Yomi is a fun way to learn a fighting game through cards, but be ready to learn the hard way

People often describe fighting games as a combination of speed chess and poker (and other, more convoluted mashups). Take the intricate combos out of a good fighter and you’ve got a complex guessing game where you mentally juggle several options at once — attacks beat walking forward, blocking beats attacks, walking forward beats blocking, etc.

The fighting card game Yomi, which has been out since April of this year on Steam, distills the genre down to this guessing game, mixing the various options of fighting games with some elements of poker and collectible card games. The results don’t map perfectly, but if you want to learn how to read your opponents instead of just pressing the heavy attack buttons in Street Fighter, Yomi’s a good place to learn.