Trek to Yomi, played – June 23
Wow – now that is a game!
First off if you google the title you’ll be told “Trek to Yomi is a side-scolling action game” and I suppose that, yes, it is a side scroller, but you also walk into and out of the screen, around corners and up and down the environment.
So really something more than just a simple side-scroller, calling it that devalues it I feel.
I got this one off of the good old Game pass, and it was a title that sort of passed me by, I remember when it came out and thinking it was an interesting looking game and one I’d like to play. Then upon seeing it on GP, it was one of the first I downloaded.
These game witterings are going to be laced with “industry stuff” not because I’m being a pretentious snob about it but I really do get a kick out of figuring out how this stuff all works and comes together, because you see…..there is a pattern.
So, Trek is a game with linear progression, I would not call it a side scroller, since you can take different paths, there are hidden areas, it deserves to be credited as more than that.
The story and the presentation is brilliant and the whole thing is really tight, it just works……from loading to playing, sound design, graphics, cutscenes, voice acting, it’s a great little game.
The game is created by Leonard Menchiari, developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital and a cursory google reveals Leonard is an “Interactive Film Director” so that seals it then. It’s a very story-driven title with playable bits.
But that’s not fair either, it’s very playable. The abilities are learned the whole way through the game, on the last level I learnt a new move or two, it’s smart like that. Even if I did pretty much mash the hell out of two or three basic moves throughout!
In the midst of actual development, as with really anything project-related, it’s easy for drift to occur, that is not an unusual situation in any industry but in gamesdev, of course, it’s a real danger.
If you sprinkle in a dash of staff-related problems or a bit of mismanagement or poor project management and/or delivery there’s a real risk those factors can hurt your development.
Games development is a risky process. Depending on how the finance has been raised the projects are always teetering on the edge of something. As a player you don’t really get a clue on the potential internal struggles of those responsible but risks are ever-present.
I don’t really know how long Yomi took to create, how long it took, or how much it ultimately made creator, studio and publisher, but it’s a wonderful little game.
And calling it little is accurate, that is not to say it’s not good, it’s really good, as I’ve already said, it’s really wall crafted, I wonder if there were any hiccups in the process, I want to think not, but you know.
It’s no sprawling 100 hours long open-word epic with a gadzillion lines of dialog, it’s just a really smartly made and tightly produced title that takes a few hours to play with some really interesting if nothing really ultra-new mechanics and a great story that just feels polished and professional.
Having just come off a project that may never see the light of day I can appreciate how projects can stutter and I think any of us would be proud to have a game like Yomi on our CVs.
It might have got “ok” ratings and that’s probably fair, but I reckon it’s really professionally made and radiates enough passion to have been really lovingly put together, the sort of game that 1000% would look really decent on your CV.
I’d say for every AAA banger (and failure too I guess) there needs to be a few Yomi’s to prop the rest of the industry up.
So yeah, really nice job guys, I loved the short time it took me to play it and really enjoyed it – will be keeping my eye out for the next release from this talented crew!