Analysis of Trek to Yomi

Hike to Yomi the new game Flying wild pig and distributed by Devolver Digital arrives today on our consoles, May 5. In itself, Hike to Yomi, is an ode to classic samurai cinema, proof of this is its fantastic artistic section. And it is that, one of the first things that catches the eye of this adventure is his character at the time of presenting us the whole adventure in black and white. Following this line, Lovers of the works of the legendary Akira Kurosawa will feel at home during the game.

Hike to Yomi, invites us to live an adventure of revenge. Our teacher has been killed, we as followers swear to protect our people from a threat that is more than just bandits. A fairly classic story in this type of title, but which does not cloud the experience at all.

More generally, one can say that Hike to Yomi is an adventure and combat game that combines side-scrolling 2D flat scenes with free-moving 3D areas. This generates a certain variety in its action and will allow us to see in more detail some of its spectacular scenes. But that’s only a small part of what’s at stake Hike to Yomi. If you don’t want to miss any details about it, don’t miss the following analysis.

Hike to Yomielegant and simple

As you can imagine shortly after following the trail to this title, its setting takes feudal Japan as a reference. A setting that we greatly appreciate each time it appears in the world of video games. Even more so when he has the care and affection with which the company has worked. And that’s it, we will quickly realize the affection that Flying Wild Hog had, to recreate not only the places and the characters, but everything that surrounds them. its marked black and white tone and film grain fit like a glove. And while it might seem like this bossy style might leave other aspects unchecked, that’s not even remotely the case.

The artistic and graphic style that the game presents to us at first glance shows a simple appearance. But in reality, as we pay attention to each setting and to the characters themselves, we realize that they have a excellent level of detail. It should be noted that the game is developed using Unreal Engine 4, which allows for this thorough level throughout the game. From a simple vase to a house or a cave in the mountains, they are detailed for give as much realism and immersion as possible.

During our adventure in feudal Japan, we will cross two different types of scenes:

• Combat scenes: in these the camera will be oriented forming a 2D plane, where we can only move from left to right facing our enemies. In pure Cup Head or Metroid Dread style. They will be used both in common fights during our adventure and in important fights for the development of the story like the Boss Fights.

• 3D scenes with a fixed camera: for much of the game we will go through these scenarios, here we can move freely, exploring everything wherever the scenario allows us to find upgrades, ammunition for our throwables or collectibles. For each chapter, we will have a certain number that we can find.

In these semi-open spaceswe have freedom of movement around the stage. In them we will find secondary areas, where, as I have already mentioned, we will find ammunition or collectibles. Some of these secondary roads hide small combat areas where enemies will be found. In some cases, we will fight against them to defend the defenseless population. There will be situations where we will be rewarded for it or simply claim what the game has available to us.

In Hike to Yomiwe will face different types of enemies, all of them can easily be differentiated thanks to their distinguished clothes. The most basic enemies they will be dressed with simple clotheswhile the strongest enemies They wear full armor. Depending on the enemy, they will attack faster than others, they will use a bow, and of course they will take more hits. The the diversity of enemies is good and well distributed throughout the adventure. Increasing enemies and their type as we acquire skills and progress. Moreover, if we explore the scenario we can find new attack combos and life and resistance improvements.

The Ultimate Samurai Dive

From the first stages of this title, they will teach us the basics that we will need to wield a katana and free our region from bandits. With a simple and well explained tutorial. The control board is easy to grip, making it accessible right from the start. In addition, we will have the possibility of making parries in pure Sekiro style, which will help us to break our guard and finish our opponent with a single cut in most cases.

As we begin our adventure, we are introduced 3 difficulty levels, from Kabuki (story mode) to Ronin (hard). Once we have completed the game for the first time, we will unlock the Kensei difficulty (Very difficult). Depending on the difficulty and as is obvious, the challenge will be greater or lesser, so the importance of taking care of our life and resistance statistics and finding improvements quickly so as not to be wiped out so quickly will take on greater importance. .

The throwing items that you unlock along the way, such as the kunai, bow and musket, will be essential against different enemies. But we don’t have them all from the start, but we get them on our way. From the base we start with the kunai and we will find new weapons as well as improvements to be able to carry more ammunition. Many of these weapons will be used to get rid of difficult enemies to fight and to be able to finish the fights before in the event of low life.

Life and resistance, the key to victory

The health and resistance units of our character will improve as our adventure becomes more difficult, perfectly adapting the progression to the difficulty. We will improve life according to the upgrades arranged on the stage as I will explain later. Health is divided into small squares, depending on the attack of the enemy, it will subtract a greater or lesser amount. For context, on normal difficulty, enemy attacks usually take away 1-3 frames of health. Taking into account that we start with 5 units of health, we can see that the game will not be a walk.

For this reason, it is very important to know how to defend yourself. This is where the resistance comes in. We must be careful with the resistance bar because if we lose everything we will lose our posture and the possibility of defending ourselves, being at the mercy of enemies.

During our little odyssey, in the secondary areas of the scenarios, we will find improved health and stamina. Many of these upgrades will be at a glance, but the ones that can mean the difference between enduring a fight or dying are ones we don’t always have on hand. As we progress we will unlock new skills in the form of combos which, like stat improvements, are useful in dealing with enemies that will make things difficult for us.

In addition, by completing key story fights and boss fights, in most cases we will unlock new abilities. In addition to being able to find themselves in the optional corners of the adventure. The abilities in the game are mostly new combos, also having small passives that will make a difference in battle.

At certain points in our journey, we will find small altars they will be illuminated and They will be used to save the progress of our game and fully restore our life and stamina. Each time we die, we will respawn at this stage.

Enveloping and reliable sound section

The first time we walked in Hike to Yomi, we will wrap ourselves great soundtrack faithful to the era in which the game takes place. Embracing us and enlivening our adventure. Soundtrack adapts perfectly to the different moments of our adventure, knowing how to change appropriately depending on the moment and the scene in which we find ourselves. the game is completely in Spanish in their menus. While the the voices of the characters are in Japanese, permanently subtitled so as not to lose the thread of the story. Without a doubt, it’s an achievement to have the voices in Japanese for a game like this.

Everything is not reduced to the soundtrack, the interactions that we carry out with the scene present a complete sound palette, without going into repetition. In addition, the sound of our air-cutting katanas is so complete that depending on the attacks we make, they will produce different sounds. Without a doubt, in this title they have not skimped on detail and care in any of its sections.

Ultimately Trek to Yomi…

Trek to Yomi presents itself as one of the great indie/AA games to watch. Well, its innocent appearance should not deceive you, it hides a great game in every aspect and I personally recommend you to try it. An exceptional graphic and artistic section, an enveloping and immersive sound section as well as a neat gameplay that make this game one of the great surprises of this year 2022. Finally, we can’t stop many thanks to Devolver Digital provided us with a digital copy of the game for this review.

Trek to Yomi will be available from May 5 for Xbox Series and Xbox One via Xbox Game Pass. In addition to PlayStation 5, PS4 and PC. From here I invite you to give this game a chance, it will not disappoint you. As always, if you want to learn more about scans like these, be sure to stop by your home here in the Xbox Area.