Ever since I saw Trek to Yomi back at E3 last year I have been very interested in it. I love classic samurai movies, and this seemed like it would be right up my alley. The black and white graphics with that grainy film style were very appealing to me, and I thought the combat looked nice as well. I’ve had a chance to play the first two chapters of the game, so it’s time to share some of my thoughts on them.

The game begins the same as every classic samurai movie does. A young man named Hiroki is training with his master to become a great samurai when their village is attacked by bandits. The master goes out to defend the village, and his young apprentice soon follows. He puts up a good fight with the bandit boss but is outdone. His master saves him and defeats the man, but at a great cost. The fight has taken all his strength. He asks Hiroki to vow to protect this village and all he loves from any threats. The boy takes this to heart and becomes a powerful samurai as the years pass, but a new threat to his village has just arrived. Time will tell what fate has in store for him and the ones he loves.

This was the story of the first two chapters I got to preview, and I have to say I’m completely hooked. The graphical styling here really make this story telling pop, and the writing is very good as well so far. I really enjoyed just listening to all of the random conversations the NPCs and enemies are having as you approach them. It really Immerses you in this world, and makes you want to explore every inch of the amazing environment here.

At first glace you may think this is just simple 2D side scroller, but that is far from the truth. While you cannot roam around in full 3D, there are many paths you can take to explore each area. The camera angle will change as you enter different areas like it did in classic Resident Evil titles, but it never gives you a bad angle for combat or exploration. It is very important to check each area thoroughly. You can find important health and stamina power ups, collectibles and maybe even discover a way to take some enemies out with stealth. I found this log in one area I could cut down and killed a whole group of enemies in one swoop. This not only makes your life easier, it’s pretty satisfying as well.

I usually have a hard time with combat in games like this, but Trek to Yomi has a great balance. On the normal level, the game is challenging enough that you want invest your time to get good at it without it being just frustrating. You have two attack buttons, a light and heavy attack; you will use these together at times for combos or with other inputs for different moves. Of course attacking and blocking will consume some stamina, but on the normal difficulty this was very easy to manage. Since you are fighting on a 2D plane you will have to flip around to face enemies on either side of you. I thought this might be a sticking point in this combat, but no it is very easy to flip to either side and you even have some attacks that can be done while turning. By far the thing I enjoyed the most was when you stun a foe, you can execute them. This not only looks totally bad ass, you gain a bit of health back as well. I can’t wait to see what other cool moves are in store for this when the final release rolls around.

As you can probably tell I really enjoyed my time with Trek to Yomi. The graphics and storytelling so far are amazing and the combat is a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see how the rest of this story turns out, and other gameplay features are thrown into the mix here. The game will be releasing sometime this year, and until then I will wait very impatiently to play the rest of this.