If you told me that in a gacha-fied gaming world filled with magic, trains, waifus, and gunslinging, I’d find myself invested in horses, I’d be confused. But when you add idols to the mix, it suddenly makes sense.
Enter the world of Uma Musume Pretty Derby, a relatively obscure gacha game from Japan that recently had its global launch last June 26 on Steam and mobile platforms. Here’s the thing though: apart from the game constantly topping gacha charts and apparently having a really good anime, I didn’t know much about Uma Musume, so the desktop drop was timely as we tried it out for the first time blind.
And they’re off!
I opened up Uma Musume with no other expectations than to see horses as pretty girls, but right off the bat, I was welcomed by an idol performance (by the same anime horse girls I was expecting), directly followed by a graphic novel scenario.
Apparently, in Uma Musume Pretty Derby, you’re a new trainer dipping your toes into the world of horse racing. But in this world similar to Earth, great racehorses of the past have a chance to be reincarnated as horse girls. Being horses in their past life, these horse girls maintain their speed and endurance from back then and even keep their dreams and aspirations of fame and fortune, as both a racer and an idol.
Generally speaking, the plot revolves around your exploits as a trainer leading up to the URA Finale, the penultimate race at the end of your girl’s “career,” along with all the hurdles that come with growing as a trainer and setting up the Finale and its logistics. With this overarching plot, depending on which Umamusume (aka what the horse girls are called) you partner up with, you’ll also be treated to a 3-year campaign during their stay at Tokyo’s Tracen Academy, a boarding school.
If you’re wondering what Tracen Academy is, it’s a training camp for horses, similar to how idols undergo training before debuting. But instead of debuting as pop stars, the Umamusume are being trained to debut in the Twinkle Series, or professional horse racing.
Hitting big or going for broke?
As I picked the Umamusume whose career I’d be backing, Oguri Cap, a provincial powerhouse, the game’s career loop was expanded on. Each career loop consists of the Umamusume’s 3 years in Tracen Academy, complete with training montages, slice-of-life moments, and touching stories in between. There’s even a beach episode during summer vacation that spans two weeks. Remember though, they’re racers and idols and at each checkpoint throughout their career, they’ll have races to compete in to increase their popularity and get fans.
Races in Uma Musume are the bread and butter of the franchise, and “hype” is an understatement when you’ve made a connection with your Umamusume or are a gambling addict. There were instances where I thought my girl Oguri Cap had lost, but she pulled through in the end and the cutscenes that trigger when they use their skills give off major shonen anime vibes. Cheering on your oshi and watching them succeed is the spirit of Uma Musume and even in real life, when you bet on a racehorse.
To the unaware: an oshi in idol culture is the idol you’re supporting. It’s your number one in the sea of other Umamusume out there. And if your oshi wins or places in the top 3 of the race they’re in, they get a prominent spot in an idol song performance in the middle of a stadium, reiterating that they aren’t just horses, they’re IDOLS.
Hold your horses
As fun as the game was, there are a couple of aspects that need to be addressed, namely its pacing, complexity, and whether or not it counts as gambling. The pacing and complexity have to be mentioned because even as someone who regularly plays gacha games, I was flabbergasted by how long everything took.
Time flies when you’re having fun and all, but for a game about horse racing, it took around 4 hours for me to finish one entire career. That said, I didn’t skip any cutscenes. Even online day-one guides will tell you to finish a career on your first day to maximize your gameplay experience but again, you could always go at your own pace. The writing was charming and heartwarming all throughout my Oguri Cap career, and it genuinely made me a fan. So, credit to the quality of writing there, at least.
With regards to the game’s complexity, I was confused throughout. All the currencies, stats, and race types overwhelmed me. As I’m writing this, I’ve read 5 different guides and watched 2 videos and still have no clue what’s happening. But I guess that’s a problem for future Doby. There are different types of gacha gamers out there, and if you’re entering this game casually, you’ll still need some level of understanding to fully enjoy it. Unless you just like cute horses and good writing then that’s more than enough.
Lastly, the elephant in the room: is it gambling? Since there’s no real money involved, it’s not the textbook definition of gambling but at the same time, you definitely need to assess yourself if you can control your urges with this game like with all other gacha games.
Going all in
🐴 Cute Horse Girls
🐴 Fun Writing
🐴 Great Music
🐴 Fun Community
🥩 Dragging Early Game
🥩 Overwhelming Mechanics
🥩 Heavy Reliance on RNG Later On
8/10 – Uma Musume is a simple game. I see cute girls and good writing and I’m invested. Being a content creator incentivizes me to play more of it, but outside of that, it’s not as stressful as I make it sound. The music’s great, the community’s welcoming and surprisingly wholesome, unlike some other games with Impact. It’s different from what we normally have in the gacha market, but you know what? A little different never hurt anyone.
Now’s the best time to try out the game, especially with all the free pulls available and who knows, you might get RNG like me too after rerolling hard.
If you want to sweat about it too, apparently Kitasan Black, a genuine god pull for Uma Musume, is getting released soon. So it’s either stress over it early or just have fun either way.
