Trek to Yomi nails its Kurosawa aesthetic, but lacks edge

digitaltrends.com:

Akira Kurosawa’s films are, without any exaggeration, iconic. His style is easily recognizable, and the way that he directed movies has gone on to influence cinema long after his death in 1998. Games have even taken inspiration from Kurosawa, with the most obvious being Ghost of Tsushima, which has its own visual mode named after the director that drenches its otherwise vibrant, colorful world in grainy black and white.

Trek to Yomi, the latest game from Flying Wild Hog and Devolver Digital (which is also publishing Weird West, an upcoming cowboy-themed RPG), is taking even more inspiration from Kurosawa than Ghost of Tsushima did. The entire game is in black and white, and its camera tries to capture his signature style by switching between various types of shots. From my short hands-on preview of Trek to Yomi, that much is obvious, but it doesn’t seem as invested in trying anything that’s too new from a gameplay standpoint.

Trek to Yomi kicks off simply enough, placing players somewhere in feudal Japan as a young samurai whose master is immediately killed off. Originality isn’t exactly the focus here, as everything is inspired by Kurosawa films or other Japanese movie tropes. Bloodthirsty bandits are the main enemy, the main character talks about fighting with honor — it all feels like it’s been done before and isn’t being done in a particularly new way here.

Credit where it’s due, though: Trek to Yomi is a treat to look at. The game itself incorporates Kurosawa-style long shots that constantly change perspectives, going from a close-up on its main character and then zooming out to a wide shot showing them walking down a massive staircase or across a field.

Combat scenes are specifically treated to some of the best