Short Review :
A good digital card game from the game flow, artwork, deck variation and various style to play, the possibilities are many since the number of cards probably are many since it has 32 expansions of cards not to mention how well animated leader and cards work as well how animated special effects in the field. Aside from the normal match making in 1v1 PvP the game offers a single player mode with an engaging story with a good cast of characters and the English dub in the game is probably one of the best in the dub department, from using cards and taunting enemies from stories a lot are voice especially the long chants which are quite the plus, reviewing this to recommend the story mode as the current state of the game is stagnant with no more cards incoming due to the sequel releasing a few months not to mention that PvP is rather harsh to newer players since old players have many cards to use.

Back to Topic for long Review:
The game is a digital card game, it started as just a simple card strategy deck building following heartstone format with a variation of its own but soon ended up making its own set for itself from the name, style and even the feeling of engagement thus it evolves having its own TCG called Shadowverse Evolve to a sequel called Shadowverse Worlds Beyond, not to mention it has two anime series called Shadowverse and Shadowverse Flame which are not related to the game itself but only lore.

The game as a digital card battler allows you to get cards by unpacking a card pack at the store, it is like a gacha where you pull for legendary cards that helps strengthen your deck or liquefy them to vials allowing you to craft cards you want for your deck, you can liquefy and amass vials for later purposes to make a deck of your desire after learning the game. It sets apart and focus on taking turns and on the second player 4th turn allows the player to evolve a follower allowing for a further increase in strategy.

For game-play, the players must select one of the eight classes, Forestcraft, Swordcraft, Runecraft, Shadowcraft, Havencraft, Bloodcraft, Dragoncraft and Portalcraft, each classes specialize in one style, Forest has cards focus on elves and fairies, Sword has knights and Bandits, Rune has magic and students, Shadow has Necromancers and ghosts, Haven has Priest and Holy beast, Blood has demons and Monsters, Dragon has Dragons and Tamers, Portal has Mech and otherworlders. Selecting a craft then building a deck is one of the many engagement of the game. On a point, cards also has two versions, a fix 2d art and an animated card which can also be crafted and animated for free but it cost a lot of vials.

For Strategy, each class has a different style but in the later part of the game, its all about legendary and gold class followers which can be fast paced ending in turn 4-6 this is because the game has now forced itself almost unfriendly to new players due to power creep and experience.

The game is divided on three categories, first is PvP which is divided into ranked and unranked like other games that lets you battle other people, next is the arena that as a fix rule in which is like a tourney, it also features take two that allows you to build random cards from a pool, and lastly story mode in which it acts like an RPG genre.

For Story mode, probably the most fun thing to play in the game besides special arena events and collab events, but since the game has no more support besides being online, the most fun part is the story, aside from the engaging voice acting, the game features an engaging story with lots of plot twist and deep lore enough to warrant 50+ hours of text alone, as it has over 20 story Arcs, the story is made in a visual novel format but the way it is delivered is engaging and they explain how and why easily understandable with how complete it is now as there is only little plot hole left in it, its quite hard to find a card game featuring a huge lore and deep engagement besides Yu-gi-oh.

The story mode may have some difficult battles but to help players ignore the game itself, there is an option to skip battles if a player just wants to read the lore of the story, also the game features loaner decks in battles in the story mode to help them even if their original decks are weak and not enough to clear the battle. The story will start to get more engaging after the morning star Arc, probably my favorite is Whispers of Purgation since Elena became my favorite character after her journey, aside from that the most rated I can think 10/10 is Rivayle and Vellsar Arc.

This game is cross platform for mobile and PC, having cross platform allows one to play at the other which makes it easier to play on the go or playing on steam, this also carries to the sequel that is releasing. The PC port is also in a good condition having large resolution and making the story mode more engaging and more to do.

Lastly, This game is a big IP with lots of collabs in the past (ex. Idolm@ster, Love Live, Fate series, Code Geass, etc.), recommending this not for its current state but on what you can scrape in the game while the sequel is on the horizon, since your progress here has some rewards in the sequel from emblems, sleeves, alt cards and even some records.

Things to Praise it for:
+ Good game play enough to engage people.
+ Good Class divergence enough to differentiate uniqueness.
+ Good English/Japanese voice acting from Cards to Leaders.
+ Good system to create cards you want. (Via liquefy).
+ Good handling(Releases an expansion frequently) in its course of life.
+ Epic Story mode(From Characters, Lore and Visuals.)
+ Various Cy games related like Granblue Fantasy, Rage of Bahamut, Priconne, etc.
+ Little Fomo aside from collabs and bundle packs.

Things to criticize for:
- Bad balancing like many card games that had aged.
- Bad Service to newer player in its current state. (Rotation)
- Favoritism in leader selections (I felt this in Collab leaders especially since every collab there's always a Rune or Dragon in it.)
- Exclusive content not known widely unless you follow their channel for tournament exclusive rewards. (Ex, card sleeves, leaders, alt cards, etc.)
- Leaders are paywalled or gacha lock in card expansions but at least it has a pity but quite a large and must be invested for months.

Last Note : If your struggling to whether play it or not, take my advice and play for the single player content that way you can enjoy at your own pace not minding on HOW to play it, game also features AI opponents so that way you can train or see combos. Will probably no longer play until the sequel or just finishing up some things like sleeves and stuff.
Remember to link your accounts to the sequel when its available.

hearthstone but better imo...at least so far...probably a p2w metashtfest but that's pretty much all tcgs are just depends on how far it goes down the degenerate hole

Love this game love the cards love the character designs love the music but it is REALLY hard to get into as you get bs turn 5-ed most of the game but if you are willing to read the cards and their effects its such a great game