Trek to Yomi

Trek to Yomi is a love letter to classic Japanese cinema. Fans of the genre will be fully immersed and giddy about being able to experience something like this, and it is something to behold visually even for those who don’t come with prior knowledge. Unfortunately, those visuals are best experienced on systems other than the Nintendo Switch, which only makes the monotonous gameplay more evident. Incredible storytelling, though cliché, boosts Trek to Yomi towards something worth experiencing, especially when the game can be beaten in an afternoon.

At just a handful of hours, Trek to Yomi sadly still manages to outstay its welcome. It asks its visuals to carry the gameplay, but their novelty wears off before the final act. This is particularly true on Switch, where dropped resolution and simplified scenery steal some of the magic and ugly character close-ups blemish the overall aesthetic. As imaginatively as Yomi is realised, the game still feels like a trek.

Trek to Yomi is an ambitious journey revolving around love, honour, and, above all, revenge. An ode to classic Samurai flicks, its gameplay is simple, but its striking aesthetics and clear focus on cinematography is what truly sets it apart – unfortunately, it’s also where it struggles the most due to the performance limitations of the Nintendo Switch.

Trek to Yomi is something I would hesitantly recommend to fans of Kurosawa flicks or those looking for a stylish action game. It plays most of its gameplay cards too early and ends up being rather tedious for such a brief affair, but it’s worth the squeeze, if only barely, to see its various sights. That said, if you have any other options besides the Switch to play it on, I’d suggest doing so there. This is a game that is all about its visual presentation and the compromises the Switch version makes detracts from that.