Trek to Yomi

Trek to Yomi is a side-scrolling action game in black and white created by Polish video game developer Flying Wild Hog and released by American video game publisher Devolver Digital. It's available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The game is set during the Edo period of feudal Japan and honours Japanese cinema of the forties, fifties and sixties by referencing works of directors such as Inagaki Hiroshi, Kurosawa Akira, Ozu Yasujiro, Taniguchi Senkichi, Uchida Tomu, Yamamoto Kajiro and Yamamoto Satsuo. If these names are unfamiliar to you and the game interests you, let me suggest to watch films such as The 47 Ronin (1941), Rashomon (1950), Gate of Hell (1953), Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954), Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955), Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956), Harakiri (1962), Thirteen Assassins (1963), Daimajin (1966) and Kuroneko (1968).

The video game's story revolves around samurai Hiroki who must defend his village against a violent warlord. Trek to Yomi features seven chapters that explore the protagonist's life from adolescence until adulthood and focus on his relationship to his master Sanjuro and his love interest Aiko. Throughout the game, players get to explore villages, rivers, mountains, farms and a mythological world. Players will have to defeat murderous bandits but also otherworldly creatures. There are also different choices that can lead up to four different endings which means that this game has some replay value for dedicated fans.

The game's most outstanding elements are its unique graphics that truly bring Japanese cinema to life, its creative story line inspired by Japanese culture, history and religion and its combat mechanics offering some decent challenges to new and occasional action game players.

Some elements that might be criticized are the repetitive gameplay elements and the simplistic side-scrolling approach. This game could have gotten better reviews if it had included more challenging puzzles and creative side quests as well as some more diversified and dynamic combat controls.

However, Trek to Yomi isn't only a very good side-scrolling action game but also a sincere homage to Japanese cinema that easily outclasses open-world games based upon Japanese culture, history and religion. Before purchasing ambitious, epic and long video games such as Ghost of Tsushima, Nioh and Ronin that are mostly enjoyed by younger audiences who have never been to Japan in the first place, you should rather play Trek to Yomi, watch traditional Japanese cinema and save money to visit this fascinating country by yourself without any compromises.

I enjoyed Trek To Yomi to a certain degree the game started out pretty good had amazing visuals and impressive voice acting but the story seemed like the usual Samurai revenge on bandits type of thing which isn't original and while this could be viewed as a missed opportunity due to some aspects of the story showing some promise i still wouldn't be too harsh on the game on that spectrum. Admittedly i couldn't keep myself from thinking well, what if they had done this or that in the story instead? But thats just personal preference. The gameplay on the other hand was mostly fine for an indie game nothing crazy like Sekiro or Ghost of Tsushima but stable and simple combat mechanics and well rounded map design with multiple secret areas and shortcuts that you can take and sometime be completely unaware of their existence the enemy variety kinda sucks because it doesn't encourage you to play differently at all. Infact i finished most of the game without using the ranged weapons they give you throughout the game which felt like a massive missed opportunity especially when enemy types could have been built based on the combinations of weaponry at your disposal which wasn't the case as the encounters felt very repetitive after a certain time. The puzzles scattered around the map were very simple and felt like fillers that are there to increase play time rather than be fun or creative and the amount of shrines (check-points) is just horrendous i played this game on Kansai mode in which you basically die in one shot and still i managed to beat it without much trouble due to the staggering amount of shrines after almost every encounter. Overall i'd suggest this game to people who enjoy games with a focus on middle age Japan and the way of the Samurai as the game nailed those aspects perfectly but thats pretty much it.

Although the gameplay is simple, it's a fun game to play and enjoy. I played through the Ronin difficulty and had a good amount of fun and challenge with the game. I will definitely play through it again to see the other endings to the story.

If you are not into games that are short or linear then this game is not for you it's very scripted and narrow in terms of gameplay variety. There is also an English dub that you can apply if you so desire, but I do recommend playing it through with the Japanese audio for Authenticity and Immersion.

If none of these is an issue to you then hack and slash away my fellow Samurai (bows Proudly and then exit's)

TREK TO YOMI (2022) was a great little indie platformer game, loosely inspired by old fashioned Samurai revenge tales (i.e. Hara-kiri, etc.). The voice acting was really great, as was the overall atmosphere and design. The story itself is rather typical, following previous tropes of the genres, but still fairly fun to follow. The game itself is fairly simple and straightforward although not always easy per say. At times the fight can become difficult.

"Experience an enthralling story of a Samurai named Hiroki during his fall against the forces of evil and heroic return to make good on his failed promise to save the people he swore to protect."

The was a fun and, at times, challenging game.