The young swordsman Hiroki has made a vow to his dying master to protect his town from danger. He is soon faced with tragedy and is defeated at the hands of evil. Bound by honor, he ventures beyond life and death to return on his promise and rise once again. Featuring traditional swordsman combat blended with supernatural forces, “Trek To Yomi” is inspired by classic samurai films.

“Trek To Yomi” is an eloquent and elegant tale of a samurai fighting death itself that struggles at times with its combat systems.

If you’re a fan of monochromatic samurai adventures, you’re going to fall in love with this game. The narrative, while holding true to cliches of a childhood traumatic massacre hardening the young swordsman, is still an enjoyable one to follow. If anything, it serves directly into that nostalgia of an old film and serves as a stage for Hiroki to undergo his journey into Yomi after falling in battle.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the concept, Yomi can be lightly compared to the afterlife, a place where the dead go after leaving their bodies. The game does well to establish this supernatural realm and includes a lot of the mythology surrounding the stories of both Izanagi and Izanami, two deities the realm is known well for. 

I enjoyed navigating the spirit world with Hiroki as he ventured to return to the land of the living and was surprised to learn that the game also allows for multiple narrative paths to be selected at various points in the story. This helped me feel like I was not just witnessing his journey, but participating in it and constructing my own reasoning for returning to life.

The visual style in this game is outstanding and is reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films of the 1950s. With static camera angles, black and white colors with grain filters and the attention to creating an authentic Edo period Japanese setting, this game embodies the cinematic experience. 
It was so interesting to experience the blending of video games with themes of cinema, and I found myself greatly appreciating the visual direction “Trek To Yomi” expresses. 

The world of “Trek To Yomi” is gorgeous to explore, and hidden throughout the lands are collectibles that provide both upgrades and lore. With hidden paths to discover and optional fights, it was rewarding to go beyond the main path in search of these sequestered treasures.

Unfortunately, the least interesting part of the experience is the combat gameplay. There are quite a few sword combos to learn, although I found myself really only using a select few for nearly the entire game. Enemies will only attack from either the left or the right sides of the screen, and while vicious in numbers, they are often trivial one-on-one. 

The bosses are another thing to mention because while often bearing stunning designs and visuals, they are anything but fun to fight. Some of their attacks will appear to miss, only to strike Hiroki. They also have unblockable moves that require dodging, which would be fine if the dodge roll wasn’t so unreliable. These problems are most noticeable within the supernatural fights where the enemies have large weapons and magical powers that will penetrate blocks. I really wanted to like these portions of the game because they are just so visually brilliant, but I found myself dreading getting to a boss most of the time due to the issues surrounding the core combat loop.

Overall, this is such a stylistic and interesting blend between video games and cinema that I can certainly recommend it to anyone who loves 1950s samurai films. While the combat systems can be a bit unassuming, I believe the visual direction and beautiful environments make it well worth seeing to the end. 

This game feels like a love letter to the samurai film, and it’s easy to see that the developers went all out on their vision of the story they wanted to tell. If you go into the game seeking a narrative and cinematic experience, you’ll appreciate what it has to offer. However, if you’re looking for complex and in-depth swordplay, you may be disappointed.