Trek to Yomi | Xbox Series X Review

Akira Kurosawa is one of the most influential film directors of all time. His films have inspired countless tales of samurai, law and order, and vengeance. There haven’t been that many games that have felt Kurosawa-esque until the last couple of years, though. We received the wonderful Ghost of Tsushima in 2020. This year, we have Flying Wild Hog and Leonard Menchiari’s Trek to Yomi. If you’re craving another samurai game, this is one to check out.

Duty Bound

In Trek to Yomi, you are placed in the shoes of Hiroki. You learn your basic combat from your sensei, only to then witness your village being invaded. Hiroki is just a child at this time, but he bravely fends off the bandits terrorizing his town. Unfortunately, his sensei is killed by the villainous Kagerou while protecting Hiroki and his daughter Aiko, and Hiroki vows to slay Kagerou one day as vengeance.

The story is incredibly captivating and retains Kurosawa’s trademarks. I was invested in Hiroki’s journey the entire time and was anxious to see how his story would wrap up. There are a few branching paths that appear at certain points that end up dictating which ending you receive, but don’t seem to influence much else. The black-and-white visuals are striking, with the film grain that’s overlaid adding an extra sense of depth. The voice acting is top-notch (only Japanese audio is available with English subtitles), and the score highlights each incredible event that occurs and further immerses you in the Edo period setting.

Exploring each of the seven chapters was a delight and I highly encourage exploring every path, nook, and cranny. You’ll find health and stamina upgrades, ammunition, and fascinating collectibles tied to both Japanese history and folklore if you choose to go off the beaten path. This will also aid you in battle in some cases.

A Long Journey

Trek to Yomi mostly sticks to a 2.5D perspective, with the occasional camera switch to highlight certain areas. This highly benefits the combat and makes it easy to see how your enemies move. Combat is centered on blocking, parrying, and striking at just the right time. You’ll need to analyze each type of foe to see how they strike and then counter strike with the appropriate combo. This does become very repetitive, fairly quickly though. 

There are only a handful of different enemies, and once you learn their patterns it’s pretty easy to breeze through them on the normal difficulty mode. Bosses offer a refreshing challenge, and I died many times during these fights. Finding their weak points and determining their movement patterns is highly rewarding, and the sense of satisfaction I felt after slaying these bosses made me feel like the warrior I will never actually be.

The combat and enemies do feel inspired by Souls-like games, but Trek to Yomi is far more forgiving than the majority of those titles. Save points are plentiful and fully replenish your health and stamina. You don’t lose anything by dying, and I never felt penalized for making a small mistake. You also have bo-shurikens, a bow, and a shotgun to aid you during fights, which help immensely if you’re stuck in a tight spot or are overwhelmed by foes. Finding environmental hazards that could fell multiple enemies was a gleeful treat that I wish had been utilized a few more times than it ultimately was.

The Final Duel

Trek to Yomi is an enthralling journey that took me about six hours to complete. The narrative, voice acting, graphics, and score all recall the work of Kurosawa and invest you in Hiroki’s journey. Finding upgrades and collectibles is a wonderful treat, and having multiple endings and unlocking the highest difficulty level after initial completion adds replay value. The combat can become repetitive outside of boss encounters, but it’s forgiving and dying doesn’t set you back too much.

I did encounter some moments where characters were supposed to be speaking but no audio was playing, but the subtitles took the sting out of this somewhat. I also experienced a hard-crash one time, but again, the substantial save points didn’t make this too large of an annoyance. It’s not a perfect title, but it’s an entertaining and emotional tale that deserves your attention if you are looking for a combat-fueled action game.

To hear me talk more about Trek to Yomi, be sure to listen to Episode 396 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 44:20 time stamp.

This review is based on a Game Pass copy of Trek to Yomi for Xbox Series X/S. It is also available on Xbox One, PlayStation, and PC via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store.