you without it feeling like a chore. There's a tutorial if you want to dig into a specific Class' deck, but honestly, you'll pick it up just by playing normally—you know, trial and error. Either way, your main goal is still to smash your opponent's Leader's Defense Points to zero using your Followers.
One piece of gameplay that stands out is the Evolve mechanic. Each match, you’re given two "Evolve" points, which you can spend on one Follower to transform them into a more powerful form. They get to immediately attack, gain more health, and sometimes trigger special effects. It’s a nice twist that adds a layer of depth to your decisions. Do you use it early to control the board, or hang on to it for a more dramatic play later?
New to Worlds Beyond is Super Evolution, a mechanic that lets your Followers unlock seriously powerful, often game-changing abilities. I can't even count how many times this alone has saved my hide in a tight spot, or, conversely, how many times my opponents have pulled it off and done the same to me! These buffs unlock the Followers’ Super Evolve abilities like spawning more units, dishing out extra damage to enemy Followers, or even bouncing an opponent’s unit right back to their hand.
Just like with regular Evolve, though, you’ve really got to be strategic about when and to which Follower you grant that Super Evolution. You and your opponents only get two per match. Using them on Followers that don’t even have Super Evolve abilities can be wasteful, but, if you’re in a tight pinch, doing so might give you that edge you need for a comeback.
However, it sticks a little too close to its predecessor. Beyond the new Super Evolve mechanic, there aren't many wild new ideas that truly shake up the core gameplay loop. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing—the first game was already a solid card battler, so sticking to what works makes sense. But it does make you scratch your head a bit, wondering why they'd launch a whole new title when the original will still be running alongside it. It’s essentially the same game, just with a beefier engine and a fresh coat of paint.
Mastering Your Class
When it comes to Classes, the game has a lot of them—Portalcraft, Swordcraft, Havencraft, Dragoncraft, Forestcraft, Runecraft, and Abysscraft—and they all bring their own different strategies and synergies to the table. Portalcraft plays with artifact creatures and synergistic effects; Swordcraft focuses on soldiers and explosive aggression; Havencraft controls through healing and more protective effects; Dragoncraft starts slow and then drops creatures with big attacks once it reaches a certain amount of resources. Each class feels distinctly different in a way that makes swapping between them a bit like you’re literally changing job classes. The fundamentals remain the same, sure, but the feeling, power, utility, and flow is completely different.
Abysscraft is the new Class introduced in Worlds Beyond, and it feels like a combination of both Bloodcraft and Shadowcraft. Here, your followers get certain effects when your Defense Points dip, or when you sacrifice them, which is a pretty cool twist. I haven’t had a chance to dive into this deck yet (more on that later), but the idea of a midrange-control deck like this is definitely appealing.
Dress to Impress in Shadowverse Park!
One of the things that sets Shadowverse Worlds Beyond apart from your typical collectible card game is Shadowverse Park, a communal hub for players to hang out in. Here, you control your own avatar that kind of resembles a miniature Xbox Avatar, a tiny reflection of you. Naturally, you can customize it—swapping hairstyles, outfits, accessories—to make sure it stands out from the crowd. There’s a surprising amount of personalization here. Surprising, as you wouldn’t expect a digital card game to have such an amount of customization. I mean, you can even customize your own room! You have a room! Decorations are a bit pricey and more so for hardcore players who want their own corner of the world, but the option is appreciated.
The Park is a fully functional hub for match-up and competition. If you want to find a match quickly, you can just walk up to a battle table to set detailed match conditions and spectator limits. If you’d rather match instantly against whoever’s available, you can dart into a Lobby Match and let the game find you an opponent. There’s even a Knockout Table where you can compete in a small bracket and broadcast your match to nearby players. It adds a communal feeling to match-up that you typically miss in a standard UI.
Some might say it’s a more convoluted way to find a match, to which it is. Normally in card games, you’d just navigate menus or enter a code and be done, but honestly, this approach adds character to the process. It’s fun seeing your avatar move through a space alongside a crowd of fellow players. It transforms what is normally an experience done through Discord into something with more personality. It’s a rather small hub, though, with little to explore, but for a collectible card game, I like the ambition.
There are also weekly quests that award points for simple tasks—like entering the Park a certain number of days—alongside daily quests for small goals, such as completing a match or simply dropping by to say "hi." Completing these quests earn you points—up to 100 each week—which you can then use to grab rewards. Those points come in handy when you want to customize your avatar further. The Park lets you redeem points for Park Chests, which drop clothing and other goodies.
Not so Free After All
And so comes the game’s biggest downfall and why it’s being review-bombed on Steam at the time of writing: its monetization. Take note, though, that these are my thoughts just a day after the game launched. We still do not know whether or not any of the things I mention here will be changed following the backlash it’s receiving.
Shadowverse was known for having one of the most Free-to-Play (F2P) friendly ecosystems in the card game market, even more so than Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. It’s actually the very reason why I even heard of the game in the first place. Players could dismantle unwanted cards into vials, then use those vials to craft whatever they were missing. F2P players were rewarded for simply putting in the time. But Worlds Beyond plays by a very different set of rules—a set that feels designed to squeeze just a little more cash from you at every turn.
To break it down: A single pack in Worlds Beyond costs 500 Rupees—which, for context, you typically earn about 210 Rupees from daily quests—not a huge amount when you consider you need numerous packs to make a viable deck. The game drops a single pack into your lap just for logging in, which is nice and very much appreciated, but it’s a drop in the ocean when you realize you need 250 packs to activate the gacha’s "pity" guarantee. To put it bluntly, the dripfeed simply isn’t enough.
Your pull odds aren’t much friendlier. The chance of pulling a Legendary—the highest rarity—is 1.5%. That might not be awful in a vacuum, but when you remember there are 23 Legendary cards per set, and you need three copies of each for a complete collection, it starts adding up quickly.
Furthermore, and probably the worst offender here, is that you can’t liquefy unwanted cards to craft ones you need, at least not until you already have three copies, which makes the whole process feel punitive. This, according to the developers, is a way for players to broaden horizons and try out other decks instead of sticking to only one. However, this results in a collection filled with "dead" copies you have no interest in using and you can’t turn into vials.
What’s even more harrowing is that for those trying to maximize their resources, you get less vials for liquefying cards now. The amount you get for liquefying a gold card—previously 250 vials—has been cut to 200. Silver cards even more so, from 50 down to 20. To put it into perspective, you’d need to destroy 175 silver cards just to craft a single Legendary, which costs 3,500 vials. It’s a frustrating rate of return that makes the path toward a fully functional deck even feel more and more distant.
And it’s not just the card economics, either. The shop is even more expensive now. Hero skins from the original cost 1,000 crystals; now it’s 6,400 for a full set, which is nearly $100. The pack pricing itself underscores this, with 100 crystals for a pack—a rate you can match by dropping $80 for 5,500 crystals.
The worst part might be the way the game handles "Leader" cards, which were previously a nice bonus that came bundled with your drop. Now, though, they’re split into separate "Leader Tickets" you redeem for cosmetics and titles. It feels designed to extract maximum profits from whales. Naturally, pure F2P players will find it hard to keep up, given the slow rate at which Rupees and vials trickle in.
Is Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Worth It?
It’s Still a Fun Card Game… But...
I like Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond; I really do. There’s a lot here to appreciate. The gameplay itself is strong. It’s easy enough to learn if you’re a newcomer, but it has plenty of depth to keep veteran players engaged. The strategies you can piece together from different classes make for a rich experience. There was a Runecraft and Dragoncraft deck that completely steamrolled me just hours before writing this review, and I’d love to try them myself… if I could. The problem is, I simply lack the resources to put them together. I tried grinding the story mode and the tutorial for in-game currency, and even after collecting a hundred cards from the current pool of 142, I’m still well short. Certain key cards require duplicates for you to draw them more in a deck, and those duplicates are expensive to craft.
Many players found Shadowverse to be very accommodating for F2Ps. However, Worlds Beyond appears to have a more aggressive monetization strategy that potentially requires weeks or even months to assemble a competitive deck. Players who can’t or won’t sink large amounts of money into the game will find it hard to keep up with those who do
I’ll still be playing the game and making use of my subpar deck just to see how it evolves over time. As it is now, though, it’s hard to recommend to players who just want to casually play the game and get a win or two daily. Whether future updates will ease this bottleneck or not, it’s hard to say. But for now, this feels less like a rich collectible card game and more like a rich person’s collectible.
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Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond FAQ
Who Are Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond’s Leaders?
Leaders in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond include the following:
⚫︎ Dreizehn: Portalcraft Leader. A girl created into a machine-dominated world.
⚫︎ Lovesign: Forestcraft Leader. The Enchanter of Kingdoms.
⚫︎ Marie Malisse: Swordcraft Leader. A noblewoman hailing from a kingdom abloom with flowers.
⚫︎ Kaori Yuihara: Runecraft Leader. A Nayuta-class archmage from a technologically advanced metropolis.
⚫︎ Galan: Dragoncraft Leader. An old man who lives in a secluded corner of a shady market district.
⚫︎ Diawl: Abysscraft Leader. A beast of legend from a fog-shrouded town.
⚫︎ Esperanza: Havencraft Leader. A mysterious woman who seems detached from the world around her.
Game8 Reviews
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Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond Product Information
|
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| Title | SHADOWVERSE: WORLDS BEYOND |
|---|---|
| Release Date | June 17, 2025 |
| Developer | Cygames |
| Publisher | Cygames |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic Games Store) Mobile (Android, iOS) |
| Genre | Digital Collectible Card Game |
| Number of Players | Online PvP (2 Players) |
| ESRB Rating | IARC 7+ |
| Official Website | Official Website for Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond |
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