Trek to Yomi is a 2022 side-scrolling action-adventure game created by Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital. The story takes place during the Edo period in feudal Japan. It follows a young swordsman named Hiroki, who begins a journey to seek revenge after his village is destroyed. This leads him to enter Yomi, the Japanese underworld, where he faces the bad things from his past. The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in May 2022. A version for Nintendo Switch was released in January 2023. Critics had mixed opinions about the game.
Gameplay
Trek to Yomi is a game where you move from left to right while exploring and fighting. There are two types of close combat attacks: light attacks are quick but not very strong, and heavy attacks are slower but more powerful. If a player blocks at the right time, they can break an enemy's defense and attack in return.
Melee attacks can be combined with moving in different directions to perform actions like pushing a sword forward or turning quickly to strike enemies from behind. Players must watch how enemies stand and fight to respond properly. For example, if an enemy is ready to block by holding their sword horizontally, the player should push their sword forward to stab them. The main weapon used is a katana. As the game progresses, players can unlock new weapons like ozutsu, bo-shurikens, and ranged weapons such as bows and arrows. The game is set during the Edo period but includes bosses, mythical creatures, and other supernatural elements. Players can sometimes use dangerous parts of the environment to defeat enemies without fighting directly.
The game switches between exploring freely and fighting in side-scrolling battles with a fixed camera view. Although the game has a mostly set path, it includes hidden areas where players can find extra health and stamina boosts, as well as special tools and weapons. Players may also find shrines that restore health and stamina, but each shrine can only be used once per playthrough. Along the way, players might meet friendly characters who provide hints about where to go next. The game is designed to be difficult, but it also has a cinematic mode that makes it easier. After completing the game once, players unlock an extra difficulty mode where the player character dies instantly when hit.
Plot
Young Hiroki is practicing with his teacher, Sanjuro, when they learn that bandits are attacking their village. Sanjuro tells Hiroki to stay behind while he goes to fight. Sanjuro's daughter, Aiko, encourages Hiroki to help his father. Hiroki fights through the bandits and faces a tattooed outlaw named Kaguro. He injures Kaguro but is defeated. Sanjuro arrives, kills Kaguro, and is seriously injured. Before dying, Sanjuro asks Hiroki to promise to protect Aiko and the village forever.
Years later, Hiroki becomes a samurai and is engaged to Aiko, who is now the village chief. They discover that a warlord has attacked a nearby village under their protection. Hiroki's soldiers are captured when they try to help. Hiroki reaches the burning village but cannot save the people. After defeating the enemy leader, he learns the attack was a trick to allow the warlord to attack Aiko's village. Hiroki returns to find his village on fire. He fights the warlord, who is revealed to be Kaguro. Kaguro claims Aiko is dead and kills Hiroki.
Hiroki's soul goes to Yomi, where he follows a spirit resembling Aiko. When he catches up, the spirit changes into a banshee. Hiroki calms the banshee, which returns to Aiko's form. Aiko tells Hiroki he cannot save her but can save the village from Kaguro. To leave Yomi, Hiroki must prove he is worthy of being brought back.
Hiroki faces challenges, including spirits of his fallen soldiers and the spirit of Sanjuro. After overcoming his guilt, he battles a demon that represents his own evil desires. When he defeats the demon, it asks Hiroki what his true purpose is. After answering, Hiroki is allowed to return and fights Kaguro. Kaguro admits he passed Yomi's trials and took power from the spirits. After Kaguro is defeated, one of three endings occurs.
If the player chooses Love, Hiroki returns to Yomi to be with Aiko forever. If the player chooses Duty, Hiroki becomes the village chief and trains a new apprentice like Sanjuro did. If the player chooses Hatred, Hiroki takes Kaguro's armor and becomes the warlord. A secret ending happens if Kaguro is defeated in Chapter 3. Hiroki finds Aiko's body, gives up hope, and leaves the village, never returning.
Development and release
The idea for Trek to Yomi began when game director Leonard Menchiari was trying out black and white images using Unreal Engine. Publisher Devolver Digital then asked one of their long-term partners, Polish studio Flying Wild Hog, to create a game set in the Edo period. Flying Wild Hog was interested in the project and agreed to develop the game. Devolver Digital then brought Menchiari and Flying Wild Hog together to start making the game. The game was inspired by classic samurai movies, especially those directed by Akira Kurosawa, Orochi (1925), and Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi novel. Menchiari also took ideas from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Westerns and 1930s movies starring Buster Keaton. The game’s 2D side-scrolling gameplay was influenced by silent films from the 1920s to 1930s, where "each scene looks like a magical moving theatre stage rather than a screen." According to game director Marcin Kryszpin, Trek to Yomi was not meant to be a large game and should take about five hours to complete.
Menchiari said the game’s story and themes focused on two main ideas: historical Japan and Shinto mythology. Since the game was set during the Edo period, the team worked hard to make sure the game was historically accurate. They worked with Aki Tabei Matsunaga, a Japanese historian, to help translate and style dialogue to match the time period. The team also used displays from the Edo-Tokyo Museum as a base for designing in-game items. They partnered with Emperia Sound and Music and composers Yoko Honda and Cody Matthew Johnson to create the game’s music. Japanese instruments from the Edo period, like taiko drums and shamisen, were used to record the soundtrack. A gagaku (a traditional Japanese orchestra) was hired to perform the music during recording.
Devolver Digital officially announced Trek to Yomi during its E3 2021 showcase. The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on May 5, 2022. A version for Nintendo Switch was released on January 30, 2023. The game was also available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers when it launched.
Reception
Trek to Yomi received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Reviewers said the game had excellent visuals and art style, but the combat, exploration, and story were not very good.
Zoey Handley of Destructoid gave the game a 7 out of 10, writing, "The gameplay is not very exciting or satisfying. Poor exploration, unimpressive combat, and a simple story cannot make up for the strong visuals. This is unfortunate because the art style is very good." Michael Goroff of Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the game's visual design, saying, "It is a beautiful game with detailed backgrounds, dynamic camera angles, and lighting that uses a black-and-white color scheme well. The camera angles make the game look like a living diorama." Jill Grodt of Game Informer wrote that the gameplay and visuals reminded her of a PlayStation 2-era game, with many flaws and little nostalgia. Jason Faulkner of GameRevolution compared the game to a Kurosawa film, praising its grayscale visuals and music but criticizing the lack of character development, writing, "Trek to Yomi is missing the human element that made films like Yojimbo popular. It feels like a Kurosawa film with only the wide-angle shots, not the close-ups or choreography." Richard Wakeling of GameSpot said the game was a strong tribute to Kurosawa films, using weather effects, smooth camera movements, and monotone visuals. He noted, "The weak gameplay is disappointing because the game looks so beautiful." Jon Bailes of GamesRadar+ praised the game's unique style but compared it unfavorably to Sifu, saying its combat was repetitive and unengaging.
Travis Northup of IGN criticized the game's side quests and puzzles, calling them simple and not developed enough. He wrote, "It is a shame these ideas were not expanded more, as the game is very straightforward and rarely includes opportunities for creative combat." George Yang of PC Gamer criticized the inconsistent and awkward combat, saying, "The controls and stiff animation do not match the smoothness of the film duels the game tries to copy." Robert Ramsey of Push Square gave the game 7 stars out of 10, saying, "Trek to Yomi is a decent samurai action game with strong visuals. It is short but satisfying, with simple but effective environmental design and a combat system that rewards careful play." Ozzie Mejia of Shacknews praised the game's unique presentation, clear swordplay, and many checkpoints, recommending it to fans of Kurosawa films.