Developer: Flying Wild Hog
Publisher: Devolver Digital
ReleaseDate: 5th May 2022
Platforms: PlayStation (cross-buy), Xbox & PC
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
* Code provided by the publisher *
Trek to Yomi is the latest game developed by Polish studio Flying Wild Hog. From the very first trailer, the game completely sold me with its incredible style and clear love for old school samurai films. With every passing glance at the game in the lead up to launch it became more clear that it was going to be a visual feast, but has it all come together to form a good game? Let’s delve deeper.
Starting off as a young kid, learning the ways of the samurai in the village dojo, your lesson is suddenly cut short due to an invasion. Despite being told to stay put, curiosity gets the better of you and so your journey begins as you navigate through the beautifully crafted village. Every scene is shot beautifully with either static or panning camera angles that produce something truly unique.
The entire game is shot in black and white, with a grain filter that adds that little bit of extra authenticity. The world and characters aren’t overly detailed, but the totality of how the game is styled completely overrules that and leaves nearly every scene in the game begging for a photo mode. That’s not to say the absence of a photo mode stops you from getting some great shots though. The minimal UI allows for some superb screenshots.
The story is fairly simple. Chapter 1 of 7 sets the scene with a young Hiroki experiencing a devastating event. From here we fast forward to our protagonist as an adult looking to protect his village. As always I don’t want to get too much into spoiler territory as the narrative is always one of my main drives to play a game. The story in Trek to Yomi is nothing to write home about, but it does a nice job of bridging the gap from scene to scene during its five-hour runtime. There are even a few dialogue choices, three to be exact, that are both tied to trophies/achievements and how the game ends.
As I said earlier, style and presentation never felt like it was going to be an issue with Trek to Yomi. The unknown going in was how well would it play. From talking to others who have played the game as well this seems to be a divisive subject. At times early on it just felt off and a little unresponsive, although never outright bad. However, around halfway through I turned the corner on it.
At no point does it escape being the weakest aspect of the game, but it definitely did start to click more for me once I mastered the odd timing of the parry. You see, instead of engaging the parry right as the blow is about to be landed, you need to press it roughly a second earlier, just as the enemy is about to swing. It completely goes against your natural instinct and takes time to feel natural, but once it does you’ll suddenly find yourself in much more of a rhythm. Your moveset also opens up as the story progresses, with new combos being introduced regularly. You will likely find one or two that fit your style relatively quickly and rarely deviate, but it is nice to know you have an arsenal of moves at your disposal.
There is also the option of ranged weapons – three to be exact. These include the Bo-shurikens, which are essentially metal throwing stars, a bow and an Ozutsu, which is a small hand cannon. The order listed there is from low to high in terms of damage caused, but crucially also low to high in terms of time required to execute. These projectiles should be used sparingly though, as ammo is tight. I always tried to make sure I was stocked up for when it came to a boss fight.
Combat always takes place on a 2D plane. However, in scenes when you are out of combat you can roam around in a 2.5D manner. Here, you’ll be able to explore looking for collectables, upgrades and ammo. There are loads of little hidden areas to explore and find these items which I really appreciated, although my OCD definitely kicked in at times when I saw two paths and would panic trying to make sure I took the wrong one first.
The trophy/achievement list is tough. Not only do you have to beat the game on the hardest starting difficulty, but once you complete the game you unlock Kensei mode, which is essentially a one-hit kill. Thankfully, this one-hit also extends to the enemies (except bosses) and the checkpoints are very generous. That’s not the only difficulty you’ll face either. Each boss has to be defeated without taking any damage and thanks to the story based trophies a minimum of three playthroughs is required.
Overall, Trek to Yomi has its issues, but as a package I loved it. The gameplay has its shortcomings for sure and there is even the odd moment when the artistic direction negatively affects the gameplay such as wide shots. But the presentation is up there with the most stylish games ever created and for that alone it’s one I recommend playing.
-Craig ✌️
