As a remake of a 2006 Game Boy Advance fantasy strategy-RPG, the PSP version of Yggdra Union adds sharper graphics, remastered audio, playable characters, all-new missions, and difficulty options.

In Yggdra Union, you take the role of a young Princess Yggdra, the last surviving member of the royal family, as she flees an evil empire that has invaded the Kingdom of Fantasinia. You engage in turn-based battles using cards that dictate everything from field movement to attacks; there are also status cards that increase your unit’s power and provide you with magic spells.

There’s a deep sense of strategy as you need to carefully manage your cards as well as take into account the advantages and disadvantages that your troops have against specific enemies and weapon types. Yggdra Union’s card-based combat system can be intimidating but fortunately, the difficulty curve is never too steep and there are various in-game tutorials to guide you.

The game promises a large amount of story content, featuring 3 different endings and an extra hidden ending, plus plenty of unlockable bonuses for veteran PSP gamers.

“We’ll never fight alone.” That’s the theme of Yggdra Union. Few RPGs have a theme that can be summed up in one sentence, which is just one of the unique things about this game.

Yggdra Union for PSP is a very technical game that requires an intense amount of thought to properly execute strategies. You must take into account a character’s weapon affinity, available skills and unit formation if you want to even dream of winning a round.

The game’s basic weapons (axes, spears, swords) are arranged in a sort of rock, paper, scissors alignment, pushing you to make extra consideration when positioning your troops for an attack. So if weapons and formations are ignored, clashes will end horribly. Forming Unions with your other characters (by being in the proper formation) and thus attacking in a chain is a key element to victory.

If you like card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: The Gathering but don’t want to be caught dead with a deck in your hands, this PSP game is right up your alley. However, if you played Yggdra Union back in 2006, there might not be too much new here to make you play it again. But it’s a good PSP game that manages to stay interesting after hours and hours of playtime and will praise a newcomer’s library.

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