Six years after its initial launch, Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links is about to receive its most significant update: Rush Duel. Here is all you need to know.
Yu Gi Oh! marked an entire generation. If the phenomenon no longer has the same scale as in the 90s, it has not lost its fervor. Proof of this is with Duel Links, the free-to-play which continues to improve over the years. Available on iOS, Android and Steam, the game had more than 150 million downloads in 2022 and this figure is likely to increase in the days to come. Six years after its initial launch, Konami will dust off its adaptation with completely new content inspired by one of the big new features of the license: Rush Duel.
A big update for Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links
In 25 years, Yu-Gi-Oh has evolved. Seto Kaiba, Yugi and his friends have given way to new generations, Kaiba Corp to other dubious mega corporations. The SEVENS series, however, completely reshuffled the cards with Rush Duel in 2020. Goodbye to the classic rules, make way for a more relaxed and simple version, accessible to newcomers and just as exciting for old hands. To make it short, you can have as many cards as you want in your hand and play as many monsters in a row as you want. A new, less intimidating take on Yu-Gi-Oh that caused a stir among its key audience, Japan. It will now arrive in its most popular video game adaptation: Duel Links.
Of the September 28a whole new world based on the famous animated series Yu Gi Oh! SEVENS will be available for free to all players. A significant update, since it brings a whole new game mode in its own right, with new characters, a story, maps, rewards and a progression system. The most seasoned as well as the newcomers will then start at the same level, everyone will be in the same boat. We immediately reassure historical players that the Speed Duel and Rush Duel modes will coexist, each being accessible at any time and at no additional cost. A game within the game in a way, so much so that Konami considers the arrival of this mode as the second launch of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links.
Like the series on which it is inspired, Rush Duel takes place in the futuristic city of Goha City where a prodigy game, Yuga Ôdô, will reinvent card duels with its own rules. Those who don’t yet know the anime will be able to discover this brand new universe, by meeting and playing important characters from the series like Yuga, Luke, Gavin and Romin, and by visiting emblematic places like the Goha stadium. And much more. You don’t need to have seen the anime to dive in with both feet into the Rush Duel mode of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links, or even to have played any version of the card game. More accessible than ever, this new discipline requires no particular knowledge, the rules being completely turned upside down and revised.
Here, each player will start with 6000 life points and 30 to 40 cards in their deck. The concept is simple: each turn, duelists can play as many cards as they want without any conditions or restrictions. Regardless of the number of monsters placed in the arena in the previous turn, they then draw 5 cards, with the possibility of summoning several powerful monsters in a row. There is absolutely no limit to the number of cards a player can have in their hand. Enough to leave room for various strategies where everything can change from one round to another.
New mode requires, the user interface of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links will be somewhat different from its counterpart with Rush Duels. It will rely on controls familiar to long-time players but will adapt to new features. Nothing that will fundamentally upset the habits of the most loyal who should not be disoriented despite a brand new presentation which remains refined to say the least.
With a more frantic pace than the classic card game, where everything can happen very quickly and where victory can escape you in the blink of an eye, older players should find it a more refreshing way to play. This new departure for Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links promises to be a new entry point for newbies or those who have abandoned the base game, bored by its complexity. It obviously remains to be seen what this will give in concrete terms, but on paper, Duel Links has all the cards in hand to give itself a second wind. The free update will therefore be deployed on Thursday September 28 on iOS, Android and Steam.