Trek to Yomi arrives on PS4, PC, PS5 and Series X|S as a film about memory and violence, dressed as a beat-em-up. The game tells the story of Manjiro, a samurai who returns to his village after years away, only to find it destroyed and his family dead. What follows is a revenge plot set against a backdrop of war, told in black-and-white photography and a few minutes of color. The result is a game that feels less like a video game and more like a movie you can move through, and that choice shapes everything about how it plays and how it holds attention.
Trailer, via DevolverDigital.
The Look
The visual style is the headline act. Trek to Yomi runs entirely in black and white, shot in a style that mimics Japanese cinema of the 1960s. The game uses real actors filmed in front of green screens, then rendered into a 3D world. The effect is striking, especially during the story sequences where characters talk and react to each other. When the game shifts into combat, the action slows and the camera moves closer to the fighters, giving the fights a slow-motion weight.
The color sequence stands out even more. After a long stretch of black and white, a single scene appears in full color, a bright red that cuts through the gray around it. It is a small moment, but it carries real emotional weight.
The Fighting
Combat is simple by design. Manjiro swings a sword, blocks attacks, and counters with a few special moves. Enemies come in waves, and the game rewards players who read the enemy’s timing rather than rushing in. There is a rhythm to the fights, a back-and-forth that mirrors the pacing of the story itself. When the game is working, the fighting feels satisfying, quick and precise.
Where the game stumbles is in its difficulty. Some boss fights demand a level of timing that the controls simply cannot deliver. A player might spend minutes repeating a fight against a boss that asks for a button press at the exact moment the game seems to refuse it. This is a technical issue, not a design one, and it shows up across every platform the game runs on.
The Story
Manjiro’s return home sets off the chain of events. He finds his village burned, his father killed, and his younger brother missing. His search for answers leads him into conflict with soldiers, bandits and eventually a rival samurai. The story is linear, with few choices along the way, but the writing carries real weight. Characters speak in plain, measured dialogue, and the game trusts the player to sit with the silence between lines.
The narrative also deals with themes of memory and loss. Manjiro’s memories of his past shape how he sees the present, and the game spends time showing scenes from his childhood alongside the war-torn landscape he now walks through. This layering of past and present gives the story a depth that some beat-em-ups rarely attempt.
The Sound
The score is sparse but effective. It leans on traditional Japanese instruments, with shamisen and taiko drums carrying the melody. The music swells during key moments, adding tension without overpowering the dialogue. The sound design is similarly restrained, with footsteps and sword clashes recorded with a sense of weight. Together, the audio reinforces the filmic feel of the whole package.
Platform Performance
Trek to Yomi runs on PS4, PC, PS5 and Series X|S, and the performance varies across those systems. On PS5 and Series X|S, the game runs smoothly, with few hitches. On PS4, the frame rate dips during busy fights, though the game remains playable. PC offers the most options for performance tuning, letting players adjust resolution, frame rate and graphical effects to fit their hardware.
The load times also vary. On PS5 and Series X|S, the game loads quickly, thanks to fast storage. On PS4, the game takes longer to load each area, which can break the pace of the story.
Where It Falls Short
The game’s biggest weakness is its length. At under four hours, Trek to Yomi ends before the story fully opens up. Some players will find this a relief, but others will want more time with Manjiro and his world. The short length also means the game does not have room to explore its themes as deeply as it might have wanted to.
The combat repetition is another issue. Once the core moves are learned, the later stages of the game feel like variations on the same set of challenges rather than new tests. Boss fights in particular tend to repeat the same pattern, rewarding patience over skill.
Comparing the Platforms
| Feature | PS4 | PC | PS5 | Series X|S |
| — | — | — | — | — |
| Frame Rate | Variable, dips in combat | Tunable, smooth at native resolution | Smooth | Smooth |
| Load Times | Longer | Fast, tunable | Very fast | Very fast |
| Visual Style | Slightly reduced detail | Full fidelity | Full fidelity | Full fidelity |
| Audio Quality | Standard | High, tunable | High | High |
The table shows why players with multiple systems might choose differently. PS4 players get the full experience but with a rougher ride, while PC owners can tailor the game to their hardware’s limits.
Final Word
Trek to Yomi is a game that knows exactly what it wants to be. It is not trying to remake the beat-em-up genre, but to dress one in the trappings of cinema. The black-and-white photography, the slow-motion action, the color sequence — all of it points toward a single vision of storytelling through movement. That vision is often realized well, especially in the quieter moments between fights.
But the technical issues keep it from greatness. The difficulty spikes, the short length, and the repetitive combat mean that players who expect a deep, varied experience may come away disappointed. For fans of samurai stories and for those who enjoy games that treat violence as a tool of narrative rather than spectacle, Trek to Yomi still delivers something rare and striking.
Key Facts
– Platforms: PS4, PC, PS5, Series X|S
– Genre: Beat-em-up
– Setting: Japan, 1960s-inspired
– Length: Under four hours
– Score: 6.8 of 10
Trek to Yomi is a bold, beautiful failure. Its ambition shows in every frame, even when the execution falls short. It is a game worth seeing, even if it is not a game worth spending too much time with.
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