A fighting game in card form, rebooted.
FACT SHEET
Game Name: Yomi 2
Developer: Sirlin Games
Release Date: Steam Early Access in Q2 2023
Platforms: Steam Early Access and Epic Game Store Early Access first,
then more development, then full release on those platforms.
After that: Console announcement TBA.
Physical tabletop version: Follow it on Gamefound.
Price: $24.99
ESRB: Everyone
Press Contact: leontes@sirlingames.com
Social Media:
Twitter: @SirlinGames / Facebook: Sirlin Games
DESCRIPTION
Yomi 2 is a fighting card game. Pick your character deck, pick a gem to augment them, and fight an opponent. Like in a fighting game, you’ll block high and low attacks, throw overly defensive players, and perform combos of several attacks in a row.
Yomi 2 refines this concept over the original game with several new mechanics, such as gems to alter your character, knockdowns that allow high/low mixups, the ability to “gain the edge” to speed up your attacks, and a system to exchange cards in your hand with cards in your discard pile so you can build the hand you want.
Includes a substantial single player career mode as well as online sync and async play.
HISTORY
Yomi is almost 20 years old. It was the first “fighting card game” and has been a perennial seller for Sirlin Games. Sirlin was a fighting game tournament player (who would later become lead designer of Street Fighter HD Remix) when he dreamed of capturing the the essence of fighting games in a way that allowed more people to enjoy what’s fun about them. He developed the game publicly on his forums from 2004-2008 and released it in 2009.
Since then there have been countless tournaments and events for Yomi, both offline and online. Just like in a fighting game, there are tier lists, there’s matchups knowledge to learn, there are character loyalists, etc. Critics gave high reviews at the time, such as Tom Vasel listing it as the 12th best game of all time back in 2011.
Now, Sirlin is creating Yomi 2. It’s somewhat analogous to the jump from Starcraft 1 to Starcraft 2. In both cases, it’s a competitive game with a mature competitive scene which gets a sequel long after the initial release. In both cases, the new game has plenty of inspiration from the old, but is also a new experience that stands on its own and has higher production values and modernized design.
WHAT’S NEW AND COOL ABOUT YOMI 2
Fighting System
Exchange! You can exchange a card in your hand with one in your discard pile each turn as long as both have the exchange symbol. Will you use this to build stronger combos or to cover your weaknesses?
Gems. Pick a gem to augment your character. Each gem gives you different special moves and abilities as well as a once-per-game "gem storm" that can turn the tides to your favor.
High and low attacks. Just like in a fighting game, some attacks must be blocked high while others must be blocked low. These “mixups” are especially effective if your opponent is knocked down.
Projectiles. “Zoner” characters can build up their hand size while throwing relatively low risk fireball-type moves.
Super moves. Build up super meter that you can spend on powerful super moves. To get super meter, you can discard pairs or you can land "chain combos" of consecutive attacks.
Features
11 characters available so far, many more planned to be added for free.
6 gems to augment characters.
Single player career mode where you visit numerous card-playing venues, fight regulars, compete in tournaments, and try to become the best Yomi player in the city. (And the most popular on fake social media!) Huge mode, only a small portion available at early access launch, more to roll out over time.
Single player vs AI with four difficulty levels.
Online synchronous play (at launch) as well as asynchronous play (to be added during the early access period).
Pass-and-play mode for local play against a friend.
Tutorial to get you started.
Single Player Career Mode
Full Steam Deck Support
Runs natively in Linux (no Proton).
16:10 resolution, so no black bars on the Steam Deck’s screen.
Easily runs at 60+fps.
Steam Deck button icons including L4/L5/R4/R5 buttons on the back. Those buttons can be used and mapped to anything.
Steam Cloud saves including dynamic save when the Deck sleeps. In single-player career mode, you can (for example) sleep your Steam Deck mid-game, then resume that same game on your laptop or desktop computer.
