Mixed feelings on this one. Trek to Yomi is a short ode to samurai movies that has striking visuals, with a grayscale palette and fixed camera angles, scratchy audio and faux-film irregularities- it really does look like an old movie sometimes, and that’s just great. The world here is fun to explore around, as I loved how most of the little nooks and crannies were hidden into the environment. But combat, the meat of the whole game, always felt sluggish- maybe I’m just not patient enough to be a true samurai? I found it odd that on normal difficulty I rarely had much difficulty with boss fights, but random encounters would frequently kick my ass. Also frustrating was how often the game would force my character into scenarios where he couldn’t turn back- often I would notice two paths forward, take a guess at which one was the true path forward and which was the side quest, and if I guessed wrong then those collectibles were just sealed off. How is that fun?

Overall a cool idea, but even with its short length I’d only recommend playing the first chapter or two of Trek to Yomi.