You can play games either using Vulkan or OpenGL, depending on which performs best on your device, and you can hot-swap between the two while in-game.
To run AetherSX2, you'll need a 64-bit device, and the chipset must have 'big' performance cores (the developer recommends at least a Snapdragon 845). While AetherSX2 uses PCSX2 code, the developers of PCSX2 have given AetherSX2 their graces, explaining that, in essence, its core code is LGPLv3-licensed. One is Play!, a high-level emulator that doesn't require a BIOS to run, and the other is in violation of the license agreement of PCSX2. There are really only two alternative emulators out there for PlayStation 2 emulation. AetherSX2 is the best way to play PlayStation 2 games on your phone
