This one is perhaps a Yugioh deep cut – Konami didn’t exactly care about console games outside of the Nintendo arsenal, and so this PS2 game kinda went under the radar in the mid ‘00s. But it should not be forgotten! The artwork, classically #edgy and overproduced ‘00s cover art, helps ensure that.
It has a ballsy premise: you have been summoned to Stonehenge from Present Day (a.k.a 2006) in order to fight in the Wars of the Roses over five centuries prior, because you have the True Heart of a Duelist and possess the only soul capable of defeating Seto Kaiba, who is fighting Yugi, known as… Henry Tudor. However, you may choose to fight on the side of Kaiba instead, and change the course of history. Through card games. It’s good!
What I always loved about the game as a kid was how utterly broken it was; meant to flip Yugioh on its head and provide a True Interactive Element, poor play-testing meant that you actually did best by doing the opposite, and disregarding the game’s fun core element of moving your cards – that are apparently part of your soul – all around the battlefield. It’s a shame, as if you wanted to win the game, you’d spend 30 turns powering up one of two viable monsters in order to clinch the win.
Still, the music design was always a treat – the distinct battle themes are still good today. Maybe this game is deserving of a remake, or at least a port to a brighter era. It’s a shame that is trapped on the PS2.
