How I learned to stop worrying and love the anime horse racing game

Of all the games released this year, all the blockbusters and genre-defining hits, nothing shocked me as much as Umamusume: Pretty Derby. I won't deny that I was once ashamed to play this game. But now? I'm all in, man. I'm a 27 year old Englishman with a passion for Japanese horse racing. And if you too can overcome your fears, you will find one of the best strategy games released this year.

First, an explainer. At its core, Umamusame is a horse racing management game. You start with a horse full of malleable potential, like burning steel. The fact that this horse is a singing, dancing anime girl doesn't matter, buddy. You have a few precious days to train them and get them ready to race. You develop several skills, build relationships with supporting characters through rigorous training, and earn fans through good performances on the track.

Beneath the cutesy aesthetic lies a war waged in the mind. Do you think you can win the URA final with faith alone? Faith leads the way to the glue factory. A few hours with Umamusame: Pretty Derby forced me to watch YouTube tutorials, note when key events start on the calendar, and micromanage everything. All.

Let me take a look at what I'm talking about. You don't just bring a horse to a career race, you bring support cards. The types of cards you want to draw depend on the horse you are using. Let's say you're lucky enough to get my favorite horse, Mihono “Cyborg” Bourbon – you'll also need speed support cards, some stamina and wits. The cards you choose are critical to early key stat bonuses. By the way, in 1992 he was recognized as Horse of the Year. Named after a French dynasty that was destined for greatness, and the anime adaptation no less.

When you actually start your career, you need to choose which stats are most optimal to train on each turn. Speed ​​is king, and the more you have, the better, but Bourbon excels in mid-distance racing. This means you'll need at least 800 stamina to avoid running out of energy later in your career. Leaders also want to invest time in being smart to prevent mistakes during races and further preserve endurance. Training everything but agility takes energy, so you'll have to factor in rest time.

Things get damn complicated and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Did you know that horses go to the beach in July and August? While on the beach, skill training automatically increases to the maximum level, so ideally you should train every day while you are there. This means you'll need to plan ahead to hit the beach workout with maximum energy. I've stopped training horses more than once before because I forgot when beach training started.

If this all sounds like boring nonsense, that's because it is, but it's meat you sink your teeth into. Mastering this juggling act is fun in itself: you learn by heart when certain events happen, where to position your horses, and what skills are best to master. Tactically selecting specific skills for a horse so that after its career ends, they can pass on those skills to a future horse to improve their own abilities. The deep abyss is what Umamusame is, asking to be explored.

Although this is only one side of the coin, one metal door at the starting gate. The racing itself is great, I can't think of a few more words to describe it. It is created in a Cygames headquarters tower filled with evil wizards. They seem to shoot lightning at each other and from their charred remains they discover the secret to making anime girls run as intensely as possible. hype thing in the world.

Did you know that there are cinematic close-ups during the races in Umamusame: Pretty Derby? The normal angle is set back so you can see the position of all the horses. But at key moments it will increase at horse level to show how close the horse is to passing or how strong the lead actually is. When the race comes to an end, the UI disappears and the camera locks onto the finish line. This means that you see approaching horses from a perspective that makes them look closer to each other than they actually are. Then the orchestra's tempo doubles. Then you realize, as much as it makes your heart race, it's a sneaky trick that just brings everything back to reality.

Of course, there are caveats: Umamusame: Pretty Derby is a gacha game, so it's designed to suck money out of your wallet. For those inclined to this kind of monetization practice, it doesn't really matter how good the game is. The best support cards and horses are contained in banners that last for a limited time and entice you to spend real money on gambling. There is no way around this.

However, if this is something you can ignore or at least establish a healthy relationship with, I have to say, Umamusama: “Pretty Derby” is a real revelation. It was not for nothing that he received an award at The Game Awards this year. If you had told me a year or so ago that I knew a number of special facts about long-dead racehorses, I would not have believed you. And yet here we are. Put your pride aside and give it a try.

This article is part of our final series, Games of 2025, where we highlight great moments, great games, and our personal favorites of the year. You can read more in our Hub “Games 2025”. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!