Trek to Yomi is a 2D, action-based samurai game. It has all the makings of an indie classic. It pays homage to Akira Kurosawa, one of the most renowned Japanese filmmakers of his time. Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Rashomon are three of his biggest films.
They have gone on to inspire media in all forms, from other movies to games. Trek to Yomi has the vibe of his samurai movies with the theme and visuals. Is that enough or is there more underneath the sleek visuals? The game is currently in the 70s across most platforms on Metacritic. It appears then that some players were not exactly thrilled with the end product. Let’s dive in and find out why.
8 Best: The Retro Movie Effect
The most distinctive thing about Trek to Yomi is the visual effects, as was argued in the intro. It’s black and white with a grainy filter as if it were an old movie. The sound that accompanies the game is also low quality to help mimic that retro effect.
The thing that stands out the most about the art style in this indie game is the lighting. Between moonlight cascading down on a bloody battlefield or fires dancing in a burning building, it all looks great. A big thumbs up to any scene taking place on a bridge too. It’s a classic samurai setup.
7 Worst: A Confusing Plane Of Existence
The game switches off regularly between guiding the player down a narrow, strict, 2D plane and one that is more 2.5D. The 2D areas don’t allow for exploration whatsoever, while others engage players more such as running toward or away from the camera. The changes between perspectives, along with the locked camera, can be confusing.
Trek to Yomi seemingly wants players to explore, but it never seems to decide what kind of 2D game it wants to be. It’s not a huge mark against the title but the visuals don’t help with navigation either since everything is in black and white.
6 Best: Plenty Of Checkpoints
There are no manual saves in Trek to Yomi. Instead, there are plenty of checkpoints. These checkpoints, which are designed to look like shrines, save progress and heal players too.
They are stationed strategically right before a set of fights. Sometimes players will have to mow down several samurai before finding another checkpoint. Sometimes there will be nothing at all. They get more sparse toward the latter half, but overall the checkpoint system is well-balanced.
5 Worst: No Map
The visuals and switching of planes can be confusing. It doesn’t help the fact that Trek to Yomi has no map. The game is level-based, meaning that there is no way to go back if players miss any valuable upgrades, unlike a Metroidvania. Sometimes going down the story path will make it impossible to double back on the level itself.
If there was a map, players could plan their routes more strategically and make sure nothing gets missed. There are ammo, stamina, and health upgrades to worry about. Missing one could make it impossible to beat the game because it gets tougher and tougher.
4 Best: The Difficulties
While it would have been nice to see some more in-depth assist options in Trek to Yomi, the game at least has difficulty options. There are three for starters and one more challenging mode for players that wish to play the game again masochistically.
- Easy turns the player into a one-hit-wonder as most enemies will drop with a single slice.
- Medium allows for a more balanced fight.
- Finally, Hard will keep players on their toes.
The truly nice thing about these settings is that they can be switchedanytime. This allows players to experiment more as long as they don’t care about certain achievements.
3 Worst: It’s All About Combat
This might sound like a weird thing to complain about but Trek to Yomi is all about combat. There are barely any puzzles or moments of lightness in the campaign. Sometimes a tree or cart will need to be pushed, and there are some other diversions, but these types of tasks make up about 80% of the “puzzles” in the game.
It can be kind of stressful to always be in this bloodthirsty mode. If players want a hardcore samurai game with pure action then this won’t be a problem. However, the combat is a bit stiff. It could have been a lot more fluid.
2 Best: Yomi
Trek to Yomi might have players thinking that Yomi is a destination in Japan, but it is actually the land of the dead. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say there is a surprising horror twist about an hour or two into the story. It turned the adventure from a by-the-numbers samurai flick to something truly unique.
It’s a shame that they didn’t get more creative with this space as it could have made Trek to Yomi even better overall. Still, it’s hard not to admire what this point in the game accomplishes.
1 Worst: You Cannot Skip Dialogue Line By Line
There are a few issues with the audio in the game. One, there is no English track, forcing players to read subtitles. Fans of dubs may not like that. It would not be so much of a problem if the subtitles were anything but white, and there is no way to change the colors to make them more eligible. White on white just doesn’t mix.
Finally, lines cannot be skipped like normal text boxes. The scene either has to be skipped entirely or players have to sit and watch things play out even if they finished reading already.
Trek to Yomi was released on May 5, 2022 and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.