TLDR: Trek to Yomi is an homage to olden samurai films. While it has great visuals and atmosphere the gameplay is a bit lacking. 6.7/10
(This review will be a spoiler free discussion of Trek to Yomi with only the basics of gameplay being discussed and some story elements that are available on the game's steam page)
Trek to Yomi is described as a love letter to classic Japanese cinema with the works of Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi being a particular inspiration.
At the time of review I have just completed my second playthrough with my first being on Normal (Bushido) and my second being on hard (Ronin). The game is made up of chapters which aren't overly long instead are relatively on the shorter side, the game overall will take around 5 hours to complete. The game does have multiple endings so there is some replay value and there are a decent amount of achievements (on steam).
The game's visuals are its strongest selling point and are initially what drew me to the game. The black and white cinematic style of the game is ripe with opportunities for screenshots, I only wish you could unsheathe your sword outside of combat for screenshots.
Story- Due to the spoiler free nature of this review I will not go into the story in depth but my experience with the game's story is that I liked it, I felt connected with Hiroki and at the end I was happy with the ending I had gotten. Alongside the story I will say the voice acting is great. I had played with the japanese voice acting to better immerse myself, there is an option for english voice acting but I cannot comment on it.
Gameplay wise Trek to Yomi is quite simplistic, there are 4 main segments of combat; Blocking, Parrying, Sword strikes and ranged combat. Additional segments are added into these main segments later on but these 4 are the core of the gameplay loop. As you progress through the game you can find and unlock new combos for sword strikes to shake up gameplay. While this is nice the in the latter third of the game the combat gets very repetitive and the story is the main reason you continue forward, even in my second playthrough I was continuing only to get the achievements. Parrying and Blocking are available onset but the further you go the better you are with it. Overall the gameplay while seemingly expansive is repetitive in its latter half and not anything to sing about.
Trek to Yomi is a game you play because of the visual style voice acting and the story, the gameplay is just the means to facilitate those and is a means to an end. While I did like the story and voice acting I cannot give it a 7/10 with how the gameplay is and becomes so I will give the game a 6.7/10.
(This review will be a spoiler free discussion of Trek to Yomi with only the basics of gameplay being discussed and some story elements that are available on the game's steam page)
Trek to Yomi is described as a love letter to classic Japanese cinema with the works of Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi being a particular inspiration.
At the time of review I have just completed my second playthrough with my first being on Normal (Bushido) and my second being on hard (Ronin). The game is made up of chapters which aren't overly long instead are relatively on the shorter side, the game overall will take around 5 hours to complete. The game does have multiple endings so there is some replay value and there are a decent amount of achievements (on steam).
The game's visuals are its strongest selling point and are initially what drew me to the game. The black and white cinematic style of the game is ripe with opportunities for screenshots, I only wish you could unsheathe your sword outside of combat for screenshots.
Story- Due to the spoiler free nature of this review I will not go into the story in depth but my experience with the game's story is that I liked it, I felt connected with Hiroki and at the end I was happy with the ending I had gotten. Alongside the story I will say the voice acting is great. I had played with the japanese voice acting to better immerse myself, there is an option for english voice acting but I cannot comment on it.
Gameplay wise Trek to Yomi is quite simplistic, there are 4 main segments of combat; Blocking, Parrying, Sword strikes and ranged combat. Additional segments are added into these main segments later on but these 4 are the core of the gameplay loop. As you progress through the game you can find and unlock new combos for sword strikes to shake up gameplay. While this is nice the in the latter third of the game the combat gets very repetitive and the story is the main reason you continue forward, even in my second playthrough I was continuing only to get the achievements. Parrying and Blocking are available onset but the further you go the better you are with it. Overall the gameplay while seemingly expansive is repetitive in its latter half and not anything to sing about.
Trek to Yomi is a game you play because of the visual style voice acting and the story, the gameplay is just the means to facilitate those and is a means to an end. While I did like the story and voice acting I cannot give it a 7/10 with how the gameplay is and becomes so I will give the game a 6.7/10.