Every once in a while I decide to power on the good ‘ole Xbox and see what games have entered Gamepass. This time around a lot of good games made their way in. Bugsnax is an honorable mention and this week’s game, Trek to Yomi was added very very recently, so I decided to take a look, even though it is a very easy game, I thought it would be a good game to talk about for this week.

Trek to Yomi is a side-scrolling action-adventure game from Leonard Menchiari, and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released on May 5th, is available for the Xbox, PC, and PS4/5, and retails for $20.

The story is your typical revenge story. The master dies and tells you that you are now the last defense for the village, fast-forward and the bad guy isn’t really dead but has been planning the destruction of your village all the while you are out on patrol in a neighboring village.

Trek to Yomi is an incredible homage to black and white samurai films. the game is absolutely beautiful, especially when you are trekking through the forests and city centers. Backdrops are some of the best as they take up the majority of the screen. Depths of a mine or a mountain range that eclipses the entirety of the background, Trek to Yomi has some really beautiful moments.

Combat is something else. Trek to Yomi admits that combat is secondary to the story, so at the beginning, there is a choice to enable combat and with that, how much combat you will want. At whatever level of combat that you choose, the combat is a tiny bit lackluster. There are a few forms that are given to the player immediately, and some longer combos are introduced throughout the game, but the beginning combos are all you need. Trek to Yomi is not a difficult game. Enemies enter the small arenas, they attack, you block then you respond with a killing blow. Rinse and repeat for the next few hours until the game is completed.

Boss enemies are a nice departure from mundane combat because they take a little bit more concentration to defeat.

Music fits with the tone of a cinematic game. Really good orchestral music is paired with regional instruments that combine to create a really nice sound.

Overall, I enjoyed Trek to Yomi. Everything combines so well to create a really nice video game. Yes, the combat is a little mundane, but I think that when the game is developed with the story in mind and the combat is secondary, then the combat is something that I don’t really care too much about. The story is good, the voice acting is great, the music is awesome and the overall look of the game is fantastic.

It’s a good game. Plain and simple.