Do you know what Yomi means? It’s reading the mind of the opponent. If that line rings a bell of some sort, you’ll probably know what Yomi was, and good news: it’s getting a sequel.
Yomi 2 was revealed at the Guerrilla Collective 2023 showcase, developed by David Sirlin. Sirlin developed Yomi, the simple-but-deep free-to-play fighter Fantasy Strike and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
Yomi 2 remains a turn-based card game, where two characters fight like a fighting game. All the rules and mechanics of a fighting game are presented in this format- from frame advantage to supers. A deck of cards of a character has all the tools you’d expect from a fighting game character. As such, it’s not a CCG- all the cards you need for that character is all available.
By removing the barrier of knowing how to press the right buttons that are ever-present in fighting games, Yomi 2 presents the deeper layer of fighting games- the mind games. In other words, reading the mind of the opponent.
Yomi 2 will launch in Early Access with 9 characters, with more characters planned. If you’re familiar with the roster in Yomi or Fantasy Strike, a lot of that cast has returned. There will be a single-player Career Mode where you compete to be the best Yomi player in the city, with hundreds of CPU players to fight against. There’s also a Practice mode and offline versus CPU mode.
The Early Access launch will also have online play- ranked and casual- as well as offline multiplayer by way of hot seat (pass-and-play). For now, online play only features synchronous play-so you have to wait for the opponent to take their turn before you play. But there is a plan to add asynchronous multiplayer where you can make your moves, and then jump into other games while waiting for your turn- like the olden days of play-by-email, in a way.
Yomi 2, like Yomi, is based on a physical card game. But this time, Yomi 2 will have the digital/video game version going out first as a way to develop the game balance. The tabletop card game will have the same rules and mechanics as this video game version.
Yomi 2 will launch on Early Access on June 27 on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.