A fighting game in card form
Yomi 2 turns the back-and-forth of a fighting game into a turn-based card battle. Cards stand in for your moves: attacks, blocks, throws, dodges, and abilities. The core interactions mirror what you would see in games like Street Fighter and Fantasy Strike, and the game was made by a lead designer who worked on both. Throws beat blocks, so you have to keep your hand varied instead of hoarding one kind of card. High and low attacks create mixups, since some must be blocked high and others low, and those mixups hit hardest when your opponent is knocked down. Zoner characters can grow their hand while tossing out low-risk fireball-style moves, and you build super meter by discarding pairs or landing chain combos of consecutive attacks, then spend it on super moves.
Playing together
Your group can play Yomi 2 online, either in real time or asynchronously when schedules do not line up. Pass-and-play mode covers local games against a friend in the same room, and Remote Play Together lets someone join over the internet. There is also single player vs AI with four difficulty levels, plus a career mode where you travel to card-playing venues, fight regulars, enter tournaments, and try to become the best Yomi player in the city.
Before you start
There are 20 characters to choose from, and each one can be augmented with one of 6 gems. Gems grant different special moves and abilities, along with a once-per-game gem storm that can swing a match. The Fighting System Exchange lets you swap a card in your hand for one in your discard pile each turn, provided both carry the exchange symbol, so you can either build stronger combos or patch holes in your defense. A tutorial covers the basics, and it is worth running through before your first match so the exchange symbol, gem choices, and high/low blocking make sense right away.