Trek to Yomi Review – A Fascinating Journey to Redemption

You can read my impressions of the just-reviewed title Trek to Yomi, born in the second half of March by Leonard Menchiari, who was subsequently loaned by the Flying Wild Hog studio. And at this moment I have to sprinkle ashes on my head. Having played the full version of the game, I can say in advance that I was wrong about several things. And at the same time, I confess that I am very glad about my mistake. However, in order to preserve a certain “personnel culture”, let’s go in order.

• Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (Revised), Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
• Publication date: May 5, 2022
• Developer: Flying wild boar and Leonard Menchiari
• Genre: Action platformer
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 8 GB (PS5)
• Game time: 5-6 hours
• Sales version: Digital
• Price: €19.99 (approximately 500 kr) on Steam / 529 kr on PlayStation Store / 569 kr on Microsoft Store

Honor, courage, love

As you may have guessed from possible demos, pictures, or just my previous impressions, Trek to Yomi is meant to function as a love letter to older samurai films, namely the films of legendary director Akira Kurosawa (we might mention The Bodyguard). So this is clearly reflected in the story, which offers a very straightforward but definitely captivating narrative of the journey of the young samurai Hiroki, whose life threw a few nasty branches in his path, so how to deal with it is up to him. Will he fulfill his master’s wish? Or will he embark on a journey of revenge? These are the questions you will be helped to answer, which will lead to one of the four available ends (affected by direct elections), which you will reach in about 5-6 hours.

A love letter to old samurai movies.

And here we come right to one point where I was wrong. During the preview, I knew that the paranormal elements (which ended up making up almost half of the title) were going to come into play at a later stage, which I feared. But, to my great and pleasant surprise, I did not mind at all. Even vice versa. The game works with them most of the time, it’s really nice that it doesn’t interfere in any way and fits well with the set mood of the whole story. In addition, it offers various obscure and interesting scenes that do not compete with FromSoftware games, which is certainly a great calling card. The only pity is that in the end it can be a little “nice” for developers.

Impressive experience

In any case, paranormal or non-paranormal elements, all the emphasis on cinematography is reflected in the production itself, in which the authors set foot on a truly unprincipled path. The game is black and white and runs in movie mailbox mode where you can’t reset this setting. You can turn off film grain as much as possible. To do this, only Japanese voice acting is available here (it should be noted that it is really good), and individual scenes are offered through a static camera, choosing mainly the most impressive angles that work well with the mise-en-scene. Together, this offers a truly unique atmosphere, which in many situations is very breathtaking, despite the fact that the textures themselves are not among the most frilly (which, however, the chosen stylization successfully masks). It’s true that this focus on the best possible cinematic experience can sometimes make you angry in terms of gameplay when sometimes you won’t have a perfect view of your opponents and their movements, but that’s rare.

The authors set off on a truly unprincipled journey.

However, this very impressive visual is successfully complemented by an equally successful sound page. I’ve already mentioned character duplication, but it’s definitely worth mentioning the really well-chosen musical score that offers the sounds of traditional instruments such as the three-stringed sanshin or the melancholy shakuhachi.

clang of swords

However, we still move naturally in the digital game space, so the gameplay itself is an integral part, which again I was not very enthusiastic about. In the full version, I was again pleasantly surprised by how it suited me in the end (probably a different state of mind). The template is not complicated at all. You will simply go through charming levels in which you communicate with the character from time to time (in a linear dialogue without choices), and you will also find several branches where you can open various collectibles that give an additional idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe world, but also various improvements, among which are , for example, large portions of health or stamina, or various new strikes and fighting techniques.

Patience and accuracy are rewarded.

Then you will use them in the most important thing that the title suggests in terms of the game, namely in fights with various enemies. To a certain extent, their handling tries to be true to the samurai tradition, so patience and accuracy are rewarded above all when a good attack requires a quality defense. So it will definitely be useful for you to know the correct timing for the analysis, when you can then give your opponents a devastating portion of attacks. At first, these actions are actually relatively simple, straightforward and somewhat repetitive (as I wrote in the preview), but over time you will start to unlock other combos that make the situation much more interesting. In addition, the title will constantly put new types of enemies in front of you, on which a slightly different tactic works, which you need to master, otherwise it will mean an early death. Even on normal difficulty (called bushido), the game is a really enjoyable challenge in the later stages, in which haste is severely punished (although not too severely, because the shrines that act as checkpoints here are still plentiful) . Gourmets and masochists can then take advantage of an unlockable mode in which one hit means death. But I have to complain that the controls, like the various animations, can still be a little stiff, and the feedback on your individual actions sometimes runs into a rather annoying lag (this happened to me both during the PC preview and during the review on PS5).

clean cut

However, developers are constantly trying to keep the player’s attention, so they constantly introduce new elements that undermine any monotony. I’ve already unlocked new types of enemies all the time, but many of them will come up with puzzles that you will solve almost immediately, but thanks to this they do not break the set pace. With all this, you can still use several types of weapons at a distance, such as kunai, bow or tanegashima. But there are also various boss fights for which I dare say the writers could be a little more creative (especially in terms of difficulty), but they definitely serve their purpose.

Developers are constantly introducing new elements.

This brings us to the technical state. I can say that while playing the PlayStation 5 version, I encountered only one serious problem, namely three situations in which my control completely became unresponsive, which is tantamount to death. However, the subsequent restoration at the nearest checkpoint always solved these problems. Otherwise, I did not notice any other nonsense.

The obvious choice for every samurai

So if some time ago you were fed up with the big-budget Ghost of Tsushima, thanks to which you now have a taste for another samurai odyssey, which also offers a clearly non-negotiable and basically fascinating presentation, you definitely can’t go wrong with the studio’s new project. Flying Wild Hog and designed by Leonard Menchiari. . So prepare your sake, sharpen your katanas and let yourself be carried away by the enjoyable experience of this black and white story.