Every once in a while, a game blows up that doesn't exactly line up with what mainstream gamers expect to succeed. Umamusume: Pretty Derby, a new free-to-play gacha game about racing anime horse girls, is the most recent example. It's a gacha game, like the recent release Persona5: The Phantom X, where you have to roll for characters, but the gameplay is focused around derby-style horse racing, except the horses are anime girls. While that pitch might not sound like it has broad appeal, after spending a few hours with the game myself, it became clear why Umamusume: Pretty Derby is sitting near the top of both the top-played and top-selling Steam Charts and sitting at number 8 on the top free games on the Apple App Store at the time of writing.

What is Umamusume: Pretty Derby?

A visual novel with a roguelite twist

Umamusume: Pretty Derby is based on an anime show of the same name, with the premise being that anime horse girls exist, and they feel compelled to run in derby races. The game itself has been available in some regions previously, but it has now come out in the US and other regions, along with an English translation. While there are a ton of visual novel elements, the structure of the game mostly follows a roguelite format. You start a single-player campaign with one of your trainees, which are obtained from the gacha rolls, and give them two legacy racers to learn from, along with a team of support cards. During the campaign, you will be given goals and a limited number of days to reach said goal. During that time you can train, rest, and learn new skills. If you achieve the goal, you continue, and if you lose, the campaign ends. When the campaign ends, you gain a new legacy version of the character with whatever stat improvements you gained during a run, who can join the support team, or be used for a new campaign run. Since the stats carry over, you will have an easier time with each subsequent run.

Online and daily races to compete in

Take your improved horses to new heights

Outside the single-player runs, you can unlock new story scenes for each horse girl, and you can take them into online races. The online races cycle, but you will need high-ranking horse girls to truly succeed at the top level, which the single-player feeds directly into. All of these activities reward items, including upgrade materials for both the racers and support girls, and the free in-game currency, which can be used to roll for the lower star racers.

I haven't touched on the actual racing itself just yet, partially because there isn't a ton to say. Prior to a race, you can see your racers' energy and mood, which impact performance, and you can choose one of four racing strategies, although most racers specialize in only one strategy. The race itself is fully automated, since you are technically playing as a trainer and not the horse girls themselves, but you can watch the entire race and see all the skills you have taught your racer in action.

Why is Umamusume: Pretty Derby taking off?

A unique premise combined with some compelling gameplay features and strategies

As for why Umamusume: Pretty Derby is taking off, there are a few reasons that likely contributed to its success. First, gacha games, especially ones featuring anime characters, have become extremely popular in recent years, with games like Genshin Impact leading the cultural wave. Second, it's managed to entice some popular streamers to play, like Northernlion, who likely introduced it to new fans. Of course, it's also based on a popular anime with three seasons, so it had a built-in fanbase to start with.

Beyond those reasons why people might have checked it out, the unique premise is likely to keep people around. I've never quite played anything like it, and the strategy elements have a ton of depth, far more than I expected. It also has some interesting aspects to it world building. For example, all the girls are named after actual, real-life, Japanese racing horses. Their goals in the campaign are based on the actual horse's career, adding this interesting layer of real-world knowledge being built from the game. There are also idol concerts after each race, with the winner getting to take the lead role in the concert, and both the animation and music are well-done. There's really only one thing holding it back.

The gacha elements seem a bit brutal, even by gacha standards

Unlike other gacha games, you can't earn rolls for every banner

Of course, while I am genuinely enjoying my time with Umamusume: Pretty Derby and I recommend that anyone even slightly interested should check it out, I need to mention the monetization. It's a gacha game, which refers to a style of game where you have to roll for new characters, typically by spending real money on the rolls. If you have any familiarity with Diamond Dynasty in MLB the Show or ultimate team in the EA FC games, it functions basically the same. This type of microtransaction is designed to instill the same emotions as gambling to encourage people to spend more, which is predatory. Umamusume: Pretty Derby didn't invent this, nor are its prices particularly egregious, but there is one aspect that feels particularly bad. Umamusume: Pretty Derby also has a split between the free currency you earn in-game and the paid currency, with certain banners only being able to be pulled with paid currency. In most gacha games, players can earn rolls for all banners just by playing, so having one that requires a purchase feels a bit predatory.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby is worth checking out

I haven't spent any money and haven't felt pressured yet

Even with the monetization stuff, it's important to say, in the time I've spent with Umamusume: Pretty Derby I haven't felt like I needed to spend money to continue playing the game. While it could happen after spending more time with, most modern gacha games actually make a point of not locking you out of content if you don't have certain characters, likely to avoid upsetting anyone over microtransactions. I'm not sure how much more time I'm going to spend training my horse girls to win the big derby, but I expect this game to have pretty good legs in terms of popularity, so if you have been looking for something unique and different, Umamusume: Pretty Derby is worth checking out on either Steam or mobile.