The world of Shadowverse has been growing since its debut in 2016, and its momentum isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Following the release of two anime series, an RPG card game based on the anime, and a physical trading card game (TCG) version, Cygames has announced that its upcoming title, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, is launching worldwide on 17 June, with pre-registration now open.
Available on the App Store, Google Play Store, Steam, and Epic Games Store, the next generation of the digital collectible card game introduces several new mechanics, including Super-Evolution and Bonus Play Point, alongside updates to existing ones.
The first tweak grants players two super-evolution points each match, used to super-evolve followers of any rarity who will gain Rush and +3 to both attack and defence, activate both their Evolve and Super-Evolve abilities, and cannot take damage or be destroyed by abilities during their controller’s turns. Meanwhile, enemy followers destroyed by a super-evolved follower’s attack are knocked straight into the enemy leader, dealing them one damage point.
As for Bonus Play Point, players going second can expect to gain a temporary play point at any time, to be used up to twice per match — once before their sixth turn and once after. There will also be changes to the Evolution and World features, with the former adding a standardised +2 to both attack and defence to all followers after evolving, and +3 after super-evolution. Additionally, players are now armed with two evolution points and two super-evolution points, and can evolve a total of four times per match.
Marking a departure from mini-games like fishing, mahjong, and dungeons, the World offers a new socialising space in the form of Shadowverse Park, allowing players to participate in various activities using their personalised avatars, ranging from card battles in the lobby to forming a guild.
Elsewhere, a new beta feature, AI Tips, serves to ease the learning curve for newcomers by having Eudie guide them and offer tips in practice matches, allowing them to better grasp the basic rules and battle strategies.
Worlds Beyond also plans to add a new card set once every month to a month and a half from its release to August, then once every two months afterwards, compared to the quarterly release schedule in Shadowverse. For now, the confirmed list of characters is as follows:
- Diawl — Abysscraft Leader
- Dreizehn — Portalcraft Leader (Voiced by: Yu Sasahara [JP] / Elsie Lovelock [EN])
- Esperanza — Havencraft Leader (Mamiko Noto / Erin Nicole Lundquist)
- Eudie — Guide to Worlds Beyond (Sayumi Suzushiro / Kelsey Jaffer)
- Galan — Dragoncraft Leader (Hochu Otsuka / Cory Yee)
- Kaori Yuihara — Runecraft Leader (Mikako Komatsu / Jenny Yokobori)
- Lovesign — Forestcraft Leader (Jun Fukuyama / Nazeeh Tarsha)
- Marie Malisse — Swordcraft Leader (Saya Aizawa / Crystal Lee)
Pre-registration opened on 13 March, alongside an accompanying event that will reward all players with in-game items based on the total number of sign-ups once the game is released. The first milestone starts at 50,000 with two card pack tickets, culminating into a total of 20 card packs’ worth of rupies and tickets at the 300,000-player mark.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond goes live on 17 June.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Edwin Teo
