Trek to Yomi - Review

Trek to Yomi takes place in pre-modern Japan where you play as the game’s protagonist, Hiroki. If you happen to google what Yomi means in Japanese, it is translated to the underworld… similarly to purgatory in western belief.

To say that Trek to Yomi has a basic narrative is exactly what it is… a story or vengeance, starting with a visual of a burning town during the game’s present time, it then leads players through combat tutorial in Hiroki’s past as a child being trained by his master, Sanjuro, revealing game’s backstory. During this segment, you run through the village, interact with characters and let you get a grasp of the setting. This ranges from experiencing certain item pickups such as kunai, moving objects out of the way, and letting you know that the camera will be fixed, which was hinted at when I couldn’t find the ‘invert Y axis’ option in the settings menu. The game’s classic revenge narrative is clearly revealed during its opening tutorial, in which you already know the journey Hiroki is about to embark on.

Much like the classic tale of vengeance in Trek to Yomi, Flying Wild Hog has developed an absolutely stunning and beautiful visual presence of Akira Kurosawa’s films. Firstly, the game integrated a beautiful depth of field by having objects and surroundings blurred in the foreground as well as the background, similarly to the use of cinematic cameras with a specific focus point. It also immerses you in Kurosawa’s ancient Japan with the use of black and white colours and a classic vintage film filter, all the way through to the constant flicker in lighting. You can clearly see the artistic and creative visual presence from the trailers, which was extremely well executed through its entire game.

To add, the sound design of Trek to Yomi complements the vintage look and feel off the get go by utilizing sounds and crackling from a vinyl record during the game’s initial start-up. Not only that, but the tone of the score, sound effects are examples of Flying Wild Hogs researching and executing the genre, era and Japanese culture extremely well, giving players a full immersion as previously stated.

The combat itself is also a slower and intentional system, ensuring players aren’t simply button bashing to just hack and slash through the hordes of enemies. For the most part, attacks, block and parrying requires a little bit of a timed finesse, which could come across frustrating at times. There were moments through the game where I felt that my timing was sound but didn’t seem to register… but this is highly likely user error more than an input error. The game’s combat also integrates side weapons that you unlock along the way such as Bo Shurikens, a bow and arrow and a heavy rifle. However, the most fun I had was to simply use the katana in combat. Players will have to ensure they choose the appropriate timing to block and parry when surrounded by enemies as they will come from both directions (front and back) as the game’s fight sequences sit on a horizontal plane.

And to break the monotonous combat which could come across a little too repetitive through the game, they’ve integrated a small amount of puzzles which were unfortunately a little too simplistic. That being said, the main focus of the game is during its combat sequences, which is very satisfying when you’re able to parry multiple enemies and take them all out, making players feel like a true Samurai.

Trek to Yomi isn’t perfect, in fact, it’s a relatively short game. I believe I was able to complete the game in a rough 5 or 6 hours, making it feel more like it was supposed to be some type of DLC. But what it does well is clearly shown by its creative visuals style as well as its sound design, immersing players into a Kurosawa film. And sure, the game may come across somewhat repetitive, but the game’s length is probably the right amount before feeling it too much. Additionally, there doesn’t seem to be much more you can do with this short-lived narrative. It’s definitely an experience to be had, especially if you’re a fan of Japanese culture, history and Kurosawa films. It’s short, sweet and worth the game time even for non-fans.

The Score

7.0

Review code provided by Devolver Digital

The Pros

+Absolutely gorgeous visuals and sound design

+Immerses you into believing you’re in a Kurosawa film

+Classic narrative of revenge and justice

The Cons

-Relatively short to the point where it felt like a DLC

-Becomes quite repetitive

-Puzzles are too simplistic and used to break up the repetitive nature