Table of Contents
amazon Trek to Yomi reviews
For Visuals and Art Direction
Undoubtedly, one of the most exclusive attributes of “Trek to Yomi” is its display. This game has been strongly inspired by the works of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, especially the iconic samurai movies. Couldn’t the developers have gone to all lengths to recreate everything to look like those classic black-and-white samurai movies with a bichromatic color palette and grainy film effect for that sense of authenticity?
The art direction has been on point, with every frame set to look as if plucked from a vintage samurai film. What is masterfully depicted is the play of light and shadow, creating a mood that is not only eerie, but also quite melancholic. Environments are so richly detailed, from placid Japanese villages and temples to dark, forbidding caves and forests. All that architectural detail, foliage, as well as weather effects make this world more depth and immersive- it just feels alive and real.
Instead, the game utilizes several cinematic camera angles to intensify the whole experience. Those fixed camera angles are associated with the old survival horror sagas where each scene gives different perspective shots most often in tandem with drooling backgrounds. This technique makes it more tense and dramatic while making every visit and combat feel intentional, purposeful.
Story and Narrative
“Trek to Yomi” is a sad story about what has always formed the backbone of samurai lore-honor, duty, and sacrifice. The main character, Hiroki, a young swordsman, vows to protect his village and loved ones from ruthless invaders. However, his tragic destiny brings him face to face with fears, doubts, himself, and ghosts from his past. A story immersed in human tragedy and moral ambiguity, it tells a tale that is both captivating and alarming.
Pretty simple narrative structure like all games, as characters tell stories through in-game events and dialogues, along with short-cut scenes. The pacing is quite slow, allowing players to soak in the atmosphere and gravity of everything that happens. The dialogue is in Japanese rendering it more authentic, as subtitles are there for non-Japanese speakers. However, it takes away that authenticity in a player’s experience.
It depicts life, death, and the afterlife-themes that all serve the narration of the story. As Hiroki delves deeper into the unknown, he encounters supernatural occurrences that blur the line between reality and myth. The topic addresses the realm of Yomi, the reversal of the Japanese underworld, and Hiroki’s path becomes revenge and a little demon fighting. Such duality of reality and fantasy is illustrated to narrate justified history along with the supernatural.
Gameplay and Combat Mechanic
Trek to Yomi maneuvers the player smoothly into an engaging side scroller that prides itself on a sword-combat exploration. The combat system is simple yet very satisfying since it emphasizes timing and precision of engagement and very meaningful strategy while at it. Players can perform light and heavy attacks, block, parry, and dodge, with every action requiring conscious thought. The mechanics are very easy to pick up but take time to master, thus each encounter easily becomes very intense and rewarding.
At the heart of all this lies combat in mastering the art of the katana. Players need to learn enemy movements and then strike at just the right moment, for one misjudgement can quickly lead to demise. The deflection system is important, as it allows for being able to re-throw any attacked shots that have been received and create openings for counter-attacking. Its timing is worth mentioning, and by way of rewarding players who stay calm under pressure and pull their throws off with precision.
In addition to the basic attacks, other action options become available as the player progresses further into the game. This allows players to create richer combat variety and the possibility of utilizing different play styles. Finishing attacks can be powerful and numerous. Abilities to unlock different combo types come into play as the game progresses. Skill progress is simple but deep enough to keep combat fresh throughout the entirety.
The environment also offers features that can be efficient in turn against the players. As for example, luring enemies into traps or using the environment to shield or deliver projectiles, such things now add a layer of strategy to the combat with the players made to think creatively up to how they use their surroundings.
Combat is an important part of Trek to Yomi. However, unlike many other combat-heavy titles, this game is focused on exploration as well. Exploring a world well dotted with secret passageways, collectibles, and secrets has everyday rewards that keep pacing players through the linear flow of the game with often breaths taken in by discoveries as it relates to lore and history.
The player assumes the role of Hiroki, a young samurai living in a small town during the Edo period.
One day, while training with his master, Hiroki’s town was attacked by a band of bandits, led by Kagerou.
Although the two samurai teachers and students succeeded in repelling the bandits and killing Kagerou, the price to pay was Hiroki’s life.
Years later, when Hiroki was an adult, the town was once again attacked. The band of bandits is again led by Kagerou, who, unknown to him, has come back to life.
This time, Hiroki was killed. But it seems that death is not the end, because Hiroki finds himself in Yomi – the realm of the dead in the Shinto religion.
Hiroki will have to overcome many trials to be able to return to earth to end Kagerou forever, avenging the innocent lives he took.
As mentioned in the introduction, one of the most remarkable things about Trek to Yomi is the game’s settings.
Although the development budget is not high, Trek to Yomi has done a good job in providing players with a collection of beautiful and vivid Edo period Japanese paintings.
Whether in the town, the jungle, the temple, or the ghostly, mystical world of Yomi, the game’s scenes are always designed in detail.
Even, the writer feels that most of the game’s scenes are beautiful enough to capture on a phone or computer screen.
Most importantly, it’s that the game’s majestic scenery also makes the moments before the sword fights of Trek to Yomi more dramatic.
The way Trek to Yomi uses black and white is also remarkable.
It’s difficult to explain, perhaps due to the game’s rotation combined with the lighting effects, or perhaps other factors, but I feel that the experience of playing Trek to Yomi will be reduced completely if the gameplay is in color.
In general, Trek to Yomi’s black and white is not merely a filter, but an artistic style choice.
As a game that tells the samurai story, it’s sad that the minus point of Trek to Yomi is… sword fights.
Starting with a limited number of moves, players will be able to unlock more moves by summoning miniboss along the way.
However, most of these unlockable moves don’t help.
There is a skill, the time to perform is too long, and before the combo has been completed, the enemy will fight back. If there is a skill, the condition to perform does not happen often, making the player forget its existence.
The result of this is that the player only has 3-4 combos that are useful for most of the game.
The moves also failed to show the strength of a swordsman. Sometimes the writer can see that his sword strokes have clearly touched the enemy, but they still stand there, unresponsive.
There are even enemies that can attack while the I… am doing combo!
The game also has a parry function when we press the defense button at the right time. However, this function is poorly implemented, with the moment to parry difficult to determine, perhaps even a bit haphazard.
Once we have “parry” the enemy’s attack, the feeling is not “high”, because the time the enemy staggers, the opening for us to attack is too short.
In addition, some techniques have a rather confusing “input” way, they seem to only receive buttons from the player within a certain time frame, pressing too fast can’t work, and too slow can’t work.
Using the word “seems”, that’s because the game doesn’t mention this in the skill guide. This leads to many techniques that are difficult to execute in a combat situation.
The last minus point is the dodging mechanism.
Because it’s a side-scrolling game, Trek to Yomi allows us to dodge attacks by… flipping behind the enemy!
However, for some reason, some enemies can flip, while some enemies won’t, leading to the player being like flipping into a stone wall, then getting up and eating a kick in the face!
where can you get a Trek to Yomi online
Trek to Yomi Ultimate Edition: Buy it now
Trek to Yomi: Buy it now
Trek to Yomi: Buy it now
Trek to Yomi Ultimate Edition: Buy it now
Conclusion
Indeed, “Trek to Yomi” is a game that has a strong identity. It is greatly different from other games because it seeks to reproduce the look and feel of the old samurai films. With a strong visual identity and a storyline that comprises of mostly Japanese culture and mythology, the game promises a very memorable experience to its genre connoisseurs. It is possible to appreciate the authenticity of the whole cultural exercise-from directions to sound-for creating a world that is both immersive and evocative.
However, that linear structure and somewhat repetitive fighting mechanics may not attract some players. The story and the atmosphere are there to prove that the hook is sharp and well-developed, but the gameplay may lack the variation required to keep someone hooked in the long haul. In any case, for those who appreciate such an artistic direction and culture related to it, “Trek to Yomi” becomes a good and atmospheric journey through a solidly imagined feudal Japan.
At the end of the day, this is a game that sacrifices gameplay depth for meaningful style and story and does it rather well. It is brief but potent-with the right audience-it will be remembered for its cinematic presentation and well-constructed commentary on samurai lore. It is not for everyone, but it is an experience worth having because it represents a different type of experience, artistically heavy and especially for those interested in samurai tales and Japanese culture.