After years of waiting, Cygames has finally localized Umamusume: Pretty Derby for an English audience and ported it onto Steam. With an updated UI that makes playing in full screen a comfortable experience, it feels like the ideal way to experience the world of umamusume racing.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby takes place in a world where horses don’t exist. Instead, we have umamusume, horse girls who take on the names and legacies of real life race horses. Stronger and faster than the average human, these umamusume love racing and running, and the various story modes revolve around these races, which are also based on real life racing seasons. There’s no main story, per se. Rather, there are story arcs that focus on an umamusume or group. For example, the first story revolves around Mejiro McQueen, whereas the second one’s about Rice Shower.
The meat of the game centers on raising your umamusume in Career Mode, and then setting her either on your team for daily races, PVP, and events. Career Mode’s story focuses on you, a Trainer at the highly competitive Tracen Academy, helping your trainee through their three years at school. Each career takes three in-game years (72 turns), with set goals that differ between each umamusume. Some want to reach a certain number of fans within a time limit, while others have goals tied to specific races.
The thing about Umamususume: Pretty Derby is that it’s a game that hinges on luck. Even if you’ve gathered the best support cards and sparks for your particular girl, RNG can really mess you up. One unsuccessful training session, even if it had a low failure rate, can set you back three whole turns to restore your umamusume to full health. Not doing so can cost a race, which can then snowball into a failed career. The unpredictability of Career Mode is frustrating, admittedly. However, I don’t really mind it as much as I might have before. The newest scenario on the Japanese server makes it so ridiculously easy to raise everybody that it’s nice to actually put in the work again.
Unless you’ve played it yourself or seen clips of it, it can be hard to understand the appeal of Umamusume. “Horse girls based on real life race horses race and then perform a concert afterwards” sounds pretty nuts. If you enjoy sports manga, you’ll probably enjoy the stories, as they’re very focused on themes of hard work, friendship, and such. The horse races are very exciting to watch, too. Everything—from the sound design, cinematography, and sheer adrenaline of watching your girl dart past her rivals to get to the finish line first—really pulls you in.
Like with Granblue Fantasy, the in-house localization team did fantastic with Umamusume: Pretty Derby. It’s a good mix of localization and translation that makes for a comfortable reading experience. I’m also a huge fan of how the Steam version splits up the screen compared to the DMM version. It’s actually full screen, and it’s easy to reference information like the log or my support deck.
The one thing I’m on the fence about is the accelerated schedule. On one hand, it’ll be nice to get umamusume that the Japanese server has had for years instead of having to wait for their debut. On the other, we don’t have as much time to save between banners compared to when the Asian servers launched these characters or support cards.
The positive about this, though, is that the concept of “limited characters” doesn’t really exist in Umamusume: Pretty Derby. I pulled the New Year Kitasan Black during summer, for example. Even if a banner comes and goes, you still have a chance (albeit a lower one) to get who you want. So there’s no FOMO or anything like that. You can jump in at any time and not lament about missing a limited character you wanted.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby has been blowing up on social media lately, so people who didn’t know about it before might have seen what the gameplay is like through screenshots or videos. The heavy RNG and long career mode might be a turn-off for some, but I still urge people to try it out, especially while we’re still receiving daily log-in bonuses for the global launch. It’s definitely a game you have to experience to understand what all the hype is about.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby is readily available on the Windows PC and mobile devices.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby is ready to race! Scout featured trainees and supporters as you navigate the immersive sports life simulation through the game's in-depth training system and top-of-the-line 3D graphics!
The Umamusume: Pretty Derby global version is an addictive game that mixes the frustration of raising sims with the excitement of horse racing.
- Try watching the races in Portrait Mode if you've only watched it in Landscape. I find the races a lot more fun to watch thanks to the dynamic camera.
- You don't have to follow the meta. It's totally possible to build a team of umamusume you love but aren't "SS-tier" and still beat out the meta horses with the right combination of skills, sparks, and, of course, luck.
- The umamusume are very cute in a daughter-slash-pet kind of way, in my opinion, and a lot of the characters generally mean well and are nice. Despite some of the heart-wrenching stories (like Haru Urara's Arima Kinen challenge and King Halo's overall plot), it's a really comfy and positive game to play.
Published: Jul 7, 2025 09:00 am