Trek to Yomi is not a lot of a trek, to be sincere. This tribute to traditional samurai cinema is just a few hours lengthy at most, going down throughout only a handful of story chapters. However what Trek to Yomi lacks in longevity, it makes up for in sheer environment and spectacle. It is a fantastically crafted indie journey from a visible perspective, filled with wealthy environments and topped off with wonderful course by way of fastened digital camera angles. It is an actual deal with for the eyes.
Trek to Yomi tells the story of a duty-bound warrior named Hiroki, and when struggle comes knocking at his door, he places his expertise with a sword to good use in defence of his folks. It is a fairly simple premise that goes to fascinating and maybe sudden locations. There is not a lot dialogue, however the sport is joyful to let its masterful presentation do a lot of the speaking.
That is primarily a side-scrolling motion title. There’s some room for exploration once in a while — normally resulting in both collectibles or well being / stamina boosting gadgets — however it’s a largely linear journey as you progress swiftly from one scene to the following. Certainly, nearly all of your time shall be spent slicing down dastards together with your trusty blade, full with excessive screams and sound results.
The fight system itself is first rate general, however it will probably take just a little getting used to due to how floaty it initially feels. Character animations is usually a bit janky — particularly when Hiroki all of the sudden snaps into an in depth vary parry from six toes away — however by no means to a degree the place it feels such as you’re missing management. And that is a very good factor, as a result of precision is paramount. Enemies assault rapidly and with out a lot warning, so quite a lot of encounters are inclined to implement defensive actions earlier than taking the chance to strike again.
As such, parries are the important thing to success, opening your opponents up for what is commonly a killing blow or killing combo. On its regular problem, Trek to Yomi is not a massively difficult sport, however some trial and error is perhaps required once you’re up in opposition to particular enemy sorts or bosses. Fortunately, checkpoints are frequent, and there’s a effectively balanced, simpler problem setting in the event you’re trying to be taught.
Once more, the motion is strong sufficient, however even taking the sport’s quick size into consideration, repetition does begin to set in afterward. For those who’re something like us, you will uncover a few key combos that appear to render quite a lot of your different strikes redundant. It is a disgrace, since you steadily unlock a great deal of cool-sounding strategies all through Trek to Yomi, however we did not discover a lot use for many of them — not after we might simply hit the deadly one-two-three combo after each profitable block or parry.
However look, the easy reality is that samurai duels throughout moody downpours will all the time be alluring — and Trek to Yomi captures that cinematic magic shockingly effectively at occasions. The sport’s flaws are fairly simple to forgive when it manages to siphon its inspirations so successfully.
Trek to Yomi does sufficient to fulfill in its quick runtime — helped by the truth that it is fairly priced at £15.99 / $19.99 — however its replay worth is up for debate. Whereas there are a number of endings to see — primarily based on a few key decisions — none of your unlocked collectibles, expertise, or upgrades carry by way of to subsequent runs. Given its simple construction, Trek to Yomi’s begging for some sort of New Sport+ mode — however it is not right here at launch.
Conclusion
Trek to Yomi is an honest samurai motion sport, elevated enormously by its very good presentation. Clocking in at just a few hours, it is a temporary however finally satisfying story, stitched collectively by some easy however very efficient environmental design, and a fight system that rewards cautious play. It isn’t fairly side-scrolling Ghost of Tsushima, however it’s an impressively atmospheric love letter to samurai cinema.
