Have you ever wanted to grit your teeth and take a few blows to the face in a one-sided steel cage match? Do you enjoy stale meta environments? Do you enjoy constantly running into the same deck because a big-name content creator puts out a list with a video that explains how to play it, so let's net deck it?

So let's start with some negatives: you do not get any of your collaboration stuff you had in the original in the event you link an account from the original game, like Fate/Stay Night or Shaman King, to name a few, if you have one. So if you spent money just to get a specific leader over there, that's where it shall remain. The original game's base leaders, which should have been free, are priced at around $80 for their pack. You wanted to use Luna or Urias instead of the default abomination of a leader for the Abyss class, which is the merged shell of what Shadow and Blood used to be? Well, it looks like you're spending money.

Let us not forget the park, which tried to add some social features to the game and failed miserably. There's no real reason to even go into the park for more than the 20 minutes it takes every Sunday to finish your weeklies to get the 10 keys of disappointment to use on the lootbox in the middle. I myself hope the park system isn't why Worlds Beyond, which was originally going to launch in 2024, was delayed till 2025 because the system is literally just an overglorified chat room with lights and sparklers.

You can no longer liquefy all cards freely like you could in the original version. You are required to keep at least 3 of each card, which means it takes longer for you to build a deck if you're starting from scratch because in the original, if you were wanting to not touch Forest or Rune at all, you could literally toss them all in the fire and walk away with a large handful of vials. Oh, and speaking of vials, the vial turnarounds are also a fraction of what they used to be, but the cost to create cards is still the same.

The monetization—oh, don't even get me started on how this game will literally nickel and dime you for everything you have. In the original you had one item to animate cards; not in worlds beyond here, you have two, one for bronze, silver, and gold cards, with the other item being exclusively for legendaries. Going further into the details on monetization, we have the leader gacha; every pack will have 2-3+ leaders and at least 2 fully animated cards. The leaders themselves. You have to pull the ticket for that specific leader at least twice if you don't care for the park features because they are divided into 2-3 bundles in the ticket exchange. The first bundle usually being the leader itself, sleeves, an emblem, and a flair. The second bundle is usually an alternate art for the leader's card and a homescreen wallpaper that you see after signing into the game. The third bundle is a Park Avatar skin. You know it wouldn't be that bad to try and grind out the rupees to save for a leader had they not quintupled the price of packs.

In short, if you're going to play this to play with friends or using it to pass the time, you best be ready because you're putting your sanity on the line.

It's a card battler, that's for sure.
If you like card battlers, don't mind grinding your "you-know-what" off and you enjoy anime, this game may be for you.

Artwork is pretty neat.

Thumbs down because per my own preferences, this game is just not fun.

Best game ever!