In 2020, my heart was with the big samurai adventure Ghost of Tsushima, which basically fulfilled most of my gaming dreams. In any case, if you’ve played the title, you know the story itself didn’t deliver overtly surprising moments, but it was definitely a very enjoyable, more traditional journey that pays homage to director Akira Kurosawa’s iconic films. In addition, the developers built into the game a special visual mode that further supported this feeling, so it was a unique experience for many different enthusiasts. But if that’s not enough for you, you can focus on the title Trek to Yomi, from which we were able to play the first two chapters, while still inspiring old samurai movies to the fore.
- Platform: PC (Verified), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
- Publication date: Spring 2022
- Producer: Leonard Menchiari and the Flying Wild Boar
- Genre: action adventure
- Czech location: Not
- Multiplayer: Not
- Availability: 18+
- Price: Undeclared
Real Kurosawa
If the game has escaped your attention, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it has, I will mention that this is a small project created by Leonard Menchiari by one person who was taken over by Devolver, who assigned a Polish team to help him. , Flying wild boar (Shadow Warrior series). The game then follows the path of the young samurai Hiroki, who promised his master that he would take care of the local village, which he would protect with his body under any conditions. However, some tragic events have tested the strength of this promise.
From the examples, it was clear that there would be a huge emphasis on styling that tries to get as close as possible to the mentioned images. I will admit right away that I do not have a “full” look at Kurosawa, but when I played, I remember the most films like “The Bodyguard” and “Sanjuro”, where there is even a direct link to the latter in the game. In any case, the authors are definitely doing well.
Black and white vision
While the graphics are not top notch per se (mainly reflected in the characters), they manage to create some really impressive scenes that you can stop and enjoy for a while. However, perhaps one of the strongest weapons here is the decision that the title will be completely black and white, with no reset option (you can turn off the film grain). This very well creates the necessary atmosphere, giving the illusion that you have really moved into the world of the old film, which is also confirmed by the fact that the title works in letterbox mode (black bars at the top and bottom). In addition, the selected black and white image allows you to create sometimes quite interesting shadow games, when it also successfully hides the limited possibilities in the technical area.
But when it comes to the form of honor, there are naturally old familiar tropics in the story itself. Thus, they work here with samurai honor and pride, a motive for revenge and various ingrained traditions, although in some ways the most pro-Western. From this point of view, the rules of Kushima apply here, so one should not expect too original or unexpected moments. But in the end, nothing gets in the way. For me, it might be the other way around. I’m just a little afraid that demons or other paranormal elements will come into play, which I can probably do without.
But I have to give a thumbs up for the dubbing and sound. The authors are clearly not too afraid of this and offer (at least for now) only one dubbing option – Japanese. It sounds great and, like all previous things, it also contributes to a great feeling of nesting. It is the same with music, which has no shortage of sansha or shakuhachi sounds.
A little no juice
So yes, Trek to Yomi does put up with its “filmmaking” and that’s definitely the biggest draw in the game. Because the page with the game itself has not fascinated me so far. All your actions fall into two categories. The first is a light local level walkthrough, which usually takes place in a 2.5D environment, which you can do in a variety of ways, look for smaller branches and find collectibles, shrines (in the form of checkpoints) or additional upgrades. At this stage, I often encountered the fact that the camera did not give a completely perfect view (it is static), so some places remained hidden for me. But it wasn’t that bad.
The second and main category is fights. They offer a relatively traditional formula where you mow down your enemies with multi-directional strikes and combos, using cover, throwing weapons and counters, while keeping an eye on your stamina. Therefore, fights are based mainly on the right timing and the use of the right moves in the right places. However, in skirmishes, I lacked some greater accuracy, grace and rapacity. Most of the action seemed clumsy and completely without juice. What’s more, after beating the juices, there was no popular satisfaction at all when I miss the feeling of inertia or weight. And I’m not a big friend with controls (I recommend a gamepad, but you can also use a keyboard), which looks too rigid, as well as animation. Well, I definitely didn’t feel like a samurai.
It’s worth adding here, though, that I’ve only been able to try the beginning so far (besides the unfinished version), so it’s quite possible that some interesting mechanics that spice it up a bit will arrive later. But it’s already clear to me that the title will have to be played on one of the more difficult difficulties (there will be four in total), because the normal one is too simple and the battles in it become unbearably monotonous.
At the same time, from the existing example, I can conclude that the form will play a major role here, and the content will rather fade into the background. Let’s see if it hurts the final product much.
Trek to Yomi releases this spring on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source :Indian TV
