Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond becomes one of the lowest rated games ever due to pay-to-win

The original Shadowverse card game had a long life as a relatively niche card game that hardcore fans really liked. Worlds Beyond was a reset button meant to evolve the game mechanics and let Cygames build a new meta, but the launch has fallen flat due to monetization.

Naturally, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond has to make money via microtransactions to survive as a free-to-play title. They have to implement some sort of system that incentivizes players to spend money, whether it be for cosmetics or actual cards themselves.

However, in the eyes of longtime fans, Cygames went too far with Worlds Beyond, with fans of the original game giving up on the sequel early on due to how steep the cost is to build a decent deck.

There are several layers to this game’s monetization, and understanding why players are so frustrated takes a bit of explaining. It isn’t just that things got more expensive, although that is part of the issue.

Why is Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond getting negative reviews?

The driving force behind these reviews is that the ability to get a decent deck as a free-to-play player has been drastically nerfed compared to the original.

In Shadowverse 1, players could get 100 Rupies (this game’s non-premium currency) and open a pack. In Worlds Beyond, a pack costs 500 Rupies. And, while there are a few more ways to earn these Rupies, it’s still functionally 5 times harder to get free packs.

Additionally, crafting cards is much more difficult to do. Liquifying is a function that lets you get rid of cards you don’t want in exchange for vials, a material that lets you craft whatever card you want. This existed in the first game, but the feature has been altered in some key ways for Worlds Beyond.

For one, players have to get three copies of a card before they can Liquify it. This destroys the card but gives you vials to put toward crafting other cards. But, even if you get a card you never see yourself using, Worlds Beyond requires you have to get three copies of it in order to use it for crafting. This was not the case in the first Shadowverse.

The other issue is that how many vials players get for Liquifying cards has been, in some cases, drastically reduced.

Here’s a table that represents what Liquifying earned you in the original Shadowverse. The Normal and Premium columns represent how many vials you get from Liquifying, and the Cost column represents how many vials that rarity of card costs to make:

Card Type	Normal Card	Premium Card	Crafting Cost
Bronze	10 Vials	30 Vials	50 Vials
Silver	50 Vials	120 Vials	200 Vials
Gold	250 Vials	600 Vials	800 Vials
Legendary	1000 Vials	2500 Vials	3500 Vials

For reference, the difference between Normal and Premium cards is that Premium ones are foils that can’t be crafted. They’re rare, but grant a ton of vials if you really aren’t attached to them.

With that in mind, here’s how crafting breaks down in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond:

Card Type	Normal Card	Premium Card	Crafting Cost
Bronze	10 Vials	30 Vials	50 Vials
Silver	20 Vials	50 Vials	90 Vials
Gold	200 Vials	450 Vials	750 Vials
Legendary	1200 Vials	2500 Vials	3500 Vials

The biggest category hit is Silver cards. They’re now easier to craft, but they only give 40% of the vials they did before. And, while Legendary cards actually give more currency than before for being broken down, bear in mind that you have to get three copies of that card now before you can start Liquifying.

Players also claim Battle Pass progression is slower this time around as well, requiring more grinding to earn rewards.

All of this is without mentioning that opening 10 card packs costs 1000 Crystals, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond’s premium currency. If you’re spending the most money possible to get the best deal, you can get 5000 Crystals for $80.

You get a guaranteed Legendary at 50 pulls, and there’s a Lucky Chest mercy system that triggers at 250 pulls that gives you a bit more control over which Legendary you want. But getting that to pop would cost a steep $400.

With this in mind, it’s no exaggeration to say that it may take players upwards of $1000 to build a meta deck that requires multiple Legendary cards to function. Cheaper decks may cost around $500 depending on RNG and what cards you’re able to get from event-specific free rolls.

Considering there are 37 Legendaries in Worlds Beyond at launch and some decks require 3 dupes of the same Legendary, the chances of getting what you want without spending big are very slim.

And if you want more than one meta mainstay deck? You’re looking at a huge financial investment.

For instance, the best Runecraft Spellboost deck according to Shadowverse.gg contains 9 Legendary cards. The site describes building this deck as being a “nightmare” considering how difficult it is to obtain all these cards, and players who want enough vials to craft these Legendaries may have to spend literal thousands of dollars to do so if they don’t get lucky.

Players have revolted, sending negative reviews Shadowverse’s way in droves. It currently has over 10,000 Steam reviews with just 23% of them being positive, landing it the achievement of being the eighth worst reviewed game of all time at the time of writing.