RAID: Shadow Legends review: our verdict

Few mobile games have a reputation quite like RAID: Shadow Legends. Thanks to a legendary advertising blitz it became a punchline before many people ever played it. That makes it easy to dismiss, and easy to miss the fact that underneath the memes sits one of the more mechanically serious gacha RPGs on the market. Developed by Plarium and available on mobile and PC, it is a turn-based collection RPG that we sat down with properly to answer a simple question: is the game itself actually any good? The honest answer is yes, with a very large and very expensive asterisk.

The best-looking gacha RPG you can play

Let us start with the thing that surprises most people. RAID looks fantastic. The 3D champion models and skill animations are the best in the genre by a visible margin, and in 2026 nothing else in this space really comes close. Landing a big multi-hit ultimate has a weight and spectacle that most turn-based gacha games cannot match. On PC, whether through Steam or Plarium Play, it runs as a proper native client rather than a bolted-on emulator, and the experience is smooth.

That polish extends to the combat systems. This is a real team-building game: champions have distinct roles, affinities, and skills that interlock in ways that reward thought, and clearing the harder content demands the right composition rather than just the strongest cards. It is, genuinely, one of the deepest gacha RPGs available.

Deep, and deeply grindy

That depth cuts both ways. RAID is as grind-heavy as it is deep. Progression means endlessly farming stages for gear, then farming more to level and enhance that gear, then farming still more to feed champion ascension and skill upgrades. The systems layered on top of systems, arena, clan bosses, dungeons, factions, faction wars and rotating events, give long-term players a huge amount to sink their teeth into. They also mean the game asks for a serious and sustained time commitment.

For the right player, that long arc of steady improvement is exactly the appeal, and the sense of a team you have built and optimised over months is real. For anyone who bounces off repetitive farming or resents timers and energy systems, this is where RAID loses you fast. There is no gentle version of this game; the grind is the game.

Monetization: the aggressive end of the scale

Here is where the criticism is fair and unavoidable. Of the major gacha RPGs, RAID is the most aggressive on monetization, full stop. The game is relentless with offers, bundles and pop-ups, and the pressure to spend is baked into the daily loop. In PvP arena in particular there is a clear pay-to-win tilt, deeper wallets assemble stronger rosters faster, and free-to-play players face a steep, patient climb to stay competitive.

To be fair to the game, a disciplined free-to-play player can progress a long way with time and knowledge, and the sheer volume of content means you are never short of things to do without paying. But you must go in with your guard up. If the constant nudging toward the store bothers you, it will colour the entire experience, and it is the single biggest reason we cannot score the game higher than its underlying quality would otherwise deserve.

Who is it for?

RAID is for the patient min-maxer, the player who enjoys long-term progression, tinkering with team compositions, and slowly building an unstoppable roster over months. If that describes you, and you can hold firm on spending, there is a rich, good-looking game here with years of content and one of the best combat presentations in the genre.

It is not for anyone who hates grind, energy timers, or being sold to constantly, and it is not for competitive players who refuse to accept that spenders have a real edge in PvP. Those players will feel the friction immediately and will not enjoy pushing through it.

Verdict

RAID: Shadow Legends is a much better game than its reputation suggests, and a much harder one to recommend than its quality suggests. The visuals lead the genre, the team-building has genuine depth, and the PC client is excellent. All of it sits inside the most aggressive monetization of its peer group and a grind that never really lets up. For the disciplined, patient player it is one of the deepest gacha RPGs going. For everyone else, the spending pressure and the treadmill will win before the game does.

Score: 6.4 / 10 — A gorgeous, deep collection RPG held back by grind and the most aggressive monetization of the major gacha games. Great for the disciplined; exhausting for the rest.