Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist of the Roses is a loose retelling of the War of the Roses. However, instead of 14th-century English nobles, you play as characters from the anime Yu-gi-oh.
What is the War of the Roses?
The War of the Roses was a 15th century conflict over the English throne. The House of York and the House of Lancaster both fought for 30 years. However, the war was a disaster for both sides of the war.
In the end, both houses wiped out all of the male successors to the throne. This resulted in the House of Tudor ascending to the Throne. This led to a 118-year reign of the dynasty.
Overall, this led to a more productive England, and the Tudor dynasty and the Elizabethan era have become a favorite of historians and fans of the English monarchy.
Despite this, it is a weird period for a series that is so entrenched in Egypt to pick a game. Yu-gi-oh has always been a weird series, but this is one of the weirdest parts of the series.
How do the Yugioh characters fit in?
Seto Kaiba leads the Yorkists that are made of OG YuGiOh villains such as Weevil and Pegasus. The Lancastrians are the protagonists of the original series. The player can actually pick which one of the sides they want to side with.
The differences are kind of arbitrary, and it will end with the Lancastrians heading the throne. The full story is playing both of the campaigns and isn’t that long.
The story goes off the rails at the end when Manawydan fab Llŷr is a “card guardian”, and Kaiba plans to use it to ascend to the throne. It is bizarre, but it is normal for Yugioh where everyone is a reincarnation of a Pharoah.
But how is it as a game?
The reviews were actually kind of lukewarm. A 5.9 Metacritic is fairly average, and I think that is a good way to explain this game. It isn’t amazing, but it isn’t bad.
However, if you really like Yugioh I think it is worth playing. In the Duel Monster era, the series didn’t really have a direction, so you have some weird media. I think Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist of the Roses is the best example of this.