Yomitori Is a Mind-Reading Battle Game, Now Out on Mobile

Japanese solo developer and publisher maropiyo has dropped a new mobile game called Yomitori. Their previous releases include SlideBird – Parrot Puzzle Game, ParrotGame – Fun Marge Game, and Toripple – Bird Triple Match. See what’s common there? Yes, birds.

Naturally, Yomitori also revolves around birds. Genre-wise, it’s a real-time mind-reading battle game. Don’t be confused about what that means because it’s not as complicated as it sounds. On the contrary, it’s a pretty simple puzzle.

So, what’s Yomitori?

You get two birds, a tiny 5×5 grid, and a race to grab acorns before the other player does. There are only ever three acorns on the board at once. Your goal is to be the first to collect two, and the match is over. It’s that simple, but not lame, though.

Both players pick their movement direction and optionally a skill at the same time, then everything gets revealed simultaneously. There’s no taking turns, no waiting to see what the other person does first, and no advantage for going before or after someone.

Every decision comes down to prediction. You constantly ask yourself where the other bird is heading, which acorn they’re targeting, and if they’re about to do something tricky. The matches only last a few minutes, but the thrill isn’t that short-term.

Yomitori allows for three special actions. Reverse costs 1 and flips both players’ chosen directions, which can instantly ruin a move. Swap costs 2 and straight-up switches the positions of the two birds. Lastly, there’s Overlap, which triggers automatically if both players land on the same square, causing their scores to be swapped.

There’s also a resource system connected to these abilities. Skill cost regenerates by 1 per turn when unused, up to a maximum of 3. Both players can see how much the other has saved. It’s all part of the mind games!

Yomitori offers online play that adjusts your rating after every game, matching you against players from around the world. There are rankings across three categories: Rating, Wins, and Win Streak. There’s also a bit of customisation through cosmetic skins for your bird.

https://youtu.be/qs2sFvVN9go

Check out the game on the Google Play Store. It’s free to download and play. Also, read our news on another new Japanese release, Kitty Stroll.