Chumps Preview is a special kind of post where we unofficially preview games in Early Access, Beta, or are otherwise “unfinished.” This kind of preview is meant to be a first impression rather than a definitive review where we provide a rating to determine a game’s value. As such, we fully expect a game covered in a Chumps Preview to have room for improvement, some bugginess/incompleteness, and other features associated with similar games in the category.
Almost ten years ago, Yomi was released on iOS and PC to mostly positive acclaim. It succeeded as a “just right” mashup blending strategy card game with a fighting game thematic. Fast forward to today, Yomi 2 is entering Early Access with additional gameplay levers in the form of a Gem system, reinvented abilities, and the same roshambo style of card-based combat. I know that genre mashups can sometimes be hit-or-miss, but for Yomi, and now Yomi 2, the card-game-meets-fighter mashup continues to work.
At its core, Yomi 2 is indeed a roshambo-aligned card game, involving attacks, throws, and blocks/dodges. Attacks beat throws, throws beat blocks, and blocks/dodges (mostly) beat attacks. Ability cards enhance once of the roshambo elements. Gem abilities, new to Yomi 2, offer players a once-per-match opportunity to unleash great power or protect themselves from an onslaught of attacks. Once per turn, the player can exchange one of their cards in-hand for a card in their discard pile, giving them agency in crafting a preferable, but not perfect, hand of cards. Discarding pairs of cards grants the player super energy that can be spent on more-powerful cards, turning the tide of battle into a win or a devastating loss should the card fail to hit.
Thankfully, Yomi 2 does not rely on card collecting or gacha-style mechanics to encourage replayability. What’s currently in-game is fully available — a character can be selected from the character select screen, players can then choose a gem to augment their character’s deck, and there’s little vagueness/missing content. In other words, players will have a complete deck to start with regardless of which character they choose, and the ability to augment a deck with a gem adds a good amount of depth to make battles unique.
I’ve spent over six hours over the past week with Yomi 2, and I’m pleased to say that the game has quickly grown on me. The tutorial at the start presented the game in a passive fashion, relying quite a bit on telling rather than showing. The Innate Abilities section of the tutorial felt visually overwhelming because it relied too heavily on text and the player’s natural trial and error to understand the nature of the cards. For a new player unfamiliar with Yomi, a firmer lesson with more handholding would have communicated some of the concepts in an easier and more memorable fashion. Once I completed the campaign and played some single battles against the AI, I found myself picking up the game much quicker. The depth is there, and with the existing set of characters to choose from, I can see how Yomi 2 can appeal to many kinds of card players.
In-game, battle can feel slow. When playing cards with secondary abilities and passives, the effect dialogue boxes transition across the screen at almost a snail’s pace. If I apply an effect to the enemy, like a poison, it shows up on the screen, then I hit the enemy with an attack. The poison effect is highlighted with another dialogue box. If the enemy hits me, another dialogue box appears to tell me that the poison is now deactivated. I wish that there was a toggle for experienced players to speed up, or even skip, some of the animations so that battles could get closer to a faster and possibly more furious pace of other fighting games.
Yomi 2‘s current roster of nine characters are diverse, some leaning into the typical tropes of existing fighting games while others lean mythical. These characters’ decks emphasize different playstyles, too. Grave, a karate master in a purple gi, is a great all-arounder with easy-to-connect combo cards and the ability to exchange cards twice in a single turn. Argagarg, an aquatic creature that looks similar to Murky from World of Warcraft, relies on poison abilities that deal damage each turn while preventing opponents from using abilities and zoning attacks that prevent opponents from playing throw cards. Degray, an older gentleman with a ghostly familiar similar to Mortal Kombat‘s Kenshi, relies on the player having less cards than the opponent to deal more damage.
On face, Yomi 2‘s current roster is diverse enough to appeal to a multitude of card players, but I noticed that their balance varies wildly. It was much easier to win battles with the likes of Grave and Degrey than it was as Argagarg simply because Grave’s kit relies on combos while Argagarg’s kit is all about waiting out the opponent while his poison ability whittles down their health. Of course, Argagarg’s difficulty is highlighted as being higher than Grave’s, but characters with more complex kits should have greater payoffs. For comparison’s sake, Cetrion from Mortal Kombat 11 is arguably more difficult than Scorpion, yet her abilities can be incredibly powerful and feel refreshing when they successfully chain together. In Yomi 2, it currently feels like characters of lower-difficulty connect with that power in a more visible fashion than their more complex counterparts.
As of release, a single-player campaign exists but is currently incomplete. While eight locations exist, only one is playable: Lou’s Card Shop. Entering the Card Shop gives you some quests to complete, a number of matches to win (15), and a tournament to enter once the 15 matches at the card shop have been won. When I won the tournament at the Card Shop, I earned a trophy for my collection, and that’s about it. There’s some basic dialogue reminiscent of a social media feed, but it’s easily overlooked. Looking ahead to upcoming content, Golf Dragons and Neutral Grounds have similar tournament entry requirements, requiring 22 and 30 wins respectively. Other than the Card Shop, an Event Hall also exists featuring tournaments with varying formats and “wacky” rulesets for those wanting some variety.
I understand that Yomi 2 is in Early Access, and I fully expect things to change between now and its 2024 release (at least according to its Steam page’s description), but I would prefer if the campaign had more character and less of a grind. What if Lou was to congratulate the player for winning the tournament at their card shop, or even a “rival” to exist for the player to compete against? Even if Golf Dragons and Neutral Grounds (currently unavailable locations but visible in the menu) were available today, their 52-win requirement feels like a massive grind, especially with the same “default” ruleset. I hope that future locations, like the Matrix Future Cube and Iron Claw Club, offset the grindy tournament-entry-requirements by instituting some of the “wacky” rules that already exist in the Event Hall. This would help make the campaign feel like less grindy and more of an opportunity to master Yomi‘s set of characters and their unique playstyles.
While Yomi succeeded as a proof of concept blending the card game and fighting genres, Yomi 2 is quite the interesting iteration with additional gameplay mechanics and greater depth. Its “combat” lies in its expectation for players to predict opponents’ moves rather than thinking multiple steps ahead as you would for Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, or even Hearthstone. The fact that collecting cards isn’t baked in and you can pick up and play a good number of characters from the start convinces me that players’ freedom is at the forefront of its design. I just hope that future updates continue to iterate on its balance and create a campaign with more character, slightly higher stakes, and less of a grind. Yomi 2 is available now on Early Access for Steam.
A copy of Yomi 2 was provided by the publisher for this Digital Chump’ Chumps Preview.
